Business Law Insolvency Law Committee

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the Court) reversed a bankruptcy court order which granted a chapter 13 trustee’s motion to compel a debtor to turn over the net proceeds from the sale of her real property.  Read more

The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Illinois (the Court) recently ruled that a chapter 7 trustee could uses the strong arm powers conferred upon him by 11 U.S.C. § 544(b)(1) to avoid a disclaimed inheritance as a fraudulent transfer pursuant to the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA or “the Act”). Samson v. Spencer (In re Spencer), 2023 WL 2563751 (Bankr. S.D. Ill. 3/17/23).  Read more

On March 7, 2023, the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Ninth Circuit (the “BAP”) issued its memorandum decision in the case of In re Mack, 2023 WL 2397345 (B.A.P. 9th Cir. Mar. 7, 2023), affirming the bankruptcy court’s dismissal of a complaint under 11 U.S.C. §523(a)(4) for failure to state a claim under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) 12(b)(6).  Read more

A bankruptcy court for the Eastern District of California, Hon. Christopher M. Klein, held that the student loan liability of a Chapter 7 debtor is discharged after satisfying, by the requisite preponderance of evidence standard, all three elements of the Brunner-Pena test for establishing undue hardship. Read more

A California bankruptcy court denied a motion to assume and assign a “garden-variety” discounted payment agreement that the debtor had entered into with the pension fund of its former union employees. Read more

The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York held that cryptocurrency assets held in accounts deposited with the debtors constituted assets of the debtors’ bankruptcy estates.  In re Celsius Network LLC, 647 B.R. 631 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2023). Read more

On December 16, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit published an opinion holding that a collector’s use of an outside mailer was not similar enough to the publicity requirement under the tort of public disclosure of private facts, and therefore the consumer lacked standing to bring a claim for improper communication with third parties under section 1692c(b) of the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692-1692p (FDCPA).  Shields v. Professional Bureau of Collections of Maryland, Inc., 55 F.4th 823 (10th Cir. 2022). Read more

Ruling on an objection filed by a chapter 11 plan administrator to landlords’ claims after lease termination, the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the Court) rejected prior district practice and calculated the amounts due under the rent cap of 11 U.S.C. § 502(b)(6) using the Time Approach rather than the Rent Approach.  In re Cortlandt Liquidating LLC, 648 B.R. 137 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2023). Read more

The United States Supreme Court, relying on textual interpretation, the principles of common-law fraud, precedent from the 1800s, and legislative intent, held that the debt incurred because of the fraud of a spouse or partner is imputed to the other partner and therefore is non-dischargeable in that person’s bankruptcy under the provisions of 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(A).  Read more

The plaintiff obtained two loans secured by his home. Plaintiff stopped making payments.  In March 2014, one lender foreclosed on a loan. Read more