Business Law Insolvency Law Committee

Affirming the bankruptcy court and the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (the BAP), the Ninth Circuit (the Circuit Court) recently decided two significant issues: (1) that the long-standing holding of In re Scovis, 249 F. 3d 975, 983 (9th Cir. 2001) - that normally the eligibility of a chapter 13 debtor is determined by the original schedules if filed in good faith - remains the prevailing standard; and (2) that under 11 U.S.C.§ 1322(c)(2), if the last payment on debt secured solely by the principal residence is due before the end of the plan term, the plan may modify the secured portion based on the property value and pay that portion through the plan. In other words, that undersecured debt may be crammed down in the chapter 13 plan. Read more

A United States Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana (the Court) recently held that temporary injunctive relief was  appropriate during the term of a Sub V Chapter 11 plan to protect insiders and guarantors whose support and credit were essential to performance of the plan terms.  It found that such injunctive relief to protect non-debtors was not contrary to the Supreme Court ruling in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P. (In re Purdue Pharma), 603 U.S. 204 (2024) and the issuance of such injunctive relief remained consistent with Fifth Circuit Read more

The following is a case update written by Hale Andrew Antico, Chief Counsel of Antico Law Firm, analyzing In re De Guzman, 670 B.R. 567  (Bankr. E.D. Cal. June 9, 2025), a recent case of interest. Read more

The following is a case update written by Hale Andrew Antico, Chief Counsel of Antico Law Firm, analyzing Applegate v Carrington Foreclosure Services, ___ Cal. Rptr. 3rd ___,  2025 WL 1766233 (Court of Appeal, First District, California (June 26, 2025)). Read more

The Hon. J. Barrett Marum sat down with Gary Rudolph and Kathleen Cashman-Kramer to talk about his first ten months on the bench. Read more

In Lysyy v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co., ___ F.4th. ___ (W.D. Wash., May 27, 2025) (“Lysyy”), the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington (the “District Court”) granted the motion of the defendant (the “Defendant”) to strike the jury demand of the plaintiff (the “Plaintiff”) for violation of the automatic stay under Bankruptcy Code § 362(k) and to quiet title on the grounds that both were claims in equity for which the Seventh Amendment of the United States Constitution (the “Seventh Amendment”) does not guarantee a jury trial in federal court.  Read more

The United Staes Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Mississippi (the Court) recently held that damages arising from an employer’s failure to give the required notices under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (the “WARN Act”) ware entitled to priority as wages under 11 U.S.C. § 704(a)(4).  Read more

The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the Court) recently denied the motion of an Assignee for the Benefit of Creditors to dismiss an involuntary chapter 7 proceeding or to abstain, concluding that the best interests of creditors and administration of the estate favored a bankruptcy proceeding.  Read more

In HAR-BD, LLC v. Leslie (In re TBH19, LLC), 668 B.R. 881 (9th Cir. BAP 2025), the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (“BAP”) reaffirmed that administrative fees such as the trustee’s statutory commission or attorneys’ fees in a chapter 7 case should not necessarily be reduced simply because those professionals will ultimately receive more than unsecured creditors.  Read more

The following is a case update written by Hale Andrew Antico, Chief Counsel of Antico Law Firm, analyzing In re Tran and Le, 2025 WL 1255580 (April 30, 2025), a recent case of interest. Read more