Business Law Insolvency Law Committee

A recent Bankruptcy Court decision from the Western District of Washington (the “Court”) disagreed with a 2007 case from the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (BAP) and a 2021 case by the Bankruptcy Court of the District of Idaho Read more

In Guevarra v. Whatley (In re Guevarra), 2021 WL 1179619 (BAP 9th Cir. Mar. 29, 2021), the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (the “BAP”) vacated the bankruptcy court’s decision to sustain an objection to the claimed California wildcard exemption Read more

The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit (BAP) reversed a bankruptcy court decision that had ruled a debtor’s disclaimer of his interest in a trust was invalid because he had accepted the interest before he waived it, resulting in a claim for a fraudulent transfer by the trustee. Read more

In Berkovich v. California Franchise Tax Board (In re Berkovich), 15 F.4th 997 (9th Cir. 2021), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (“Court”) held that when a debtor’s federal tax liability is adjusted and the debtor fails to report the adjustment to the California Franchise Tax Board, the additional tax owed to the state is nondischargeable. Read more

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York held that fraudulent transfer and turnover claims are “core” non-arbitrable claims and denied a motion to compel arbitration as to those claims. Read more

In re Heard, 2021 WL 3540412, (Bankr. D. Or. 2021) is a case in which a loan servicer mistakenly filed on inaccurate change notice in a Chapter 13 case Read more

Court affirmed award of attorneys' fees to third party beneficiaries of a contract with a prevailing party clause (Fee Applicants) after dismissal of a cross-complaint against them despite the fact that Fee Applicants were not parties to the contract and the award was based on tort, not contract claims. Read more

In TransUnion LLC v Ramirez, the United States Supreme Court held that a plaintiff must suffer a concrete injury to have Article III standing to pursue damages for a statutory violation in federal court. Read more

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Court”) recently affirmed a bankruptcy court decision which held that a third party had no rights to assert a “cure claim” under the provisions of Bankruptcy Code section 365(b)(1) Read more

To assert a nondischargeability claim against the non-filing spouse of a bankruptcy debtor, a plaintiff must affirmatively obtain a nondishcargeability determination by commencing an adversary proceeding against that person within 60 days of the meeting of creditors. Read more