Business Law Insolvency Law Committee

Pension plan loans are bona fide debts outside of bankruptcy and therefore are recognized as such under the Bankruptcy Code; payments on account of pension loans are transfers and the plan trustee is the initial transferee. Read more

Court limited the application of the doctrine of equitable mootness in reviewing bankruptcy plan confirmation orders, holding that the "virtual unflagging obligation" of an Article III appellate court to exercise subject matter jurisdiction prevented it from ducking a federal question without a rigorous test of whether the review should proceed. Read more

ERISA does not preempt claims by bankruptcy creditors on behalf of a debtor against directors and officers who were alleged to have inflated the company's stock value to conceal the company's economic decline and benefit insiders. Read more

Dishonest debtor's request for a voluntary dismissal of his chapter 13 case "as a matter of right" under section 1307(b) was properly turned into a dismissal with prejudice under section 349(a). Read more

In 2017, Karen Dal Poggetto (“Dal Poggetto”) filed a petition for dissolution of her marriage with Jerome E. Perryman (the “Debtor”). When the Debtor failed to comply with their marital settlement agreement and the state court’s judgment entered in the dissolution proceeding, Dal Poggetto filed a “Request for Order” in the state court dissolution proceeding seeking, among other things, $3,000 in sanctions and $7,000 in legal fees. Read more

In April 2021, the Supreme Court submitted to Congress proposed revisions to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure (“FRBP”) and the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure (“FRAP”). Read more

In order to receive a "Covid-19 Discharge" debtors must still comply with all other provisions of bankruptcy code section 1328(a) through (h); meeting only the requirements of section 1328(i) will not result in a discharge. Read more

In Mai v. HKT Cal Inc., 66 Cal. App. 5th 504 (2021), the California Court of Appeal provided guidance on how litigants must offer proof of attorneys’ fees as damages in California courts, as distinguished from attorneys’ fees as costs. Read more

In re Weinstein Co. Holdings LLC, 997 F.3d 497 (3d Cir. 2021) involved a work-for-hire contract between The Weinstein Company—a bankrupt movie company—and Bruce Cohen, the producer of the critically acclaimed 2012 film, Silver Linings Playbook Read more

A private student loan is not "funds received as an educational benefit" and therefore is not excepted from discharge under Bankruptcy Code section 523(a)(8)(A)(ii). Read more