Business Law Insolvency Law Committee

A purchase money security interest in windows, siding, and gutters in Chapter 13 debtor's home was subject to lien-stripping because it was junior to the first mortgage loan. Read more

The Nevada Supreme Court determined, based on a Nevada statute, that directors and officers of a corporation are not liable for acts or failures to act unless there is a breach of fiduciary duty involving intentional misconduct, fraud or a knowing violation of law. The Nevada Supreme Court did not address exclusions listed in the Nevada statute based on articles of incorporation or corporate governance documents providing for the liability involving other acts. Read more

In Hamilton v. Elite of Los Angeles, Inc. (In re Hamilton), 803 F. App’x 123 (9th Cir. 2020) (2-1 unpublished decision), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the bankruptcy court erred in confirming a chapter 11 plan where the debtor was paying only a small portion of a large non-dischargeable debt and yet enjoining the creditor from attempting to collect the rest of the debt from "property committed to the Plan" for five years. Read more

Cause Does Not Exist for the Court to Reconsider Disallowance of a Claim under Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(B)(6) Where the Court Found Movant Lacked a Cogent Excuse for Failing to Respond to the Objection in the First Place. Read more

Court rejected the notion that those who do business with a Ponzi scheme in principle do not provide reasonably equivalent value for an intentional fraudulent conveyance and that the avoidability of the transfers by the enterprise depends in part on the good faith of the transferee targets. Read more

Following Conversion to Chapter 7, Chapter 13 Trustee Must First Pay Allowed Chapter 13 Administrative Claims and Then Pay Any Remaining Funds to the Debtor. Read more

Defendant Is Entitled to Attorneys’ Fees After Defending Alter Ego Claim Even Though Defendant Was Not a Party to the Underlying Contract With the Attorneys’ Fee Provision. Read more

Court denied City's request to apply the reasoning of BFP v. RTC to the Massachusetts property tax strict foreclosure scheme which results in a tax taking rather than an auction. Read more

Prior precedent establishing contempt as the exclusive remedy for discharge injunction violations did not preclude a discharged debtor from seeking a remedy under the FDCPA against debt collectors who attempted to collect a debt that had been paid in full. Read more

Bankruptcy Court denied law firm’s employment application in debtors’ Chapter 11 Subchapter V bankruptcy cases because of the firm’s prepetition representation of debtors and their principals as counsel in litigation with the debtors’ largest creditors. Read more