Case Updates

Welcome to the June E-briefs, News and Notes. We hope you find this edition useful. Read more

In Urbina v. Nat’l. Bus. Factors Inc. 979 F.3d 758 (9th Cir. 2020) (“Urbina”), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a debt collector did not qualify for the bona fide error defense in 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(c) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) by contractually obligating its creditor-clients to provide accurate information. Read more

The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit remanded in part and reversed in part the decision of the bankruptcy court for the Northern District of California that entered a pre-filing order upon a finding that a chapter 7 debtor was a vexatious litigan Read more

In Lorenzen v. Taggart (In re Taggart), 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 40787 (9th Cir., Dec. 30, 2020), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied a petition for rehearing of its decision in In re Taggart, 980 F.3d 1340 (9th Cir. 2020) (“Taggart 4”), on remand from the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Taggart v. Lorenzen, 139 S. Ct. 1795 (2019) (“Taggart 3”), which reversed Lorenzen v. Taggart (In re Taggart), 888 F.3d 438 (9th Cir. 2018) (“Taggart 2”). Read more

In Avery v. Leya Techs., LLC (In re Protoype Eng’g & Mfg.), 2020 Bankr. LEXIS 1775 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. 2020) (“Prototype”) (unpublished), the bankruptcy court ruled that a substantive consolidation claim against a non-debtor entity was a “real property claim” within the meaning of California’s lis pendens statute, Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §§ 405.1-405.61. Read more

The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit remanded in part and reversed in part the decision of the bankruptcy court for the Northern District of California that entered a pre-filing order upon a finding that a chapter 7 debtor was a vexatious litigant. Read more

ESA Management, LLC v. Jacob (2021) _ Cal.App.5th Supp. _ , 2021 WL 1723516: The Appellate Department of the San Diego Superior Court reversed the trial court's unlawful detainer judgment for plaintiff. Read more

The California Medical Association (CMA) is a nonprofit, professional organization that advocates on behalf of its physician members, including Aetna in-network physicians. CMA sued Aetna under the Unfair Competition Law (UCL) (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200), seeking to enjoin it from inhibiting in-network physicians from referring their patients to out-of-network providers. The CMA alleged that Aetna’s policy unlawfully interfered with its members’ ability to exercise independent medical judgment and violated various California statutes. Read more

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently ruled that a triangular arrangement which allowed for set off of money the debtor owed to a company’s affiliate against what the parent company owed to the debtor was not allowed under section 553 because the necessary mutuality was not present, despite the fact that such arrangement was enforceable as a set off under state law Read more

In In re Kramer, ___ B.R. ___, 2021 Bankr. LEXIS 358 (Bankr. N.D. Ok.. February 16, 2021) (“Kramer”), relying on a systemic application of Oklahoma contract law and the relevant statute, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma (the “Court”) denied the Chapter 7 trustee’s motion to sell the debtor’s interest in a handful of LLCs over the objection of the debtor and the other members because the trustee’s sale violated various terms of the governing operating agreements. Read more