Case Updates

The voluntary dismissal of a joinder complaint does not divest the trial court of jurisdiction to award sanctions under Family Code section 271. Although most orders entered after dismissal are void and have no effect, an exception to this rule includes motions related to attorney fees and sanctions. Applying this rule in this manner is consistent with section 271, which is designed to punish parties who have unreasonably increased the cost of litigation. Read more

This was a challenge of the denial of a pendente lite fee order under Family Code section 2030. Though the appellant made a pendente lite fee request, the trial court did not rule on the issue of attorney fees until the conclusion of the trial. The appellate court concluded that the trial court violated Family Code section 2030 by not ruling on the appellant’s attorney fee request, as the statute requires a reasonably prompt ruling on such a request. The failure was prejudicial because the self-represented appellant failed to have a grant deed that would have established a transmutation in her favor admitted during the trial. The appellate court further concluded that, if the appellant was represented by counsel Read more

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (the “Court”), reversing the district court, recently ruled that a debtor who had discharged a mortgage loan had standing to assert a claim under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA or “the Act”) against a servicer who continued to report the discharged debt as past due, causing an artificially low credit score. Read more

The United States District Court for the District of Delaware has dismissed the post-foreclosure complaint of a secured lender on “D&O claims” allegedly acquired from a corporate borrower in a UCC foreclosure Read more

In NLG, LLC v. Horizon Hospitality Group, LLC (In re Hazan), ___ F.3d ___, 2021 WL 33907781 (11th Cir., Sept. 1, 2021) (“Hazan”), the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (the “Court”) held the Bankruptcy Court’s judgment sustaining the adversary proceeding claims of the debtor Read more

Applying 7th Circuit precedent, a Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of Wisconsin (the “Court”) ruled that obligations of a debtor created by a personal guaranty Read more

Interpreting Ohio’s versions of two uniform acts, the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (UFTA), the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals (the “Court”) ruled that an involuntary debtor’s payments to a lender under the parties’ revolving loan Read more

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

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

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