Bill on Bankruptcy: What's in the $83M ResCap Examiner's Report?
Todd Christenson filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in November 2010. In February 2011, a federal bankruptcy court in Minnesota discharged Christenson’s debts and, later the same year, closed the case. But almost 15 years...more
We have written in the past about exceptions to the general rule regarding a debtor’s ability to discharge debt in bankruptcy and achieve a “fresh start.” In a recent decision of interest, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth...more
In a recent decision, Bruce v. Citigroup, Inc., et al., the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit clarified the limits of bankruptcy court jurisdiction over class actions. Specifically, the court rejected a...more
The Bankruptcy Code generally allows a debtor to wipe out all pre-bankruptcy debts and get a fresh start in life. But not all debts are equal. Some debts can't be discharged, meaning they survive bankruptcy, and the...more
The discharge provided in bankruptcy is fundamental, allowing the “honest but unfortunate” debtor a fresh start. There are various exceptions to the discharge found in Sections 523 and 727 of the Bankruptcy Code—designed to...more
In a unanimous decision handed down on Feb. 22, 2023, the Supreme Court reinforced one of the Bankruptcy Code’s important creditor protections. In Bartenwerfer v. Buckley, No. 21-908, 598 U.S. ___ (2023), the Court confirmed,...more
Much of the bankruptcy chatter arising from the pandemic world in which we find ourselves is now focusing on the cascade of new bankruptcy cases that are predicted to arrive soon. We have already seen the effects of closed...more
A survey of recent rulings by judges from the bankruptcy courts for the Southern District of New York and the District of Delaware suggests that judges in these districts have very different views about the nature and extent...more
In a recent appeal directly to the Fifth Circuit from a Southern District of Texas Bankruptcy Court, the court affirmed the bankruptcy court’s denial of a motion to compel arbitration. In Henry v. Educational Financial...more
The Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently granted a creditor’s request to compel arbitration over a plaintiff’s argument that the arbitration agreement he had signed was void as a result of a bankruptcy court discharging...more
In a battle of competing statutes, the First Circuit Court of Appeals has held that the IRS’s good faith belief that it had a right to collect debts discharged in bankruptcy because the debtor had filed a fraudulent return or...more
On November 21, 2016, in a case entitled In re Monson, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the Bankruptcy Court’s decision, which held that a debtor’s conduct constituted a willful and malicious injury to a...more
We often quip that the best way to establish a winning record as an appellate lawyer is to represent the party that won below; that’s no joke. In nearly every appellate court— state or federal— appellants have an uphill...more