By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Dismissal with 180-day bar affirmed. The debtors had filed eight Chapter 13 cases over eight years, with each dismissed, and in 2019 the spouses filed three more cases. A mortgage creditor moved for relief from the automatic stay and dismissal in each of the cases. The cases were dismissed with a 180-day bar...

I’ve been having nightmares about the 9th Circuit’s decision in Siegel for 20 years. Broad strokes, Siegel (143 F.3d 525 (9th Cir. 1998) holds that a filed claim in a no asset bankruptcy case to which no one objects is entitled to preclusive effect in subsequent litigation by . . . It looks like you are not signed in or...

By Regina Logsdon, Academy Executive Director Erin M. McCartney was appointed as the Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the District of Nebraska beginning on January 1, 2022.  Erin stepped into metaphorically very large and capable shoes as she replaced retiring Kathleen Laughlin.  Erin grew up in Illinois, graduating college from Bradley University in Peoria (Go Braves!).  Law school required a...

Lien perfection follows state law The secret tax lien attaches to all of a taxpayer’s property of any kind, wherever located. However, a tax lien is perfected against other creditors only by compliance with state laws on perfection of liens. AND during the pendency of a bankruptcy case, counsel only has to deal with the properly perfected tax lien. State...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) Section I. Student Loans, Part II – Suggested Regulatory and Judicial Changes In our last installment of the Academy Report on the ABI Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy we dealt with the ABI Commission’s suggested statutory modifications which could address some of the problems facing borrowers confronted with substantial student...

Attorney Gueck-Townsend provides readers with a primer on evidence needed to prove losses.

By Cathy Moran, Esq., Moran Law Group (Redwood City, CA) On its face, Diaz (Diaz v. Viegelahn, No. 19-50982 (5th Cir. Aug. 26, 2020)) is a pretty straightforward decision that struck down a local form plan as violating a below-median income debtor's right to use her tax refund to finance necessary expenses for maintenance and support. On a deeper level,...

From their spring edition of The Quarterly our friends at NACTT have shared a timely piece from creditor attorney Thomas Humphries. _____________________ Thomas Humphries is an attorney with the firm of Sirote & Permutt, PC in Birmingham Alabama. Thomas represents the mortgage banking industry and various creditors in bankruptcy proceedings throughout the State of Alabama. Thomas’s practice includes the defense...

The recent push for student loan forgiveness has been met with increasing opposition. The rationales for not providing a generally applicable path for student loan forgiveness or cancellation have included arguments based upon imagined unfairness to those previously able to pay off their loans, which seems to be both short-sighted, as well as a “red herring” argument. It does not...