By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Debtors’ attorney fees not authorized under Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA). Although the Chapter 13 debtors had prevailed before the Ninth Circuit, In re Sisk, 962 F.3d 1133 (9th Cir. 2020), their application for attorney fees as prevailing parties under EAJA was denied. That Act did not authorize awards of attorney fees...

By William J. Purdy, III, Simmons & Purdy (Soquel, CA) Hundreds of thousands of taxpayers in the past few weeks have looked at or at least thought about, Form 1099-A or Form 1099-C documents they have received. Some arrived in the tax year a debt was allegedly cancelled. Others are issued by financial instructions many years after they should have...

Dear Readers: We’re now at the season where things go a bit wacky, and one thing that can go wacky has to do with people who are represented by counsel who want to talk with you.  “Let’s cut out the middleman,” they think. After all, what harm could it be to save time? Plenty of harm, actually:  Model Rule 4.2...

By William J. Purdy III (Soquel, CA) Got an EDD tax form 1099 but no benefits? At this moment, POTENTIALLY hundreds of thousands of California taxpayers are enjoying the ghastly experience of receiving a Form 1099G courtesy of the California EDD for unemployment benefits the taxpayer never received. The problem is not confined to California; it’s so prevalent, the IRS...

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Background Last year, the Ninth Circuit in In re Taggart1 ruled that an act in violation of the discharge injunction did not empower a court to find a creditor in contempt, if the creditor believed in good faith that the discharge injunction did not apply—even if the creditor's belief was...

By Cathy Moran, Esq. (Redwood City, CA) No matter how many hoops the client dutifully jumped through, without adequate inquiry and communication, the bankruptcy attorney was slammed for unbundling his services. The representation agreement at issue excluded representation in any adversary proceeding filed, as do most such agreements, I imagine. The client initialed every paragraph of the 19-paged representation agreement,...

Background - In re Taggart In 2019, the Supreme Court rendered its opinion in In re Taggart,1 which was the subject of earlier analyses: (1) Is a Finding of Contempt Precluded by a "Good Faith" but Unreasonable Belief that an Action Does Not Violate the Discharge Injunction?; (2) Looking Beyond . . . It looks like you are not signed...

By Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Part VI Two Things Debtors Should Know About the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA), Including a Primer on Chapter 11 Confirmation Introduction This series focuses on four bankruptcy-related bills that were enacted during the 116th Congress and signed into law on August 23, 2019.1 One bill, the Small...

By David Cox,1 Cox Law Group, PLLC (Lynchburg, VA) Some Basics about Secured Claim Treatment in Chapter 13 What is a Secured Claim under § 506(a)? Secured by a lien on property of the debtor’s bankruptcy estate. Some value in the property to which the lien may attach. Must be secured by property that is property of the debtor’s bankruptcy...

By Kevin M. Ball, Eastern Michigan University Senator Warren and Representative Nadler introduced identical legislation entitled the Consumer Bankruptcy Report Act (“CBRA”) late in the 116th Congress. Although the bills died without action at the conclusion of that term, the sponsors have indicated their intent to reintroduce them in the 117th Congress. The legislation would bring major changes to the...