Ask Mr. Civil Procedure Man

When Mr. Civil Procedure Man agreed to write for this site, he thought he made it clear to your Editor who, he might note, is (or was) his trusted colleague, that he was uninterested in questions that would require him to steep himself in arcane matters of bankruptcy practice. Rather, Mr. Civil Procedure Man saw his function as that of serving uninformed members of the bankruptcy bar by educating them about how the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure incorporated in the bankruptcy rules operate, for such use as they may put Mr. Civil Procedure Man’s wisdom. Despite this understanding . . .

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Character Counts

Merideth Akers

November 6, 2022

“Does wearing these horizontal stripes make me look fat?” My wife, Becky, tells me that clothes with horizontal stripes make one look broad or fat. However, wearing clothes with vertical stripes create the illusion of making one look tall or slim. Smart fashion designers design clothing that creates the illusion that people are something they are not. I must confess...

New and Revised Bankruptcy Forms

November 10, 2019

By William Houston Brown, Editor and Adviser, NACTT Academy for Consumer Bankruptcy Education, Inc. Several Official and Director’s Forms related to bankruptcy filings are revised and some are new, with some already taking effect on October 1, 2019, others to take effect December 1, 2019, and others taking effect February 19, 2020. Several forms have already been updated on April...

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From the Editor – Discharge

June 7, 2020

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Hardship discharge denied. Section 1328(b)’s requirements for hardship discharge are conjunctive and failure to satisfy any one of three conditions results in denial. Reviewing judicial decisions on requirements of the statute, the court considered “the extent of a debtor’s accountability and degree of control; the substantiality and foreseeability of the changed circumstances at...

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The Hanging Paragraph – Hanging on Every Word Part 4 of 4

July 5, 2020

By Anthony J. Gomez, CPA, former extern to the Honorable John P. Gustafson, Northern District of Ohio at Toledo V. The Good Faith Requirement The hanging paragraph was enacted to protect creditors. It accomplishes this by prohibiting the bifurcation of certain secured debts that were acquired shortly before the time of filing. Despite a Chapter 13 debtor’s inability to bifurcate...

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Conflicting Interpretations: A Chapter 13 Trustee’s Compensation After Pre-Confirmation Dismissal or Conversion* Part 3 of 3

Brittani Bushman

February 13, 2022

(Used with expressed permission from the MI Bankruptcy Journal and the Steven W. Rhodes Consumer Bankruptcy Conference)By Brittani Bushman, Judicial Law Clerk to the Hon. John T. Gregg, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Michigan B. Illustrative Decisions (Minority Approach) The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit recently issued a comprehensive unpublished decision adopting the minority...

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Taggart v. Lorenzen: Supreme Court Stakes Out Middle Ground on Contempt Standard for Discharge Injunction Violations, Leaves Clues About Automatic Stay Violations

June 16, 2019

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction – The Taggart Ruling 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...

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From the Editor – Avoidance

September 22, 2019

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Chapter 7 trustee’s avoidance of post-petition mortgage lien. After filing Chapter 7, the debtor, without prior authority, refinanced property of the estate twice and the trustee sought avoidance of the mortgage lien under § 549. No defense was available because the mortgagee did not qualify as a good faith transferee, having knowledge of...

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Supreme Court Revisits Finality of Orders in Bankruptcy: Comment on Ritzen and Review of “Finality”

February 9, 2020

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction The Supreme Court unanimously held on January 14 that an order denying stay relief was final in Ritzen Group, Inc. v. Jackson Masonry, LLC.1 Thus, the creditor should have appealed the denial instead of waiting until later in the case to seek again to pursue its pre-bankruptcy litigation against...

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Critical Case Comment – Separate Class Classy Option for Student Loans

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

January 14, 2024

In some instances, this case could be a real game-changer for dealing with student loans. Chapter 13 plan may classify student loans in a separate class!

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The “Snapshot” Rule – Part 1: The Circuits Begin to Line Up

March 14, 2021

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Exemptions are determined at the time the debtor files for bankruptcy. … This maxim is called the "snapshot" rule because the debtor's financial situation is frozen in time, as if someone had taken a snapshot of it.1 Recent Caselaw The First and Ninth Circuits On March 1, the Ninth Circuit...

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