Neal v. Clark, 95 U.S. 704 (1877)

By Professor M. Jonathan Hayes

Issue: Where the code at the time provided that debts “created by the fraud” of the debtor are non-dischargeable, does the fraud have to be actual or is constructive fraud sufficient?

Holding: “‘[F]raud’ referred to in [the code] means positive fraud, or fraud in fact, involving moral turpitude or intentional wrong.” Constructive fraud is not sufficient.

Justice John Marshall Harlan

The debtor purchased certain bonds from a probate estate at a discount. It was determined later that the executor of the estate breached his fiduciary duties in . . .

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Two More Things Trustees Should Know About the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019

October 27, 2019

By Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Part IV Two More Things Trustees Should Know About the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 Introduction Four bankruptcy-related bills were enacted during the 116th Congress and signed into law on August 23, 2019.1 The legislation affected both business and consumer cases. One bill, the Small Business Reorganization Act of...

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Measuring Success in Chapter 13: Five Years Later

June 6, 2021

By Brian D. Lynch, Bankruptcy Judge, Western District of Washington Five years ago, I wrote an article for this publication, “Measuring Success in Chapter 13,”1 where I criticized some media and academics for repeating an outdated and misleading statistic about the success of chapter 13 cases. So it was disconcerting to see John Oliver recently on Comedy Central’s Last Week...

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Assessable Yet Not Assessed Taxes Could Cost You a Malpractice Claim

August 1, 2021

By Cathy Moran, Esq., (Redwood City, CA) Eighteen years elapsed between the close of the 2003 tax year and the Tax Court’s 2021 decision Barnes v. Comm'r, T.C. Memo. 2021-49 (U.S.T.C. May 4, 2021) regarding the debtors’ 2003 tax liability. While the most recent decision in the debtors’ battle with the IRS challenged the discretion of a tax officer in...

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Critical Case Comment–The Not DSO POC

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

June 5, 2022

The bankruptcy rights of an ex-member of anunmarrieddomestic couple, now separated are not the same as those of an ex-spouse; the language of a domestic arbitration can clearly dictate if property is vested in the ex or is a simple money judgment. (Hamilton) In re Harshaw, 2022 WL 533701 (7th Cir. February 23, 2022) Case Summary Donald Harshaw was married...

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Eviction Diversion Programs and Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

February 3, 2019

By Edward C. Boltz, The Law Offices of John T. Orcutt (Durham, NC) (Originally published in pertinent part at ncbarblog.com, December 19, 2018) With the publication of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, author Matthew Desmond has brought increasing attention both nationwide and in North Carolina to the growing eviction crisis. With . . . It looks like...

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Critical Case Comment– Absolute Right to Dismiss But Not the End of the Story

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

December 5, 2021

Although a Chapter 13 debtor has the absolute right to voluntarily dismiss her Chapter 13 case, even after a motion to convert is filed, the Court retains the rights to impose restrictions on the dismissal. (Waites) In re Brittany Frances Minogue, 2021 WL 4453589 (Bankr. D. S.C. September 29, 2021) Summary Brittany Minogue filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 13...

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Critical Case Comment – Don’t File a Individual Chapter 13 If the Assets Are Owned by an LLC; It Will Cost You – BIG

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

September 25, 2022

Where a debtor and debtor’s counsel initiated a Chapter 13 petition in an effort to halt a foreclosure against property held by the debtor’s LLC, and where the debtor took no steps to correct the filing, sanctions would be imposed against debtor’s counsel. (Grabill) In re Scaccia, 2022 WL 1216284 (Bankr. E.D. La. April 25, 2022) Case Summary Scaccia owned...

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Critical Case Comment – How Much Is It Worth – Then/Now?

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

January 22, 2023

On a trustee’s motion to modify a confirmed Chapter 13 plan, Court required debtor to commit funds to unsecured creditors based upon the previously undisclosed equity generated from post-petition sale of property. (Warren) In re Croniser, 2022 WL 3639413 (Bankr. E.D. N.C. August 23, 2022) Case Summary Duane Croniser filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 13 in January of 2020....

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Practice Tips from Hon. Meredith Jury (Ret.)

October 17, 2021

(Published with the consent of the Central District Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys Assn Newsletter, October 2021) By M. Jonathan Hayes, Resnik Hayes Moradi LLP (Encino, CA) Question from old bankruptcy lawyer: Judge Jury, chapters 13s are such a huge amount of work. Do you have any pointers on avoiding common mistakes? Response from Judge Jury: Of course! I will focus on...

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Courts Continue to Fill in the Gaps on the Interplay of Bankruptcy and the FDCPA

March 7, 2021

By Chris Hawkins, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP (Birmingham, AL) The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published its debt collection final rule in the Federal Register on November 30, 2020, revamping the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) for the first time since its enactment in 1977. Despite written comments submitted by several industry groups requesting clarity in areas where...

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