By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Punitive damages reduced for FDCPA and RESPA violations. The mortgage servicer violated FDCPA, RESPA and the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act by treating account as delinquent after Chapter 13 debtor had cured arrears, brought account current and obtained discharge. The servicer mistakenly marked the Chapter 13 case as dismissed rather...

(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...

By Daniel M. Tavera, Law Clerk to the Honorable John P. Gustafson, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio (Toledo) Objections to claims may generally be served on the claimant by first-class mail to the person designated to receive notices on the most recent proof of claim for the creditor. This simplifies the service for claim objections for...

By Riley F. Tunnell, Esq., Godwin Bowman PC (Dallas, TX) The COVID-19 pandemic is not the product of a single cause. So, our remedial efforts must address a myriad of causes and rapidly developing effects. The CDC believes that delaying the onset of the mass-eviction to a time when we may be better able to manage this virus is a...

The cloud seems to be all anyone wants to talk about these days in the tech field. I presented on it at the annual meeting in San Francisco this past summer and I presented on it at the first annual Region 9 I.T. Conference last month. I’m not tired of talking about it because the cloud is the future for...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville) Where a confirmation order of a debtor’s Chapter 12 plan specifically provided for payments to a creditor and the Chapter 12 trustee had supported confirmation of the plan, the trustee would be precluded from seeking to disallow a late-filed claim. Following the plan, the...

By John P. Gustafson, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Northern District of Ohio, Western Division (Toledo, OH) Click here for Part 1 of 6 Click here for Part 3 of 6 Click here for Part 4 of 6 Click here for Part 5 of 6 Click here for Part 6 . . . It looks like you are not signed in...

By Karin N. Amyx, Staff Attorney to the Trustee Carl Davis (Wichita, KS) To me, the word “timeshare” conjures up images of a dark conference room at a resort hotel where unwitting tourists are being goaded into signing usury contracts in exchange for a free meal ticket at the buffet. But what is a timeshare? And how do you deal...

By Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) PART I Overview Introduction Four bankruptcy-related bills have been passed by both the House and the Senate this term. The legislation was sent to the President for signature on August 13, 2019.1 The bills were not controversial and had bipartisan support. The legislation affects both business and consumer cases. One...