Rules of Statutory Re-Construction: BAPCPA and the Supreme Court’s Refinement of the “Plain Meaning” Doctrine

(Reprinted with permission from the Virginia State Bar Bankruptcy Section's Bankruptcy Law News 2011)
By The Honorable Kevin R. Huennekens and Aaron M. Bachmann

In January of 2011, the Supreme Court affirmed by an 8–1 margin the Ninth Circuit’s decision to deny confirmation of a Chapter 13 plan that reduced the amount of the debtor’s projected disposable income available for distribution to unsecured creditors by incorporating a vehicle ownership expense into the calculation, even though the debtor did not have a loan or lease on his automobile. Ransom v. FIA Card . . .