Can a Private Employer Make a Hiring Decision Based on an Applicant’s Bankruptcy?

By Holly Davala, Staff Attorney for Chapter 13 Trustee Craig Shopneck

As staff counsel for a Chapter 13 Trustee I often turn to § 525 of the Bankruptcy Code as support for enforcing our office’s wage order requirement. I often argue this Code section makes it clear that a debtor’s employer cannot terminate a debtor simply because the employee is a debtor in bankruptcy and the debtor should not fear his/her employer being noticed that the debtor has filed for bankruptcy. However, § 525 of the Bankruptcy Code also limits other actions an employer may take depending . . .

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Bankruptcy Courts Grapple with the “COVID-19 Discharge” – Appendix A

April 18, 2021

Bankruptcy Courts Grapple with the “COVID-19 Discharge” APPENDIX A 11 U.S.C. § 1328 Discharge (Text added by CAA, effective: December 27, 2020 and subject to one-year sunset, appears in italics.) (Mandatory and precatory directions to the court, critical to the statutory analysis in In re Ritter, appears in bold.) (a) Subject to subsection (d), as soon as practicable after completion...

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Mortgage Matters in Times of COVID-19

April 5, 2020

By Robert (Bob) Schuman, Owner/Managing Broker, Network Financial Group Is it 2008 again? For us in the mortgage industry, we woke up this week feeling as if during the night, we were transported back to 2008 when the mortgage industry basically collapsed. Then, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the FHA were the exceptions. As of March 25, 2020, like everything...

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Critical Case Comment – Playing the System – Good or Bad Thing??

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

October 8, 2023

Chapter 13 debtor that repeatedly fails to maintain payments to the mortgage servicer directly as provided in the original plan and in all amendments is not acting in good faith and has misled the court as to feasibility of the plan justifying dismissal of the case.

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FFIEC Issues Statement on Examination Principles Related to Valuation Discrimination and Bias in Residential Lending

The Academy

February 18, 2024

FFIEC Issues Statement on Examination Principles Related to Valuation Discrimination and Bias in Residential Lending

Arbitration in Bankruptcy: Reading Opinions & Tea Leaves in Recent Supreme Court & Lower Court Actions Part IV

March 24, 2019

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) PART IV: What's an Attorney to Do? Considerations for Counsel on all Sides of the Arbitration Question Click here for Part I Click here for Part II

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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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From the Editor – Claims

June 21, 2020

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Recordation of divorce judgment created secured claim. In Chapter 13 case, the debtor objected to former spouse’s secured claim, with pre-bankruptcy divorce judgment awarding former marital home to the husband but ordering equalization payments to the wife. No security was mentioned in the judgment, but its recordation created a lien under Wisconsin law....

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Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’ – Whether a Motor Home Qualifies for the Homestead Exemption as a Mobile Home?

Tiaon Michele Lynch

April 28, 2024

“Although exemptions are meant to be interpreted liberally; this issue may become increasingly complex with the rise of remote work such as traveling nurses.”

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In re Lazaro: Non-Monetary Default and § 1322(b)(5)

James M. Davis

June 4, 2023

Can a debtor provide for a non-debtor’s loan under § 1322(b)(5) even if the plan does not address a non-monetary default on the claim? In re Lazaro suggests the answer may be “yes.” In that case, the Court held not only that the Debtor’s plan could provide to cure a monetary default on a loan taken out by the Debtor’s...

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Critical Case Comment – Pay the TAXES!

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

July 10, 2022

Failure of Chapter 13 debtors to satisfy post-petition property tax payments to the county, specifically required in the debtors’ Chapter 13 plan, renders the debtors ineligible for a discharge, even where the debtors proposed a loan modification to repay the mortgage creditor which had advanced the post-petition taxes. (Rodriguez) In re Villarreal, 2022 WL 1102223 (Bankr. S.D. Tex. April 12,...

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