From the Editor – Claims • NACTT Academy

From the Editor – Claims

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired)

Postpetition traffic tickets not administrative expense. Affirming the bankruptcy court’s decisions, the district court held that the City of Chicago did not have administrative expense claims under § 503(b) for traffic fines incurred after the filing of Chapter 13 cases. Under the test of Reading v. Brown, 391 U.S. 471 (1968), the City argued that the debtors’ postpetition fines were liabilities of their bankruptcy estates, because the Municipal Code established prima facie responsibility for the fines in the person in whom the vehicle is registered . . .

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