The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has released an updated Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Minimum Wage Poster that covers employers’ new lactation accommodation obligations under the recently passed Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers (PUMP) Act.   The PUMP Act went into effect on December 29, 2022 and requires employers to provide nursing employees with reasonable accommodations, such as...

The Ninth Circuit has now joined its sister Circuit in holding that the Bankruptcy Code does not permita Chapter 13 Trustee to retain the percentage fees collected on payments that a chapter 13 debtor made pre-confirmation in accordance with 26 U.S.C. §586 but, upon dismissal prior to confirmation of the plan, is obligated to return the fee to the debtor,...

Chapter 13 debtor’s profligate, pre-petition spending and post-petition lack of candor, demonstrated that the plan was not proposed in good faith and the petition was not filed in good faith. (Frank) In re Ames, 2022 WL 2195469 (Bankr. E.D. Pa. June 17, 2022) Case Summary In April of 2018, after 10 years of marriage, Guy Ames initiated a divorce complaint...

By John Andreasen and Patrick Lombardi, Law Students at the University of Illinois College of Law and Duberstein Moot Court Team Members Both consumers and businesses often depend on motor vehicles for their livelihood or, for consumers, access to health care, child care, or other essential services. A creditor’s repossession of a motor vehicle can turn into an existential crisis...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) One of the issues raised at the public hearings of the Commission concerned Chapter 7 trustees that would not take prompt action to abandon exempt or partially exempt assets but, would retain assets in the hope that there might be equity in the future to sell the asset for...

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...

SMALL BUSINESS REORGANIZATION ACT POSTSCRIPT #2 Recommendation of Technical Amendment to Repair Flaw in CARES Act Attempt to Increase Small Business Eligibility under SBRA Introduction In a bulletin published March 30, the Academy announced enactment on March 27 of the "Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act" (the "CARES Act"),1 and that the Act (applying only to cases commenced on...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville) Despite a split in authority, funds held by a Chapter 13 Trustee at the time a case is dismissed prior to confirmation, are subject to the trustee’s commission before any balance is returned to the debtor. In re Doll, 17-20831-MER (Bankr. D.Colo. Feb. 19,...