From the Editor – Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

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 than discharged and continued collection efforts. A jury awarded $582,000 compensatory damages and $3 million punitive, but the Seventh Circuit concluded that the ratio of punitive damages was excessive, finding that maximum punitive damages would . . .

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Critical Case Comment – The Plan Rules

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

December 4, 2022

Chapter 13 plan which provided a specific amount to be cured on a reverse mortgage under § 1322(b)(5) would be controlled by the specific term of the plan provision and not by the larger proof of claim filed by the creditor. (Baer) In re Edelstein, 2022 WL 16730027 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. November 7, 2022) Case Summary The Edelsteins filed Chapter...

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From the Editor – Discharge

June 7, 2020

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Hardship discharge denied. Section 1328(b)’s requirements for hardship discharge are conjunctive and failure to satisfy any one of three conditions results in denial. Reviewing judicial decisions on requirements of the statute, the court considered “the extent of a debtor’s accountability and degree of control; the substantiality and foreseeability of the changed circumstances at...

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Fastest Way to Check Tax Refund Is ‘Where’s My Refund?’ Tool at IRS.Gov

February 17, 2019

Offering time-saving alternatives to a telephone call, the IRS reminds taxpayers they can get fast answers to their refund questions by using the “Where’s My Refund?” tool available on IRS.gov and through the IRS2Go app. The IRS issues nine out of 10 refunds in less than 21 days, and the fastest way to get a refund is to use IRS...

Critical Case Comment

August 1, 2021

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) While the debtors failed to meet the high threshold to establish excusable neglect to permit their claim filed on behalf of a creditor after the bar date to be allowed, where a Chapter 13 case is dismissed and then reinstated prior to the expiration of the bar date, the...

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Is This Corporation Really Separate from Its Owners: A Checklist

Cathy Moran

October 1, 2023

In a perfectly executed world, clients who do business via an entity like a corporation or LLC would arrive with their business lives neatly separated from their personal lives. However, that’s not the world I practice in. It’s probably not yours, either. Instead, I have to sleuth out the facts, and compare them to the individual’s version. I see prospective...

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Critical Case Comment

February 3, 2019

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Trustee for the Middle District of TN (Nashville) Where a Chapter 13 plan provides that a mortgage payment will be paid “outside the plan,” the plan does not “provide for” the mortgage payment and, accordingly, the discharge under § 1328 is not applicable to the mortgage obligation. Dukes v. Suncoast Credit Union, 909...

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In re Kaiser Gypsum Co., Inc., 60 F.4th 73 (4th Cir. 2023), pet. for cert. granted, Truck Ins. Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum Co., Inc., 2023 WL 6780372, (U.S., October 13, 2023).

The Honorable William Houston Brown

October 29, 2023

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a plan proposal to create an asbestos trust through Chapter 11 bankruptcy was “insurance neutral,” and the debtor’s insurer was not a party in interest under Code § 1109(b), which contains a noncomprehensive list of parties in interest to a Chapter 11 case. Whether the insurer was a party in interest determined whether...

Critical Case Comment – It’s All in the Proof

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

July 9, 2023

Chapter 13 debtor’s failure to provide evidence of a change in financial circumstances justifies the denial of a motion to modify seeking to reduce the dividend and related payments into the plan. (Cleary) In re DeRoo, 650 B.R. 561 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. May 2, 2023) Case Summary Nicole DeRoo filed a Chapter 13 petition in February of 2022. Above-median income...

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2022 Bankruptcy Procedure Year in Review: Revised Statute and Rules and Selected Cases Part 8 Selected Decisions Under Part III of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure

Lawrence R. Ahern, III

April 30, 2023

Introduction One new rule and amendments to 16 rules took effect December 1, 2022. Many reflected changes necessitated by the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA), and had been in place in the same or similar form on an interim basis since that legislation took effect. Part 1 of this series summarized . . . It looks like you...

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Special Counsel 101: Getting Paid and Protecting Clients

Nicole P. Novak

May 1, 2022

The Bankruptcy Code imposes many duties on attorneys. One such duty requires attorneys to disclose compensation for services in contemplation of, or in connection with a bankruptcy case.1 Debtor attorneys know to disclose their fees at the start of the case. Attorneys that forget to timely file a compensation disclosure typically receive a gentle reminder to do so. However, in...

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