Critical Case Comment–Should’a Returned the Car

Post-petition repossession of debtor’s automobile, deliberate indifference to debtor’s request for return and ignoring hearings before the Court merit not only award of damages for violation of the stay but substantial punitive damages. (Bonapfel) In re Hamby, 2022 WL 17428947 (Bankr. N.D. Ga. November 29, 2022)

Case Summary

Cole Hamby purchased a 2012 GMC Sierra from Everybody Rides Auto Sales. Mr. Hamby made biweekly payments to the “buy here/pay here” car lot until he filed a Chapter 13 petition on April 15, 2022. He listed Everybody Rides on . . .

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Henry E. Hildebrand, III

Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville)

Henry E. Hildebrand, III has served as Standing Trustee for Chapter 13 matters in the Middle District of Tennessee since 1982 and as Standing Chapter 12 Trustee for that district since 1986. He also is of counsel to the Nashville law firm of Belcher Sykes Harrington, PLLC. Mr. Hildebrand graduated from Vanderbilt University and received his J.D. from the National Law Center of George Washington University. He is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and the Nashville Bar Foundation. He is Board Certified in consumer bankruptcy law by the American Board of Certification and serves on its faculty committee. He is Chairman of the Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee for the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees (NACTT). He is on the Board of Directors for the NACTT Academy for Consumer Bankruptcy Education, Inc. and is an adjunct faculty member for the Nashville School of Law and St. Johns University School of Law. In addition, he served as a commissioner to the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy.

Critical Case Comment – No Approval No Pay

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

May 15, 2022

It is incumbent upon nonbankruptcy attorneys, including personal injury attorneys, to verify on PACER that their client is not a debtor and that the cause of action as to which they represent their client is not property of the estate; failure to obtain approval of the bankruptcy court for representing a debtor or settlement of a personal injury action is...

ABI Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy – Dischargeability of Homeowner Association Fees

May 19, 2019

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) Homeowner association fees that obligate homeowners of condominium and planned unit developments can be a substantial obligation that accrue on a monthly basis. These obligations are generally a burden when a debtor files for bankruptcy relief. To be fair, homeowners’ associations provide a significant benefit to homeowners. Exterior maintenance,...

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Navigating Secured Creditors Who File Unsecured Chapter 13 Claims

October 31, 2021

By Eric K. Fox, Esq. (Hendersonville, TN) Jane Debtor has a home with a mortgage. An unsecured creditor obtains a judgment against Jane for, say, a credit card debt. Creditor’s attorney records a certified copy of the judgement order with the county register of deeds, thereby converting the unsecured claim against Jane in personam, to a secured claim against her...

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After Chicago v Fulton: Not Only Cars – A Survey of Fulton Rulings and a Weakened Automatic Stay

Hale Andrew Antico

December 11, 2022

Intro: What is a Fulton ruling? When Chicago v Fulton (In re Fulton), 141 S Ct. 585 (Sup Ct, 2021) was first decided by the Supreme Court, there was a consensus among bankruptcy attorneys that the erosion of the automatic stay with regard to turnover was only about cars. That is, Fulton was a narrow ruling that was only about...

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TFS Bill Pay Announces New Attorney Report Center

November 21, 2021

TFS Bill Pay has launched a new powerful tool to help you succeed; the Attorney Report Center located in your AttorneyPortal. In the current bankruptcy environment, it is absolutely essential that your firm receives all of the compensation for the valuable work it has already done. TFS now provides you with pre-set, real-time reports to confirm your clients’ payments, which...

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

February 17, 2019

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) PART II: More Supreme Court Action on Arbitration Introduction Click here for Part I Click here for Part III Click here for Part IV What is the effect of an . . . It looks like you are not signed in or registered! This content is only available to members....

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Overruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law – A Book Review

M. Jonathan Hayes

October 6, 2024

“What, he [Gorsuch] explains, jumped out at me is that not only are there too many laws and administrative rules, but there are too many laws and rules created by agencies -- by individuals not chosen by we the people, and often in the far-away land we call Washington.”

A Pricey Lesson in Chapter 13 Fees

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

October 6, 2024

The district’s “no-look” fee is just a guideline for the court to assess what is reasonable for a debtor’s attorney to charge for filing a Chapter 13 case: the debtor’s attorney seeking something beyond it must prove that the fee is justified.

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The Cloud Cometh

Naliko Markel

October 23, 2022

The cloud seems to be all anyone wants to talk about these days in the tech field. I presented on it at the annual meeting in San Francisco this past summer and I presented on it at the first annual Region 9 I.T. Conference last month. I’m not tired of talking about it because the cloud is the future for...

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Welfare Debt – A Study

Edward C. Boltz

October 6, 2024

“The government is owed this debt through a welfare cost recovery system which requires custodial parents that file for welfare benefits to pursue child support from noncustodial parents and assign those rights to the government.”