Weighted Caseload: Why It Matters and How It Works and Doesn’t Work

“Currently, if a district’s weighted caseload is below one-thousand per the number of judges in that district . . . in all probability, recommend that the circuit not replace the judge.”

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Honorable Brian D. Lynch

United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Washington, Tacoma Division

Honorable Brian Lynch was sworn in as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Washington, Tacoma Division, on June 1, 2010. He served as Chief Bankruptcy Judge of the District from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2019., and served as Chair of the Conference of 9th Circuit Chief Bankruptcy Judges in 2017. Prior to his appointment, he served as the Standing Chapter 13 Trustee for the Portland Division of the District of Oregon, and as the Standing Chapter 12 Trustee for the District of Oregon. And in 2018, he was the recipient of the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees Hon. Ralph Kelley Award.

The Collector

The Academy

January 14, 2024

Bankruptcy Judge (E.D. Washington) serves up classics with wooden tennis racket collection.

Three Last Things Trustees Should Know About the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 – Part V

November 17, 2019

By Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction This series focuses on four bankruptcy-related bills that were enacted during the 116th Congress and signed into law on August 23, 2019.1 One bill, the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA),2 appears in its entirety in Appendix B to this series and was summarized in

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Avoidance Powers in Chapter 13 – Part 5 of 6

January 27, 2019

By John P. Gustafson, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Northern District of Ohio, Western Division (Toledo, OH) Click here for Part 1 Click here for Part 2 Click here for Part 3

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Critical Case Comment – Fee Wars: The Battle Over Debtor Attorney Compensation

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

March 31, 2024

Debtors’ attorney’s fees can be calculated as a percentage of the presumptively reasonable “no-look” fee for cases involuntarily dismissed prior to confirmation and is an allowed administrative claim which can be paid under § 1326(a)(2).

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From the Archives – An Oldie but Goodie

Nancy B. Rapoport

April 14, 2024

Ms. Ps & Qs on ‘Wet Signatures’ – Yep, they are important and nope, you can’t blame others for your mistakes.

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Two Supreme Court Decisions with Effects on Bankruptcy Practice

March 1, 2020

By William Houston Brown, Adviser, Academy for Consumer Bankruptcy Education, Inc. and Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown and Ahern (Nashville, TN) In two February opinions, the Supreme Court addressed issues that appear in bankruptcy cases, one dealing with a common practice of entering nunc pro tunc orders and the other affecting determination of property rights under state law. In a...

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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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The New DOJ/DOE Guidance for Student Loan Bankruptcy Litigation: Promising Early Results

Honorable Brian D. Lynch

March 17, 2024

“The problem in the past for student loan borrowers in bankruptcy has been that hardship discharge litigation has been complex, expensive and arbitrary. . . . The new guidance has simplified the process.”

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From the Editor – Claims

October 20, 2019

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Claimant in proof of claim lacking prima facie validity was sanctioned. The proof of claim secured by the debtor’s residence failed to satisfy Rule 3001(c)(2)(C) requirements, including incomplete Form B 410A with no payment history. The claimant’s attempt to amend the claim on the eve of the contested objection to claim would defeat...

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ABI Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy – Introduction

April 21, 2019

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) Introduction In 2016, the American Bankruptcy Institute’s president, Eugene Wedoff, retired bankruptcy judge from the Northern District of Illinois, proposed to the ABI Board that a commission be established to examine the current status of consumer bankruptcy laws, rules, and cases with the goal of its making general suggestions...

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