Chris Hawkins was sworn in as a bankruptcy judge for the Middle District of Alabama on March 14, 2022, succeeding Judge William R. Sawyer. Before his appointment, Chris was a partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, where he focused exclusively on bankruptcy and insolvency matters. For over twenty years, he represented debtors and creditors in out-of-court restructurings, commercial and...

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

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...

IRS has begun sending letters to virtual currency owners advising them to pay back taxes, file amended returns; part of agency’s larger efforts. On July 26th, the IRS announced that it has begun sending letters to taxpayers with virtual currency transactions that potentially failed to report income and pay the resulting tax from virtual currency transactions or did not report...

By Rebecca Garcia and Jan Sensenich, Chapters 12 and 13 Standing Trustees The Association of Chapter 12 Trustees (ACT2) had a wonderful day and a half conference in advance of the NACTT Seminar on July 15 and 16 in Indianapolis. In addition to Trustee participants, we had judges, debtors, and creditors counsel and representatives attend and participate. We kicked off...

By Kara K. Gendron, Esquire, Mott & Gendron Law (Harrisburg, PA) The recent Supreme Court decision in City of Chicago v. Fulton1 will change the law in most Circuits. Prior to this case, there was a split among the circuits as to whether the post-petition retention of property taken pre-petition constitutes a violation of the automatic stay under §362(a)(3) of...