From the Editor – Debtor’s Attorney and Other Professionals • NACTT Academy

From the Editor – Debtor’s Attorney and Other Professionals

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired)

Mediator is professional person and employment requires court approval. The Chapter 7 trustee moved to toll the time for filing a recovery complaint to permit the parties to conduct mediation, using a retired bankruptcy judge as mediator, and the bankruptcy court questioned whether the trustee would bill for his time in participating in the mediation and would use estate funds to pay a portion of the mediator’s fee. The resulting opinion found that a trustee in any case would not be permitted to unilaterally agree to mediation for . . .

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What to Do with the Dreaded Timeshare?

August 25, 2019

By Karin N. Amyx, Staff Attorney to the Trustee Carl Davis (Wichita, KS) To me, the word “timeshare” conjures up images of a dark conference room at a resort hotel where unwitting tourists are being goaded into signing usury contracts in exchange for a free meal ticket at the buffet. But what is a timeshare? And how do you deal...

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Bankruptcy Court Finds Jurisdiction to Hear Discharge-Injunction Violation Class Action

May 9, 2021

By Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction The Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York ruled last month, in a case styled In re Ajasa,1 that bankruptcy courts have subject matter jurisdiction to consider nationwide class actions that allege contempt of discharge injunctions. The broader effect of the opinion is that a discharge injunction...

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Good or Bad Faith?

Hale Andrew Antico

September 10, 2023

The Ninth Circuit BAP held that the chapter 13 debtors converted their case to Chapter 7 in good faith and therefore a post-petition inheritance was not property of the chapter 7 estate.

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Critical Case Comment – Watch for Opportunities to Bifurcate Home Mortgage Claims

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

August 21, 2022

Where a Chapter 13 plan treats a claim as secured only by the debtor’s mobile home under § 506 and not real property, the effect of a notice of fees, costs and charges is irrelevant. (Coleman) In re White, 2022 WL 2826531 (Bankr. S.D. Ga. July 19, 2022) Case Summary Shalonda White filed a Chapter 13 petition in July of...

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Looking Beyond Taggart: Is the Contempt Standard for a Stay Violation the Same as for a Discharge Injunction Violation?

May 5, 2019

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Background Last year, the Ninth Circuit in In re Taggart1 ruled that an act in violation of the discharge injunction did not empower a court to find a creditor in contempt, if the creditor believed in good faith that the discharge injunction did not apply—even if the creditor's belief was...

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Critical Case Comment – You Might as Well Plan for the Wrecked Car

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

September 18, 2022

Insurance proceeds generated due to a totaled car treated under the “hanging paragraph” of 1325(a) covers the entire claim; interest, however, is not recalculated even though it was a higher rate than the interest paid under the plan. (Hanan) In re Pagan, 638 B.R. 887 (Bankr. E.D. Wis. Jan. 24, 2022) Case Summary Bankruptcy judges have been overheard saying that...

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All Taxpayers Should Plan Ahead for Natural Disasters

June 9, 2019

Floods, wildfires, hurricanes, tornados and other natural disasters happen quickly and often with little warning. No one can prevent these disasters from happening, but people can prepare for them. Here are some things taxpayers can do to help protect their financial safety should a disaster occur. Taxpayers should: Update emergency plans. A disaster can strike any time. Personal and business...

Ask Ms. Ps & Qs

Nancy B. Rapoport

November 26, 2023

“ . . . how can I not write about an opinion that begins, “This is a case of sue first and ask questions later”? We all know that Judge Christopher Klein has a way with words and a precise and methodical way of approaching statutory analysis.”

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From the Editor – Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

February 2, 2020

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Class action certification on predominance. The Eleventh Circuit remanded, finding that the District Court had abused its discretion in refusing to certify a class on a predominance theory for former debtors who had obtained discharge of personal liability on residential mortgages and who asserted violations of the FDCPA by a loan servicer. The...

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Critical Case Comment – Pigs Get Fat/Hogs Get Slaughtered

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

March 19, 2023

Below-median Chapter 13 debtor bears the burden of justifying a plan longer than three years as confirmation of a five-year plan would be denied as providing insufficient justification to exceed three years. (Robinson) In re Ingram, 2023 WL 2529730 (Bankr. N.D. Ala. March 15, 2023) Case Summary Danny Ingram filed four bankruptcy cases over 20 years. He was single with...

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