By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Middle District of TN (Nashville) In awarding attorneys’ fees in a Chapter 13 case, a court is not limited to establishing the fee by use of the lodestar method; fees for services rendered should be based on the reasonable and customary fees charged by other attorneys performing the same...

I was the third attorney on this lien avoidance matter. Instead of it being “third time’s the charm”, it came close to being “three strikes and you’re out.” All because of FRBP 7041. This was the set up: debtor’s original counsel filed a number of lien avoidance actions, including the one against a landlord with a large default judgment. The...

Summary: Brittner filed an adversary proceeding against Beach Anesthesia alleging violations of the automatic stay, but the bankruptcy court (affirmed by the district court) held that she had either failed to establish actual damages or to mitigate damages. The Court of Appeals held that that Brittner needed to satisfy a five-part test to establish a violation of the automatic stay:  (1) that a bankruptcy...

At my firm, we see a lot of consumers who have some combination of high debt and low income. Many of them arrive for their consultations after having been abused by debt collectors and predatory lenders, harmed by mortgage servicing errors, or subjected to inaccurate and derogatory credit reporting. Until fairly recently, after filing bankruptcies for these folks, we usually...

(Reprinted with permission.  Bankruptcy Court Liaison Committee Newsletter – Spring 2023 (Northern District of Illinois)) During her tenure as a bankruptcy judge for nearly 24 years, Judge Carol A. Doyle has presided over countless chapter 7, 11, and 13 cases, leaving a lasting impact on the Chicago bankruptcy landscape.  She has been a dedicated and respected member of the bankruptcy...

By M. Jonathan Hayes We are now eight months into the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019, which took effect in February. The act attempted to establish a cheaper, quicker route for small businesses to reorganize under new Subchapter V of the bankruptcy code. Here are a few of my observations over the past several months. First, some small businesses...

By Selwyn D. Whitehead, Esq. Because inquiring minds need to know; below is a discussion of the Johnson Publishing Company, LLC’s Chapter 7 Liquidation Bankruptcy, Case No. 19-10236, which was filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division in Chicago on April 9, 2019, and its week-long auction from July 22-24, 2019. Here's...

By Kara K. Gendron, Esquire, Mott & Gendron Law (Harrisburg, PA) If a Chapter 13 Debtor has adopted a child who is eligible for assistance under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, should those funds which were received in the six months prior to filing the petition be included in the Official Form 122C–1 Chapter 13 Statement of Current...

“The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off!” [Abe Lemons] There is no better way to describe Robert Wilson in his career as an attorney, as a trustee, in his life thus far, and surely in his retirement! He has filled and will continue to fill every second of every day with meaning and purpose and...