The debtor was entitled to reopen her bankruptcy case to disclose a post-confirmation, pre-discharge lawsuit where she successfully completed her 100% plan so there was no harm to creditors by her failure to timely disclose the lawsuit, and the debtor would benefit from the opportunity to comply with Eleventh Circuit disclosure requirements. In re Calixto, […]
Author Archives: NCBRC
Trantham v. Tate (In re Trantham), No. 22-2263 (4th Cir.)
March 14, 2023 – 2:42 pm
Type: Amicus Date: February 28, 2023 Description: Permissibility of nonstandard Chapter 13 plan provision providing that estate property vested in the debtor upon plan confirmation. Status: Pending Trantham 4th Cir NACBA amicus
Trustee Entitled to Attorney’s Fees for Exemption Dispute
March 14, 2023 – 1:55 pm
Where the debtor’s original exemption claim was for bodily injury, the trustee had a reasonable argument that the actual post-petition settlements of her personal injury case, which specified that they were for non-bodily-injury damages, did not fall under that exemption. Because the trustee’s objection related to the post-settlement exemption claim, it was timely. Biondo v. […]
Debt Owed to Trust is DSO
March 9, 2023 – 2:09 pm
Where the debtor’s payments to his ex-wife’s Trust were in lieu of alimony and were understood by both the debtor and his ex-wife to be for her future support, the payments were in the nature of a domestic support obligation not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Hundt v. Ventrone (In re Ventrone), No. 21-11643, Adv. Proc. Nos. […]
Debt Collector Can’t Blame Debtor or FDCPA for Discharge Violation
March 3, 2023 – 3:53 pm
A debt collector’s efforts to collect an unsecured judgment that had been discharged in bankruptcy violated the discharge injunction even though the debtor requested information about the debt. The statement sent to the debtor was explicitly designated an “attempt to collect a debt,” and the debt collector had sufficient information to alert it to the […]
Good Faith in Failure to Disclose Lawsuit
February 27, 2023 – 6:31 pm
Where the debtor failed to amend her schedules before her case was closed, she forfeited the right to do so as a matter of course, but based on the facts and circumstances in this case, the debtor’s neglect was excusable. The court allowed her to reopen her case to claim an exemption in a personal […]
Passive Voice and 1885 Case Sink Debt Discharge
February 23, 2023 – 12:00 pm
SCOTUS determined that section 523(a)(2)(A), which excludes from discharge debts incurred by fraud, applies to innocent partners of the fraudulent actor where the statute does not draw any connection between the individual debtor and the fraudulent conduct but instead is written in passive tense saying merely that a debt owed by an individual and procured […]
Creditor Estopped from Objecting to Amended Plan
February 21, 2023 – 12:40 pm
A mortgage creditor who accepted the debtor’s plan could not late object to confirmation of an amended plan that contained the same terms with respect to that creditor. In re Ritter, No. 22-40120 (Bankr. S.D. Ill. Feb. 2, 2023).
Chapter 7 Trustee Bound by Pre-Conversion Agreement
February 17, 2023 – 4:53 pm
The chapter 7 trustee was bound by the chapter 13 trustee’s pre-conversion concession that the creditor’s liens were valid, and therefore the chapter 7 trustee could not prevent the creditor from receiving the proceeds from the sale of the property securing the liens. In re Hillis, No. 20-70372 (Bankr. M.D. Ga. Jan. 11, 2023).
Creditor Must Resume Statements After Discharge
February 15, 2023 – 5:39 pm
PNC’s TILA obligation to provide regular statements concerning the plaintiffs’ debt resumed after the debtors received their bankruptcy discharge even though the plaintiffs’ bankruptcy case was not closed until almost four years later. Polonowski v. PNC Bank, NA, No. 20-151 (W.D. Mich. Jan. 23, 2023).
