Type: Amicus Date: July 26, 2022 Description: Whether a bankruptcy debtor can be held liable for another person’s fraud, which cannot be discharged in bankruptcy, even when she was not aware of the fraud. Result: Pending Bartenwerfer SCt NCBRC Amicus
Author Archives: NCBRC
$5 Million Domestic Support Debt and Offshore Trust
August 9, 2022 – 1:07 pm
The bankruptcy court was not bound by the state court’s finding that the debtor’s ex-wife did not violate the stay when she had the debtor arrested for failure to pay domestic support out of an offshore trust he claimed no ownership interest in, but the court found the issues more appropriate for summary judgment and […]
Debt To Client Security Fund Dischargeable as Compensatory
August 5, 2022 – 9:19 pm
“Indebtedness arising from a disbarred attorneys’ obligation to reimburse the State Bar for payments made by the CSF to victims of that attorney’s misconduct are not excluded from discharge under § 523(a)(7).” Kassas v. State Bar of Calif., No. 21-55900 (9th Cir. Aug. 1, 2022). After the chapter 7 debtor was disbarred from the practice […]
Covid Mortgage Forbearance Justifies Plan Modification
August 2, 2022 – 3:46 pm
The court granted the trustee’s motion to modify the debtor’s chapter 13 plan, finding that the debtor’s mortgage deferral due to Covid was an “unanticipated and substantial” change in his financial status which he had a duty to disclose and which increased his income for 18 months during the plan. In re Ilyev, No. 17-12987 […]
Bankruptcy Court Takes 7th Circuit to Task
July 28, 2022 – 2:53 pm
The bankruptcy court gave the debtors guidance on how to challenge a decision issued by the Seventh Circuit earlier this month by pointing out, among other things, that the circuit court decision addressed an order not actually on appeal before it. In re Terrell, No. 18-28674 (Bankr. E.D. Wisc. July 19, 2022).
Refinancing Loans Not Consumer Debts
July 27, 2022 – 2:42 pm
The movant bears the burden of demonstrating by a preponderance of the evidence that the debtor’s debts were “consumer” rather than “business,” and the debtor’s subjective purpose in taking out the loans is a crucial factor where the debts do not fall neatly into either category. Centennial Bank v. Kane, No. 21-4597 (N.D. Cal. July […]
Debtor Not Fiduciary to Mother’s Nursing Home
July 23, 2022 – 1:21 pm
A state court judgment for breach of contract was dischargeable in the debtor’s chapter 7 bankruptcy where the breach occurred when the debtor, acting as Power of Attorney for her mother, entered into a contract with her mother’s nursing home and, acting upon advice from her mother’s legal counsel, failed to comply with its terms. […]
Debtor Squeezes Through Loophole and Lands in Dismissal
July 19, 2022 – 12:22 pm
Where the debtor filed her second chapter 13 petition while her first case was still pending, the automatic stay was not reduced by section 362(c)(3) but, without regard to the debtor’s intent, the second case was an abuse of process and the court could dismiss sua sponte after notice and a hearing. In re Giles, […]
Debtors May Not Modify Plan to Deprioritize State’s Claim
July 15, 2022 – 6:57 pm
The bankruptcy court erred in permitting the debtors to modify their chapter 13 plan to deprioritize the State of Wisconsin’s claim based on a public assistance overpayment, where the only authority for such modification would come from Rule 60(b)(1) and the debtors sought the modification too late to rely on that Rule. In the Matter […]
Debtors Need Not File Annual Updated Schedules
July 13, 2022 – 2:01 pm
In a nice win for long-time NACBA member, Greggory Colpitts, the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Oklahoma declined to place a prospective order requiring all chapter 13 debtors to submit annual tax returns and updated schedules I and J where the Code and local rules provide for annual filing of tax returns with the bankruptcy court, […]
