A creditor that fails to object to treatment of its loan in the debtor’s proposed chapter 13 plan cannot object to modification of that plan where the modification did not change treatment of its loan. In re Powell, No. 21-3069 (Bankr. D.S.C May 16, 2022).
Author Archives: NCBRC
Creditor Could Not Object to Modification that Did Not Change Treatment of its Loan
July 8, 2022 – 12:56 pm
Lender Sanctioned for Self-Inflicted Wound
July 6, 2022 – 8:00 pm
The lender’s efforts to coerce the debtors to reopen their bankruptcy case to reaffirm the mortgage agreement violated the discharge injunction where post-discharge reaffirmation was legally unavailable and the court found the lender was merely attempting to collect personally against the debtors. In re Go, No. 21-12657 (Bankr. D. Nev. June 29, 2022).
Carve-Out Agreement Creates Exemptible Equity
June 30, 2022 – 3:13 pm
The debtor was entitled to obtain the benefit of her homestead exemption even though, at the time she filed her petition, she had no equity in the property, where “the secured creditor’s agreement to accept less money upon a sale creates equity in the home where none existed before.” Stark v. Pryor (In re Stark), […]
Language in Divorce Order Did Not Deprive Debtor of Right to Exemption
June 28, 2022 – 1:24 pm
The debtor’s interest in her ex-husband’s retirement account was exemptible in her bankruptcy even though the funds had not yet transferred and the Judgment of Dissolution order stated that the funds were to be used to pay off the debtor’s credit card debt. In re Steinke, No. 21-90618 (Bankr. C.D. Ill. June 15, 2022).
Cat Confiscation Case
June 24, 2022 – 3:47 pm
The County Animal Control Office did not violate the automatic stay when it refused to return 36 cats it had confiscated from the debtor’s property where it acted within its police and regulatory powers, and the court lacked jurisdiction to order the return of the cats where the trustee had abandoned them. In re Mitchell-Smith, […]
Taggart Contempt Standard Applies in Chapter 13
June 21, 2022 – 1:16 pm
A bankruptcy court in the District of South Carolina found that the objective standard in a civil contempt proceeding, under which the creditor may assert a fair ground of doubt as to whether its conduct violated a court order, applies in the context of a contempt action based on violation of a chapter 13 discharge […]
Scotus Denies Cert in Fee Harvesting Case
June 14, 2022 – 1:11 pm
The Supreme Court denied certiorari in the case of Sensenich v. PHH Mortgage Corp., No. 21-1322 (cert denied, June 13, 2022). The Chapter 13 Trustee sought reversal of the Second Circuit decision that the bankruptcy court lacked the power to monetarily sanction PHH Mortgage Corp. for its fee harvesting practice which violated Bankruptcy Rule 3002.1. […]
Conjunction Junction Solves the Case
June 14, 2022 – 12:48 pm
Where the debtor’s restitution obligation was payable to Identified Consumers rather than a governmental unit, it did not fall within section 523(a)(7)’s exception to discharge. State of New Hampshire, Banking Department v. Dargon, No. 20-30300, Adv. Proc. No. 20-3017 (Bankr. D. Mass. March 11, 2022).
Act Not Willful Where Debtor Suffered Acute Psychosis
June 13, 2022 – 5:41 pm
A debt based on a civil judgment for pain and suffering arising out of an incident during which the debtor had an acute psychotic break and severely beat the claimant, was dischargeable in bankruptcy because his psychiatric condition prevented him from acting willfully within the meaning of section 523(a)(6). Lombardi v. Picard (In re Picard), […]
Divorcing Debtor’s Plan Proposed in Good Faith
June 8, 2022 – 2:48 pm
The below-median debtor was entitled to confirmation of his chapter 13 plan where he proposed his plan in good faith and committed all of his disposable income to it despite the fact that he was in the middle of a divorce and his income and expenses were in a state of flux. In re […]
