The Bankruptcy Law Firm, Prof. Corp.
Potential Wave of U.S. Bankruptcies Draws Nearer as Corporate Distress Spreads
For many troubled companies, like luxury retailer Neiman Marcus Group Inc., which filed today, the lockdown to blunt the COVID-19 coronavirus super-charged the effects of pre-existing problems like debt overloads and the inability to please fickle consumers. For others, the debt they rack up while the pandemic rages may prove insurmountable once the health threat is over, Bloomberg News reported. “Everyone’s distressed watch list has become so big that it doesn’t even make sense to call it a watch list — it’s everyone,” said Derek Pitts, head of debt advisory and restructuring at PJ Solomon, which tracks the financial well-being…
Pillars v. General Motors LLC (In re Motors Liquidation Co.), 18-1954 (US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, May 6, 2020)
A mistake by a lawyer isn’t “deliberate” and therefore can’t be a judicial admission. Joining three other circuits, the Second Circuit held that a lawyer’s mistake in a pleading doesn’t amount to a judicial admission making the client liable when the client would have been free from liability had the lawyer quoted the correct document. The opinion is a hornbook explication of what is or is not a judicial admission. Among other things, a judicial admission must be “deliberate.” Evidently, a lawyer’s mistake is not “deliberate,” thus extricating the lawyer from the specter of malpractice. The appeal arose in the…
Housing Market Faces Its Next Crisis as May Rent and Mortgages Come Due
While aggressive federal and state intervention and temporary corporate measures have prevented a surge in evictions and foreclosures, the housing and rental market has fallen into a severe crisis that threatens the ability of millions of Americans to stay in their homes even if the coronavirus pandemic eases in the coming months, the Washington Post reported. [as reported in 5/4/20 American Bankruptcy Institute e-newsletter]
State Bank of Southern Utah v. Beal (In re Beal), 19-2043 (Bankr. D. Utah March 31, 2020)
Warning that attorneys must file bankruptcy adversary proceedings before the deadline for doing so runs, lack of expertise using Court e-filing system (CM/ECF) is not an excuse for missing deadline: State Bank of Southern Utah v. Beal (In re Beal), 19-2043 (Bankr. D. Utah March 31, 2020) Bankruptcy Judge R. Kimball Mosier of Salt Lake City dismissed an adversary proceeding complaint that was 16 minutes late because the plaintiff’s lawyer waited to file until the last minute and then encountered problems in navigating the Court e-filing system. The plaintiff’s lawyer made his appearance in a consumer’s chapter 7 case. He…
Bankruptcy Code’s Small Business Reorganization Act Debt Limit is Increased to $7,500,000 for One Year, by the CARES Act that is part of US Legislation to Combat the Covid 19 Pandemic
In February 2020, the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (“SBRA”), also known as Subchapter V of Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, went into effect. The SBRA includes a number of provisions that make Chapter 11 reorganization quicker, cheaper and more effective for businesses with total debts under $2,725,625. The recently enacted CARES Act, designed to aid businesses suffering the effects of the coronavirus, increases the debt limit to $7,500,000 for one year, which will enable a far greater number of companies to take advantage of the SBRA
Five Big Banks Suspend Mortgage Payments
Five of the nation’s largest banks have agreed to temporarily suspend residential mortgage payments for people affected by the coronavirus, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. The announcement came as Newsom provided yet another grim statistic about the economic devastation from the virus: 1 million Californians have filed for unemployment benefits since March 13 as businesses shut down or dramatically scaled back because of a statewide “stay-at-home” order to prevent the spread of the virus. Meanwhile, Newsom said California is rapidly expanding its supply of equipment for health care workers and hospital beds in anticipation of the expected surge in…
Increase In Applications for Unemployment Benefits
Wall Street Journal, on 3/26/20, reports that a record 3.28 million workers applied for unemployment benefits last week as the new coronavirus hit the economy, ending a decade long job expansion.
Mortgage Lenders Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac To Suspend Foreclosures Through April
Mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will suspend foreclosures and evictions for at least 60 days as federal and business leaders respond to the growing COVID-19 crisis that will cost people their jobs and likely tip the economy into a recession. In a statement Wednesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said the suspension by the mortgage giants applies to homeowners with a single-family mortgage, backed by either company. “This foreclosure and eviction suspension allows homeowners with an Enterprise-backed mortgage to stay in their homes during this national emergency,” said FHFA Director Mark Calabria in a statement. The agency announced…
67 Million Americans May Have Trouble Paying Credit Card Bills
Even before the spread of corona virus (aka COVID-19) brought the U.S. economy to a near standstill, Americans were taking on increasing amounts of debt. Now, around 67 million Americans said they will have trouble paying their credit card bills due to the outbreak and its aftermath, according to a new Coronavirus Money Survey by personal finance site WalletHub. “Their struggles could easily ripple through the economy if left unaddressed, especially considering the more than $1 trillion in credit card debt currently owed by U.S. consumers,” said Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO of WalletHub. According to data from the Federal Reserve, the…
Lariat Companies, Inc. v. Wigley (In re Wigley), 951 F.3d 967 (8th Cir. 3/9/20)
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the Eighth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel. The 8th Circuit held that husband’s discharge of a Minnesota state court Judgment for fraudulent transfer, against husband and wife, did not extinguish the wife’s joint and several liability for a fraudulent transfer judgment against the husband and wife. Though husband had discharged husband’s liability on the state court judgment, creditor Lariat still held a claim against wife (Mrs. Wigley) based on Bankruptcy Code 11 USC §524(e), which provides that “discharge of a debt of the debtor does not affect the liability of any other entity on,…