The Bankruptcy Law Firm, Prof. Corp.
In re Maust Transport, Inc., 2018 Westlaw 4488712 (Bankr. W.D. Wash.)
A bankruptcy court in Washington has held that when a creditor assisted a bankruptcy trustee’s prosecution of a fraudulent transfer claim against a bank, the creditor was entitled to seek an award of administrative expenses for its “substantial contributions” to the Chapter 7 estate. FACTS: Following the filing of an involuntary Chapter 7 petition, one of the petitioning creditors suspected that the debtor’s secured lender had received a fraudulent transfer. The Chapter 7 trustee had no funds to pursue the case and could not locate contingent fee counsel to handle the matter. The petitioning creditor then assembled some evidence and…
The US Government Consumer Financial Protection Bureau May Scrap Underwriting Requirements For Payday Loans
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) may scrap some underwriting requirements for payday loans, which would make it easier for payday lenders to provide the loans and easier for some borrowers to procure them. The underwriting requirements in question are part of the CFPB’s payday lending rule, which the bureau spent five years working on and which the last director and the current one, Mick Mulvaney and Kathy Kraninger respectively, seek to backtrack. This part of the rule requires payday lenders to underwrite loans for borrowers who obtain more than six payday loans in a year. Lenders must verify the…
Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, U.S. Supreme Court case No. 17-1307: Meaning of the Term ‘Debt Collector’ in Foreclosure Protections Case Debated in Supreme Court Oral Argument
On 1/7/19, the US Supreme Court heard oral argument in Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, U.S. Supreme Court case No. 17-1307. A decision is expected to be issued by the US Supreme Court by June 2019. According to CNBC.com, depending what the US Supreme Court rules, the case may resolve a legal question that could have broad ramifications on hundreds of thousands of Americans who are foreclosed on without a judicial process each year. A key issue in the matter is who or what can be considered a “debt collector.” The case centers on Dennis Obduskey, a Colorado man…
In re OGA Charters, LLC, 2018 Westlaw 4057525 (5th Cir.)
In re OGA Charters, LLC, 2018 Westlaw 4057525 (5th Cir.): The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that when a bankruptcy estate is subject to mass tort claims, the estate has an equitable interest in the insurance proceeds, thus precluding extrajudicial settlements by the tort victims. FACTS: A thinly-capitalized bus charter company owned an insurance policy providing $5 million in liability coverage. One of the company’s two buses suffered an accident, killing nine passengers and injuring 40 others. The passengers filed claims against the bus company. Some of the passengers quickly entered into settlements with the insurance carrier, which…
New California Debt Collection Laws Take Effect Jan. 1, 2019
Three new CA state laws take effect on 1/1/2019, and these laws all favor debtors, and disfavor debt collectors. The three bills are A.B. 1526, which amends sections 1788.14 and 337 of the California civil code adding requirements for time-barred debts; A.B. 38, which clarifies the definition of a “student loan servicer”; and A.B. 1974, which provides parameters for collecting debts owed to public schools, ACA International’s Compliance Analyst Laura Dadd reports. Just like several other states, the amendments to sections 1788.14 and 337 of the California civil code will require debt collectors to provide consumers with a notice that…
Judge Tells Government Debt Collectors They Can’t Collect From A Broke 58-Year-Old Woman
In 1991, Vicky Jo Metz borrowed $16,613 to pay for tuition; now she’s 59, and has paid back 90% of that money – and she still owes $67,277. Metz is broke and has filed for bankruptcy. But thanks to a law signed by Bill Clinton, it’s almost impossible to discharge your student debt through bankruptcy. That’s why the US government sent their most notorious knuckle-breaking debt-collectors, the Educational Credit Management Corporation to argue against Metz’s debt being forgiven. ECMC had a counteroffer: Metz could pay $203 per month for 25 years – until she was 84 years old – and…
Geltzer v. Oberlin College (In re Sterman), 18-01015 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Dec. 4, 2018): Bankruptcy Judge in SDNY holds
Tuition Payments for Adult Children Squarely Held to Be Constructively Fraudulent, where parents were INSOLVENT at the time the parents paid the tuition for the parent’s child who was NOT a minor at time the parents paid the “child’s” tuition. However, case also holds parents paying tuition for a MINOR child is NOT a fraudulent transfer, even if the parents were INSOLVENT at the time the parents paid the tuition for the minor child: On an issue dividing the lower courts, Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn of New York squarely held that educational expenses paid for a child over the age…
9th Circuit Upholds Record $1.27 Billion Judgement Against Payday Lender
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. AMG CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC; BLACK CREEK CAPITAL CORPORATION; BROADMOOR CAPITAL PARTNERS, LLC; LEVEL 5 MOTORSPORTS, LLC; SCOTT A. TUCKER; PARK 269 LLC; KIM C. TUCKER, Defendants-Appellants, Ninth Circuit Court of appeals decision on December 3, 2018, case number No. 16-17197 The Ninth Circuit recently upheld a $1.27 billion award against a former professional racecar driver’s loan companies, finding that the companies had violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by deceiving consumers and illegally charging them undisclosed and inflated fees. The $1.27 billion judgement represents the largest litigated judgement ever obtained by the FTC. The…
In re McCormick, 894 F.3d 953 (8th Cir. 2018)
In re McCormick, 894 F.3d 953 (8th Cir. 2018): The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit holds that attorney’s fees owed to an oversecured lender arose under the parties’ agreements, even though the borrowers’ obligations resulted in nonconsensual judgment liens that did not include an award of fees. This decision, if adopted in other Circuits, such as the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (our Circuit for bankruptcy courts and US district Courts in California) increases the ability of oversecured creditors, to add attorneys fees to those creditors claims in bankruptcy cases. An oversecured creditor is…
Held: Late-Filed State Tax Return as Invalid
HELD: LATE-FILED STATE TAX RETURN AS INVALID; and because late-filed tax return was invalid, the taxes were not dischargeable, by debtor, in debtor’s bankruptcy case Kline v. Internal Revenue Service and Arkansas Department of Finance & Administration, 581 B.R. 597 (Bankr. W.D. Ark., 2018) In this case what has become known as the “McCoy rule” rearsits head again, and, like McCoy, it involves state income taxes, in particular taxes assessed by the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. The debtor filed his state tax returns years after they were due. The State challenged the dischargeability of the liabilities because the…