The Bankruptcy Law Firm, Prof. Corp.
Who Gets Funds Held By Ch. 13 Trustee When Case Converts to Chapter 7? Supreme Court Looks to Policy, Equity and the Code During Oral Argument
On Wednesday, April 1, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in two bankruptcy cases: Harris v. Viegelahn and Bullard v. Blue Hills Bank. The issue for the Court in Harris is whether funds already paid to, but not yet disbursed by, the chapter 13 trustee should revert to the debtor or be distributed to creditors when the debtor converts his case to chapter 7 after confirmation of his chapter 13 plan. Many of the questions that the Justices asked at oral argument focused not on the nuances of statutory language, but rather on the usefulness of trust law…
Will a Debtor with the Right to Appeal an Order Denying Confirmation of a Bankruptcy Plan be Less Likely to Negotiate with Creditors? Justices Examine in Bullard
The Supreme Court on April 1 heard oral argument in Bullard v. Blue Hills Bank, the second of two bankruptcy cases that the Court heard that day (an analysis of Harris v. Viegelahn appeared in Tuesday’s edition of the ABI Bankruptcy Brief). In Bullard, the Court took up the question of whether an order denying confirmation of a chapter 13 plan with leave to file an amended plan is a final order appealable as of right. While several Justices were skeptical of the dire consequences cited by respondent Blue Hills Bank, they also recognized that a debtor with the right…
Supreme Court, Advocates Struggle with Dewsnup at Oral Argument on Lien Stripping
On Tuesday, March 24, 2015, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the consolidated cases of Bank of America, N.A. v. Caulkett and Bank of America, N.A. v. Toledo-Cardona. The Supreme Court granted certiorari in Caulkett and Toledo-Cardona to decide whether a chapter 7 debtor may “strip off” a junior mortgage lien, pursuant to Sect. 506(d), when the debt owed to the senior lienholder exceeds the current value of the collateral. In its 1992 decision in Dewsnup v. Timm, the Supreme Court held that Sect. 506(d) did not permit the chapter 7 debtors to “strip down” a lien to the…
US Supreme Court has heard argument in, and has “under submission” (awaiting Court ruling) on Court’s THIRD case on jurisdiction of Bankruptcy Courts since 2011
Since 2011, the Supreme Court has decided two cases relating to the constitutional authority of Bankruptcy Courts to enter final judgments in proceedings that are outside the resolution of the debtor-creditor relationship and that seek to augment the bankruptcy estate. Stern v. Marshall, 131 S. Ct. 2594 (2011) and Executive Benefits v. Arkison, 134 S. Ct. 2165 (2014). In January 2015, the Supreme Court heard arguments in its third bankruptcy jurisdiction case in four years. Wellness International v. Sharif, No. 13-935, places at issue both the constitutional authority of the bankruptcy court to enter final judgment that a chapter 7…
Elliott v. Weil (In re Elliott)
In Elliott v. Weil (In re Elliott), ___ B.R. ___, 2014 WL 6972472 (9th Cir. BAP 2014), the U.S. Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Ninth Circuit (“BAP”) held that Law v. Siegel, ___ U.S. ___, 134 S.Ct. 1188 (2014), abrogated Ninth Circuit authority under which a debtor’s exemption could be denied, or under which a debtor could be denied the right to amend his or her exemptions, on the basis of bad faith or prejudice to creditors. FACTUAL BACKGROUND In an effort to conceal his Los Angeles home from judgment lien creditors, Edward Elliott ("Elliott") transferred his residential real property…
Supreme Court Doubleheader
The National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (“NACBA”) reports, in its 2/3/15, e-newsletter to members, that NACBA has filed amicus briefs, in two bankruptcy cases on which the US Supreme Court has granted petitions of certiorari, as follows: NACBA filed amicus briefs on Monday in two Supreme Court cases: Harris v. Veigelahn, 14-400, and Bullard v. Blue Hills Bank, 14-116. Harris asks whether funds paid into a confirmed chapter 13 plan that are still in the trustee’s possession when the bankruptcy is converted to chapter 7 should be refunded to the debtor or paid to creditors. At the time of…
In re Hoilien
In re Hoilien, ___BR___, 2015 WL 509564 (Bankr.D. Hawaii February 3, 2015): Bankruptcy Court held that creditor that proceeded with foreclosure of debtor’s real property did not violate the bankruptcy automatic stay by doing so, because there was no stay, because the bankruptcy case in issue was the individual debtor’s third bankruptcy case ongoing in 2014 (ie ongoing within a single year), and debtor had no obtained an order from the bankruptcy court, imposing a stay in the third case. Debtor hadn’t even moved bankruptcy court to impose stay, in the third bankruptcy case. Per 11 USC 362(c)(4) of the…
Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument in Mortgage Lien-Stripping Cases
The Supreme Court heard oral argument today in the cases of Bank of America v. Caulkett and Bank of America v. Toledo-Cardona, and its decision later this year could have big implications for the U.S. housing market, the Financial Times reported today. The cases present the Supreme Court with the issue of whether, under Sect. 506(d) of the Bankruptcy Code (which provides that “[t]o the extent that a lien secures a claim against the debtor that is not an allowed secured claim, such lien is void”), a chapter 7 debtor may “strip off” a junior mortgage lien in its entirety…
Tamm v. U.S. Trustee (In re Hokulani Square, Inc.)
Tamm v. U.S. Trustee (In re Hokulani Square, Inc.), ___F.3d___, 2015 WL 305540 (9th Cir. 2015): On 1/26/15, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its decision in Tamm v. U.S. Trustee (In re Hokulani Square, Inc.),. On appeal from the U.S. Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Ninth Circuit, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the BAP’s reversal of the bankruptcy court’s compensation award to a chapter 7 trustee that included fees calculated on a secured creditor’s credit bid on real property of the bankruptcy estate. The Ninth Circuit held that Bankruptcy Code section 326(a) allows reasonable compensation for…
In re Virgin Offshore U.S.A., Inc.
In re Virgin Offshore U.S.A., Inc., 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 233 (Bankr. E.D. La. January 26, 2015): The Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana held that a Chapter 11 trustee’s compensation is subject to the lodestar factors listed in 11 USC 330(a)(3) of Bankruptcy Code. when determining reasonable compensation, and that Section 330(a)(7) does not create a presumption that the statutory maximum provided for in Section 326 is reasonable compensation. Shows Courts are beginning to re-think blindly allowing Trustee’s fees in the statutory maximum amount allowed by 11 USC 326. Even though this decision involved a Chapter 11 trustee,…