The United States Supreme Court ruled that 11 U.S.C. § 330(a)(1) does not authorize compensation to debtors’ attorneys from estate funds. Lamie v. U.S. Trustee, 540 U.S. 1023 (2004). A chapter 7 lawyer cannot look to the...more
Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases are straight liquidations sought by debtors who wish to have most or all of their debts discharged. In Chapter 7 cases, the Chapter 7 trustee obtains control over the debtor’s assets and evaluates...more
On December 9, 2020, Congressional Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), proposed sweeping legislation that would overhaul consumer bankruptcy law. The proposed changes generally make it...more
The Small Business Reorganization Act (“SBRA”), which became effective February 19, 2020 after being signed into law in August 2019, created a new Subchapter V of Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code with a stated purpose “to...more
"Safe harbors" in the Bankruptcy Code designed to insulate non-debtor parties to financial contracts from the consequences that normally ensue when a counterparty files for bankruptcy have been the focus of a considerable...more
When the Small Business Reorganization Act (SBRA) was signed into law in August 2019 and slated to take effect in February 2020, no one could have foreseen that, by March 2020, the U.S. economy would grind to a halt as a...more
In Whirlpool Corp. v. Wells Fargo Bank (In re hhgregg Inc.), Case No. 18-3363 (7th Cir. Feb. 11, 2020), the Seventh Circuit held that a trade creditor’s later-in-time reclamation claim was subordinate to lenders’ pre-petition...more
Part of the mission of ABI’s newly formed Task Force for Veterans and Servicemembers Affairs is to “remediate and prevent adverse debt concerns and impacts on veterans and servicemembers to ensure that we financially...more
Vendors who sell goods to troubled businesses are often shocked when they are later sued by the debtor, a creditors’ committee or a trustee for the avoidance and recovery of preferential transfers. For the benefit of the...more
While the economy is doing better of late, consumers are always at risk of being scammed and consumers who seek debt relief are no exception. ...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Summary Judgment: incorporation of an affirmative defense by referencing “previously filed pleadings” does not obviate movant’s obligation to comply with particularity requirements mandated by rule...more
Amidst a surge in retail bankruptcies, two recent decisions construing section 503(b)(9) of the Bankruptcy Code directly limit suppliers’ ability to seek administrative claims for goods shipped to a debtor in the period...more
Bankruptcy law and privacy law may appear to be wholly separate areas of the law, but they overlap more than one might anticipate. Balancing individual rights and interests to achieve a social good is at the heart of both...more
On April 1, a bevy of dollar amounts set forth in the Bankruptcy Code will change. Some of these are quite important to substantive relief, and others are quite important to making sure you don’t look bad in front of the...more
For the past several years, creditors in the Ninth Circuit were confounded by an interpretation of the bankruptcy code that permitted individual chapter 11 debtors to retain a significant portion of their assets without...more
Companies that are looking to sell, transfer or buy personally identifiable information (“PII”) via bankruptcy asset sales would be wise to confirm that such a transfer is consistent with the debtor’s privacy policy. If it...more
Chief United States Bankruptcy Court Judge Julie A. Manning decided an issue of first impression in this District and the Second Circuit on September 4, 2014 in In re Richard and Stephanie Lucarelli and Lucarelli’s Executive...more
Plagued with financial uncertainty and inadequate resources, debtors often fail to take the steps that are needed to minimize property taxes in the period leading up to bankruptcy. Tax protests go unfiled and valuations go...more
In the recent case of Davis v. Elliot Mgmt. Corp. (In re Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc.), 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48102 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 31, 2014), the District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a decision barring...more
The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act ("BAPCPA") was enacted almost ten years ago, but the effect of these bankruptcy amendments is still being decided, particularly in the realm of individual Chapter 11...more
As the economic recovery continues to wind along through the up and down financial cycles that have been the hallmark of the last four years, there can be little doubt that some individuals historically on the higher end of...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the “CFPB”) reported in 2012 that U.S. borrowers are burdened by more than $1 trillion in student debt, including over $150 billion of private student loans. According to TransUnion,...more