THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2023 While we often recite that bankruptcy is for the honest but unfortunate debtor, a new case from the Supreme Court shows that getting into bed or business with the wrong person can lead to a non-dischargeable debt for an innocent spouse. The case is No. 21-908, Bartenwerfer v. Buckley, which you […]
December 26 2022 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed a bankruptcy court’s judgment in favor of a debtor who sought to avoid a judgment lien under California’s homestead exemption law. In so ruling, the Ninth Circuit held that, when a judgment lien impairs a debtor’s state-law homestead exemption, the Bankruptcy […]
On June 9, 2022, California approved new commercial financing disclosure regulations proposed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI). Those regulations go into effect on December 9, 2022. The commercial financing disclosure regulations extend consumer style disclosure protections to California small businesses seeking commercial financing. The result is that providers of certain […]
October 31 2022 The California Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District recently reversed a trial court’s decision to affirm an arbitration award that upheld the validity of a late payment fee assessed to borrowers in the event of a borrower’s default. In so ruling, the Court held that: (1) Arbitration awards regarding liquidated […]
You have likely heard the term “piercing the veil.” This legal doctrine permits a court to ignore corporate formalities and hold an individual owner liable for a company’s debt. But you may be less familiar with the doctrine of reverse veil piercing, which permits a court to hold a company liable for the debt of an […]
On August 29, 2022, in the PG&E bankruptcy matter, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit became the first circuit-level court to address the question of what is the correct rate of interest to be applied to unimpaired unsecured claims against a fully solvent debtor.[2] In its decision, the Ninth Circuit reversed the bankruptcy court’s and district […]
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently affirmed the judgment of a trial court and held that non-consumers cannot bring a claim under Section 1692c(b) of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The Eighth Circuit also concluded that there was no abuse of discretion in the trial court because the […]
In a much anticipated decision released September 8, an en banc panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s decision that a debt collector’s outsourcing of its letter process to a third-party mail vendor violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act’s (FDCPA) prohibition on third-party disclosure and ruled that plaintiff Hunstein […]
On June 21, 2022, President Joseph Biden signed S.3823 into law. The law, which is effective immediately, makes the following material changes to the Bankruptcy Code. The $7.5 million debt limit for eligibility for Chapter 11, Subchapter V bankruptcy cases is renewed for another two years: In 2019, Congress passed the Small Business Reorganization Act […]
UPDATE: At midnight on March 27, 2022, certain provisions of the CARES Act expired. Importantly for insolvency practitioners, the subchapter V debt limit of $7,500,000 reverted to the lower original amount of $2,725,625. It appears that Congress is working to reinstate the higher debt limit and at least one bill has been proposed (S. 3823) […]