June 24, 2025
BAP Upholds Confirmation of a Plan with No Trust for Future Asbestos Claimants
Ninth Circuit BAP confirmed a plan with no future creditors’ trust when the debtor claimed there were no future claims and no one was in court representing future claimants.
9th CircuitJune 10, 2025
Supreme Court Grants ‘Cert’ in a Bankruptcy Case on Rule 60(b)(4)
Coney Island is a bankruptcy case, but the question is whether there is a time limit for a Rule 60(b)(4) motion to set aside a judgment for lack of personal jurisdiction over the defendant.
Supreme CourtApril 29, 2025
Panel Trustee’s Personal Misconduct Was Grounds for Removal for ‘Cause,’ BAP Says
The panel trustee had been found in state court to be a spousal abuser who lied in obtaining a Covid loan.
9th CircuitApril 24, 2025
On a Split, Ninth Circuit BAP Holds: Misconduct in ‘11’ Doesn’t Prevent Conversion to ‘7’
Given that chapter 7 has remedies like denial of discharge for a debtor’s misconduct, bad faith in chapter 11 doesn’t allow dismissal on conversion to chapter 7.
9th CircuitApril 22, 2025
Second Circuit Doesn’t Compel a Liquidating Trustee to Arbitrate with an Insurer
Following the Supreme Court’s Morgan v. Sundance, the appeals court interpreted an arbitration agreement like any other contract, with no policy favoring arbitration over litigation.
2nd CircuitFebruary 19, 2025
The ‘Probate Exception’ to Federal Subject Matter Jurisdiction Is Narrow
The ‘probate exception’ to federal subject matter jurisdiction does not prevent bankruptcy courts from basing decisions on state trusts and estates law, except in limited circumstances.
6th CircuitFebruary 03, 2025
A Disguised Loan Agreement Didn’t Create a ‘Fair Ground of Doubt’ Under Taggart
The Fifth Circuit undertook a legal analysis of a complex loan agreement to decide there was no ‘fair ground of doubt’ under Taggart that the lender was violating the discharge injunction.
5th CircuitJanuary 16, 2025
Fifth Circuit Arguably Expands the Barton Doctrine’s Ultra Vires Exception
A receiver was tagged $45,000 for failing to turn over estate property by demanding payment of administrative fees.
5th CircuitJanuary 15, 2025
A Transfer from the Debtor to a Constructive Trust Isn’t a Transfer of Debtor’s Property
If there’s a constructive trust on property in the debtor’s name, the debtor was only the trustee of the constructive trust and had no legal interest in the property.
3rd CircuitDecember 05, 2024
Supreme Court Hears Argument on Allowing a Trustee to Sue the IRS for Fraudulent Transfers
Most justices seemed inclined to believe that the waiver of sovereign immunity in Section 106(a) does not abrogate the “actual creditor” requirement in Section 544(b)(1).
Supreme Court