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On February 21, the Department of Education published a Request for Information (RFI) seeking feedback on whether there is a need to clarify the threshold for “undue hardship” when evaluating bankruptcy cases in which borrowers seek to discharge student loans. According to the RFI, current U.S.

On February 16, FDIC Chairman, Martin J. Gruenberg, spoke at an event hosted by The Wharton School in Philadelphia about the challenges associated with managing the orderly failure of a systemically important financial institution.

On January 19, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) does not cover non-judicial foreclosures in Colorado.

In May 2017, the Irish Government signed a commencement order giving immediate effect to the ‘Alternative A’ insolvency remedy of the Aircraft Protocol to the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (the Convention). The long-awaited implementation of ‘Alternative A’ gives force of law in Ireland to a regime which is similar to the insolvency regime in the USA, known as Chapter 11 “reorganisation” bankruptcy. The insolvency remedies in the Convention were designed to strengthen creditor’s positions.

Further evidence that Ireland is emerging from economic recession can be seen in the publication of the Courts Service Annual Report 2016 (the Report). An examination of the Report’s figures relating to debt collection activity shows a continuing decline in creditor litigation and enforcement. The number of default judgments marked in 2016 across the District, Circuit and High Courts shows a fall to 10,475 from 14,204 during the previous year. This represents almost an 80% drop on the equivalent number of such judgments marked in 2010.

The Court of Appeal has helpfully confirmed that a judgment creditor can seek an order appointing a receiver by way of equitable execution where:

  • the debtor holds a legal or equitable interest in property; and
  • execution against the property is not available at law by one of the usual methods, for instance via the sheriff or by a garnishee order.

There was previously doubt as to whether such a receiver could be appointed where the debtor held a legal, as opposed to an equitable interest, in property.

On May 25, at the request of the FTC and the State of Florida, a Southern District of Florida court issued a preliminary injunction order temporarily halting a debt relief operation that bilked millions of dollars from financially strapped consumers.