On January 19, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia entered an order sanctioning a collections law firm for violating the bankruptcy discharge injunction. The court in Skaggs v. Gooch (In re Skaggs) awarded the debtor $25,000 in attorneys’ fees based on a letter he received concerning a discharged debt.

On January 9, the Seventh Circuit overturned its own 39-year-old precedent to find that: (1) the definition of “transfer” for purposes of section 547 of the Bankruptcy Code depends on federal, not state, law; and (2) the date of “transfer” is the time at which the money passes to the creditor’s control.

In Worthy Lending LLC v. New Style Contractors. Inc., the New York Court of Appeals held that a security interest includes a lender’s right to force the borrower’s account debtors to remit payments directly to the lender, regardless of whether an event of default exists. Further, the court clarified that the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) does not provide a distinction between a security interest and an assignment.

In brief

The New Criminal Code became the first piece of legislation passed into Law in 2023 and was promulgated on 2 January as Law No. 1 of 2023.

On July 19, 2022, the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel ruled that a creditor’s proof of claim — while meeting the standard of the Bankruptcy Code — was insufficient to enforce the debt under state law and was therefore subject to disallowance.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has released guidance to its attorneys regarding requests to discharge student loans in bankruptcy cases.

Creditors and debt collectors may rest assured that they are not violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) when sending debt-collection communications prior to any knowledge of a debtor’s bankruptcy filing. In Carrasquillo v.

When deciding the amount of homestead exemption to which a debtor is entitled, should a bankruptcy court apply the state exemption in effect on the creation date of the lien or on the bankruptcy filing date? According to the Ninth Circuit in a recent decision, the court should apply the state exemption law in effect on the filing date of the bankruptcy petition.

With its Draft Directive, the EU Commission is paving the way for a harmonization of material insolvency law within the European Union. This newsletter is intended to provide an initial overview of which areas are to be harmonized under the Draft Directive and especially what changes and impact the introduction of "pre-pack proceedings" would cause on the existing German insolvency law.

1. Key content of the EU Commission's proposal for a directive on the harmonisation of certain aspects of insolvency law

In late August 2022, the Spanish Parliament passed the transposition into Spanish law of the Directive (EU) 2019/1023 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of June 20th 2019, on Preventive Restructuring Frameworks. The draft of this new Act was subject to multiple amendments and created great local expectations (also considerable controversy). The text finally enacted in Law 16/2022 introduces major reforms in the insolvency field which we hereby depict.

Introduction of the so-called “Restructuring Plans”