On December 17, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved a settlement between Starion Energy Inc. and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in which Starion agreed to pay up to $10 million to resolve claims that it engaged in deceptive business practices and violated state telemarketing laws.
Starion is a retail provider of electricity and natural gas that offers service to residential and commercial customers in states where energy deregulation permits customers to choose their supplier.
Weiss v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (In re Thibault), 518 B.R. 635 (Bankr. D. Mass. 2014) –
A chapter 7 trustee sought to avoid a mortgage using his “strongarm” powers on the basis that it was not properly recorded because the spelling of the debtor’s last name in the mortgage was not the “correct” spelling.
Agin v. Dookhan (In re Hultin), 516 B.R. 190 (Bankr. D. Mass. 2014) –
A chapter 7 trustee sought to avoid a transfer of the debtor’s real property using his “strong arm” powers based on an argument that the deed conveying the property did not provide constructive notice since it was not properly indexed in the real estate records.
In connection with a proposed sale of real property, a chapter 11 debtor sought to prohibit the mortgagee from submitting a credit bid. It contended that there was “cause” based on its argument that the mortgagee’s claims were subject to a bona fide dispute.
In Re Loucheschi LLC, 471 B.R. 777 (Bankr. D. Mass 2012) –
When a lender makes a loan that does not comply with usury laws it runs a risk that not only will interest and charges be disallowed, but also the entire loan may be declared void. In cases where declaring a usurious loan void is discretionary, one might expect a bankruptcy court to be inclined to do so since it could benefit the bankruptcy estate.