A new Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals opinion[fn. 1] involves the motion of a federal inmate, who was also a Chapter 7 bankruptcy debtor, for compassionate-release under 18 U.S. § 3582(c)(1)(A). The new Seventh Circuit opinion denies the motion.
Notably, the bankruptcy Debtor/Inmate is serving a 30-year sentence for making false statements during a bankruptcy proceeding The bankruptcy statute is 18 U.S.C. § 152, which declares it is a crime when a person:
Question: What happens when a Chapter 7 debtor:
- fails to disclose the existence of claims against third parties;
- receives a Chapter 7 discharge and a closing of the Chapter 7 case;
- then, pursues the undisclosed claims by filing a lawsuit against the third parties; and
- the defendants in that lawsuit move to dismiss debtor’s claim for non-disclosure in the Chapter 7 bankruptcy?
That actually happened—and a U.S. District Court refused to dismiss the debtor’s lawsuit on summary judgment:
I’m serving on a Drafting Committee of the Uniform Law Commission for a uniform law on assignment for benefit of creditors (“ABC”). A draft of such a uniform law is coming together, with lots of input from many people and organizations. But we are always looking for more input. So, if you’d like to participate in the drafting process, let me know.
I’m serving on a Drafting Committee of the Uniform Law Commission for a uniform law on assignment for benefit of creditors (“ABC”). A draft of such a uniform law is coming together, with lots of input from many people and organizations. And we are always looking for more input!
“A discharge under section 727, 1141, 1192 [Subchapter V], 1228(a), 1228(b), or 1328(b) of this title does not dischargean individual debtor from any debt— . . .”
11 U.S.C. § 523(a) (emphasis added).
Bankruptcy courts applying the foregoing language in the early days of Subchapter V found such language to be clear and unambiguous: that only “an individual debtor” is affected.
A new, bipartisan bankruptcy bill in the U.S. Senate purports, according to an official document, to:
Question: Can a retirement fund organized under Canadian law qualify for a state law exemption requiring that it “qualify as a retirement plan” under the Internal Revenue Code?
This question gets all the way to the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of appeals, which issues a “No” answer, in Green v. Leibowitz, Case No. 23-2841 (decided 7/16/2024).
The general rule is that claims of the bankruptcy estate against third parties (e.g., preference claims and tort claims) can be sold to third parties in a § 363 sale.[Fn. 1]
However, a recent opinion from the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals discusses whether a state’s champerty law impairs a § 363 sale.[Fn. 2]
Four U.S. Supreme Court justices (Kagan, Kavanaugh, Roberts and Sotomayor) provide the following summary of their Purdue Pharmadissent in the Purdue Pharma case.
Wrong & Devastating
Today’s five-justice majority opinion is wrong on the law and devastating for more than 100,000 opioid victims and their families:
As practitioners we pour over notices of intention to appoint (NOIA) and notices of appointment of administrators (NOA) to make sure every detail is accurate. Why? Because no one wants to risk an invalid appointment because there was a minor mistake or error that was overlooked. Understandably errors occur, particularly when the appointment of administrators often happens at speed, with all parties inevitably juggling many balls. Prescribed information may have been missed, or incorrectly stated and procedural steps may have been inadvertently forgotten.