Rule 2004 Examination in Bankruptcy

On May 4, 2015, in the case Bullard v. Blue Hills Bank, the United States Supreme Court held that debtors in chapter 13 (and presumably chapter 9 and 11 as well) are not entitled as of right to immediately appeal bankruptcy court orders denying confirmation of a proposed plan of reorganization. This ruling, although consistent with a majority of circuit courts of appeal that have considered the issue, reversed governing precedent in several circuit courts—including the Third Circuit, which reviews Delaware bankruptcy court decisions.

“A boy’s best friend is his mother.” – Norman Bates

“Let’s have a family gathering for the remaining family members who still speak to each other” – Someecards, Inc.

The following Middle Market insight* originally appeared in the Spring 2015 edition of Disclosure Statement, the official publication of the Bankruptcy Section of the North Carolina Bar Association.

In re Betchan, 524 B.R. 830 (Bankr. E.D. Wash. 2015) –

A mortgagee was the highest bidder at a foreclosure sale that took place shortly before the debtor filed bankruptcy.  The lender requested relief from the automatic stay in order to evict the debtor on the basis that transfer of the property was completed prepetition so that it was not part of the debtor’s bankruptcy estate.

In yesterday’s post, we published a speech in which Harvey Miller discussed how he got started practicing bankruptcy law.  Today, we are publishing the text of a speech that Harvey gave in March of 2014 on the 40^th anniversary of the Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute, at which Harvey was a frequent speaker.  In this speech, Harvey looked back at the evolution of bankruptcy law over the past 50 years.

Introduction

As Seen in Law 360

On April 20, 2015, the United States Supreme Court denied Defendants’ petition for certiorari in Crawford v. LVNV Funding, declining to take up the issue of whether liability under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq., may be premised on the filing of a proof of claim in bankruptcy.

Asbestos plaintiffs can seek damages in two independent compensation systems: by filing tort claims against solvent defendants and by filing claims with any of the dozens of asbestos bankruptcy trusts established under section 524(g) of the Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Code. These trusts, typically set up by plaintiffs’ attorneys after a defendant enters bankruptcy, exist to compensate injured workers or the families of deceased workers alleging asbestos exposure.

Why Lawyers Need to Pay More Attention to the Distinctions Between Veil-Piercing and Alter-Ego Theories