The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida recently dismissed allegations that a debt buyer violated the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by filing a proof of claim on time-barred debt, holding that such claims are precluded by the Bankruptcy Code, and that the FDCPA does not provide a private right of action against debt collectors who file time-barred proofs of claim in bankruptcy court.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida recently overruled a debtor's objection to a mortgagee's secured claim and denied the debtor's motion to determine secured status, holding that the issues should have been brought by adversary proceeding, and in any event neither Florida's statute of limitations nor its statute of repose barred enforcement of the note and mortgage.  A copy of the opinion is attached.

On December 17, 2015, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision of first impression, finding that an assignee for the benefit of creditors under Florida’s Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors statute (Fla. Stat. chap.  727, et.

Quite often a creditor discovers that one of its debtors has avoided satisfying a liability by fraudulently transferring assets to another individual or entity.  This is a frustrating discovery, but the creditor is not without remedies.  Under Florida Statutes fraudulent transfers can be attacked and unwound through two methods.  The popular method is filing a lawsuit to include a statutory cause of action to invalidate the fraudulent transfer under 

In a case addressing what it means to "surrender" property under the Bankruptcy Code, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida recently held that a Chapter 7 trustee's abandonment of real property only restores legal title to the debtors as if no bankruptcy petition had been filed, and does not also give the debtors the right to contest the mortgagee's foreclosure if the debtors elected to surrender the property.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida recently held that:

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida recently held that:

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida recently denied a debt collector’s motion for sanctions based on the plaintiff’s filing of allegedly frivolous consumer protection claims, which the plaintiff consumer voluntarily dismissed with prejudice after demand from the debt collector’s counsel, where the debt collector failed to show the claims met the Eleventh Circuit’s two-prong test for frivolity.

On November 23, 2015, Southern District of Florida District Court Judge Kenneth A. Marra issued an opinion affirming an order granting a creditor's motion to compel surrender of real property pursuant to a statement of intention entered by Southern District of Florida Bankruptcy Judge Paul G. Hyman in the bankruptcy proceedings of David and Donna Failla.  Failla v. Citibank, N.A. (In re Failla), Civ. No.: 15-80328-CIV-KAM, (S.D. Fla. Nov. 23, 2015), aff'd, 529 B.R. 786 (Bankr. S.D. Fla. 2014).

On November 23, 2015, in the first appellate decision of its kind, the District Court for the Southern District of Florida affirmed a bankruptcy court order to compel chapter 7 debtors to surrender real property by directing the debtors to cease all foreclosure defense. The decision in Failla v. Citibank, N.A. (In re Failla), case no. 15-80328, marks the first decision from a federal appellate court to address the question of whether a bankruptcy court may enter an order directing a debtor to cease defending a mortgage foreclosure suit pending in state court.