Bankruptcy is all about the debtor’s assets, specifically how many and who gets them. The reason that many bankruptcy cases are contentious is that the parties often disagree about the amount of assets available for distribution to creditors, as well as how the assets should be divvied up.

In a recent case, a lawyer was sanctioned by an Ohio bankruptcy judge for his conduct in connection with an adversary proceeding he brought on behalf of a client against a Chapter 7 debtor. The lawyer was vindicated, though, after the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Sixth Circuit (the “BAP”) reversed the bankruptcy court on appeal.

Background Facts

Bankruptcy is a process that permits people to discharge debts, but not all debts are dischargeable. In a recent opinion, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (the “District Court”) reversed a U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (the “Bankruptcy Court”) ruling that a state court criminal restitution claim is dischargeable.

THE BACKGROUND FACTS

In the Summer of 2014, we wrote about a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Michigan (the “Bankruptcy Court”) involving an intra-family squabble.

There is nothing quite like a big sale to a new customer - the prospect of recurring revenue from a new source, the validation of business strategy, or the culmination of a successful negotiation.

However, there is nothing more disheartening than when a new customer is unable or unwilling to pay for the product you just shipped or services you just provided.  Perhaps there is one thing that is worse, when a long-term customer fails to pay. 

Students have taken on more than $1 trillion in debt to pay for the relentlessly rising costs of higher education. With that much debt outstanding, it’s no surprise that there are increasing numbers of borrowers defaulting on student loan debt, and seeking to discharge that debt by filing for bankruptcy protection. But, as a Wisconsin man recently learned, discharging student loan debt in bankruptcy is no easy feat.

On November 30, 2015, the City of Detroit began filing complaints against vendors and service providers seeking to avoid and recover potentially “preferential payments” made by the City of Detroit during the 90 days preceding entry of the Order for Relief in its Chapter 9 bankruptcy case.  The Order for Relief was entered on December 5, 2013, and the City must file its claims by December 5, 2015.

As part of a modernization effort that began in 2008 that is being spearheaded by the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules, most official bankruptcy forms are being replaced with revised, reformatted and renumbered versions, effective December 1, 2015.

All is not lost when a debtor files Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. In addition to teaching the ins and outs of how to collect money and assets in a Chapter 13, the video below discusses the basics of a Chapter 13, motions for relief from stay, co-debtor stay, non-dischargeable claims, and other topics to efficiently and effectively obtain what is rightfully yours in a bankruptcy. View the video below to learn more about Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

The scope and extent of debts that may be discharged is an often litigated issue in bankruptcy. In a recent Chapter 13 case in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the bankruptcy court considered whether an otherwise dischargeable government penalty debt is nondischargeable if the debt arises from fraud^.[1]