Last week, the 8th Circuit B.A.P. affirmed, first noting that criminal judgments, including restitution awards and liens, are afforded special protection from bankruptcy discharge.
Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Secretary C. Alan Walker filed a petition with the Commonwealth Court to appoint David Unkovic as the receiver for the financially distressed state capital, Harrisburg.
The city’s failure to come to an agreement on an acceptable recovery plan has forced the commonwealth to take this action,‖ Governor Tom Corbett said in a statement. ―As more time goes by without action, the city’s financial situation continues to get worse.‖
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The opinion is significant for a number of reasons, not least of which is that the Bankruptcy Court held that a make-whole premium is not a claim for unmatured interest as the Court of Appeals had intimated.
In an effort to broaden his appeal to members of the left-leaning electorate, Joe Biden endorsed Senator Elizabeth Warren’s bankruptcy plan during this past weekend. Ms. Warren’s plan, a material piece of the platform from her former presidential bid, is focused on protecting struggling individual consumers by reducing bankruptcy costs, streamlining the process, and expanding debt forgiveness. Like many of her plans, Ms. Warren’s bankruptcy plan is detailed and generally includes the following proposals:
On June 8, 2017, Clifford J. White III, director of the U.S. Trustee Program(“UST Program”)[1], proclaimed before a congressional subcommittee that “debtors with assets or income derived from marijuana may not proceed through the bankruptcy system.”
The acceptance of the Committee’s recommendation is a boost in Singapore’s bid to become a debt restructuring hub, and it is likely to be exciting to see how and when these recommendations will be implemented.
On 20 July 2016, Singapore’s Ministry of Law accepted the recommendations of the Committee to Strengthen Singapore as an International Centre for Debt Restructuring (the “Committee”).
Section 303 of the Bankruptcy Code provides creditors with a mechanism to force a recalcitrant debtor into bankruptcy through the filing of an involuntary petition for relief. Pursuant to this section, an involuntary bankruptcy case may be commenced only under Chapter 7 or 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, and may only be brought against a person otherwise qualified to file a voluntary petition. Where the purported debtor has fewer than 12 creditors, the involuntary petition need only be filed by a single creditor.
The good news is that public works construction projects for municipalities are projected to remain a major sector of construction activity for the foreseeable future. The not-so-good news is that municipal bankruptcy filings are on the rise, and they are likely to increase. The issues facing parties under contract with a municipality when it files for bankruptcy protection are playing out nationally in places like Stockton, California, and Detroit, Michigan.
Governor Corbett is almost certain to sign legislation that places a Receiver in charge of Harrisburg‟s finances after the House agreed to Senate changes and sent the bill to the Governor‟s desk.
The General Assembly acted despite a recent move by Harrisburg City Council to file for bankruptcy. The architects of the Harrisburg „Receiver‟ plan, State Rep. Glen Grell, R-Cumberland and State Senator Jeff Piccola, R-Dauphin, both maintain that the bankruptcy move was illegal.
In In re Smith, (B.A.P. 10th Cir., Aug. 18, 2020), the U.S. Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit recently joined the majority of circuit courts of appeals in finding that a creditor seeking a judgment of nondischargeability must demonstrate that the injury caused by the prepetition debtor was both willful and malicious under Section 523(a)(6) of the Bankruptcy Code.
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