This week we present for your consideration two cases: (a) an Eleventh Circuit decision upholding a copyright infringement award against a venue operator for playing five copyrighted songs without a license; and (b) an Alabama Supreme Court decision reversing damages awarded to a farmer for a claim of conversion against a foreclosing bank that took possession of harvested crops.
Consumer debtors file bankruptcy for many of reasons, but all ultimately want the same thing: a discharge of their debts. Stated very generally, a bankruptcy discharge operates to remove the personal liability of a consumer debtor from his or her pre-petition debts. Depending on whether a debtor files Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, they can obtain a discharge within a few months after filing bankruptcy or following the completion of a five year plan of reorganization. During bankruptcy, a debtor is protected by the automatic stay.
In this week’s Alabama Law Weekly Update, we share with you two decisions from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The first concerns non-competition agreements and the second deals with FDCPA violations in bankruptcy cases.
Dawson v. Ameritox, LTD, No. 14-10084 (11th Cir. July 10, 2014) (holding that non-compete agreement was void under Ala. Code § 8-1-1, where employee signed the agreement four days before his employment officially began).
On June 12, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Clark v. Rameker, 537 U.S. __ (2014), resolving a difference between federal circuit courts on the issue of whether an inherited IRA is excluded from the bankruptcy estate under section 522(b)(3)(C) of the federal Bankruptcy Code, which exempts retirement funds from the bankruptcy estate. Recall that an inherited IRA is one that has come to a beneficiary by reason of surviving the participant whose retirement funds had been amassed during their lifetime for their own retirement.
In this week’s Alabama Law Weekly Update, we consider two recent decisions concerning potential lender/loan servicer defenses to suit in federal court.
Marrisette v. Green Tree-Al, LLC, 2014 WL 1653259 (S.D. Ala. Apr. 24, 2014) (dismissing challenge to state court foreclosure judgment underRooker-Feldman doctrine).
Chances are if you are a provider of goods or services and do business pursuant to some form of a short-term or long-term credit arrangement that you have received correspondence from a bankruptcy Trustee or a Chapter 11 debtor demanding money on the basis of an alleged “preference.” Perhaps some of you have even been served with a formal complaint demanding the same. If so, then this article is meant to take some of the mystery out of preferences and to offer some advice as to what to do when you receive such a correspondence.
WHAT IS A PREFERENCE?
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).
The first step to defending a debtor's objection to proof of claim is knowing one was filed. Debtors are required to provide notice to creditors. The Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure contain numerous rules governing notice, each describing the form, content and time periods for establishing their adequacy. Deviating from these rules could result in the relief requested being denied, despite an otherwise justifiable claim. Conversely, a creditor's untimely recognition and response to a debtor's properly noticed objection may result in harsh consequences, wh
On May 13, 2015, Judge Michael G.
When a consumer debtor files a bankruptcy petition, a notice is mailed out by the court to all of the debtor’s scheduled creditors. In most bankruptcy courts, the notice contains the debtor’s filing date, case number, and other pertinent information meant to aid a creditor in identifying the debtor. In addition, the notice typically contains several important dates and deadlines.