It seems that most bankruptcy decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court involve individual debtors, and the Supreme Court’s latest opinion is no exception. Even though the decision is not in a business bankruptcy case, it examines the bankruptcy court’s powers under Section 105(a) of the Bankruptcy Code.

Stephen Law filed a chapter 7 petition in California.  His only valuable asset was his home, which he scheduled at a value of $363,348.  Washington Mutual Bank held a lien against the home to secure a loan in the amount of $156,929.  Law asserted a homestead exemption under California law of $75,000.  In order to prevent the bankruptcy trustee from selling his home, Law fabricated a second lien against his home which consumed his entire equity, and obtained the cooperation of a Chinese national named Lili Lin to assert that she was actually owed money by the debtor.&nbsp

Supreme Court Rules on Importing And Selling Foreign Made Goods

On October 7, 2013, the United States Supreme Court refused to review a Seventh Circuit decision¹ in the Castleton Plaza, LP case, which held that a new value plan proposed by the debtor in which an equity-holder’s spouse would provide a cash infusion to the debtor in exchange for 100 percent of the reorganiz

In a recent unanimous decision, the United States Supreme Court made it more difficult to avoid a bankruptcy debtor discharging a debt tied to "defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity." [1] In Bullock, the Court stated that a defalcation, or misappropriation of funds, requires a

Thanks to Anna Nicole Smith and the June 2011 landmark Supreme Court decision in Stern v. Marshall, there are seemingly more questions regarding a bankruptcy judge’s authority to enter final orders (or even proposed orders) than ever before. Those unanswered questions have created considerable uncertainty and, not surprisingly, lengthier and costlier litigation in bankruptcy. Thankfully, the Supremes decided on June 24, 2013 that they will address two of the many questions left unanswered by Stern.

On May 13, 2013, the Supreme Court declined to review the ruling of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit¹ that had held that a security interest may extend to the “proceeds” of the future transfer of a license holder’s interest in its Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) broadcast license and that, under applicable state law, the security interest attached upon execution of the security agreement, despite the fact that the parties did not contemplate a transfer of the license at that time.

Last week, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Bullock v. BankChampaign, N.A., which addressed the circumstances in which a breach of fiduciary duty judgment can be discharged in bankruptcy proceedings.

On April 29, 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear an appeal of the Second Circuit's decision dismissing, as equitably moot, appeals arising out of the bankruptcy of Charter Communications and let stand the opinion in In re Charter Communications, Inc., 691 F.3d 476 (2d Cir. 2012). As a result, the application of the equitable mootness doctrine, as it applies to bankruptcy appeals, will continue to vary among jurisdictions.

In Sunbeam Products, Inc. v. Chicago American Manufacturing, LLC, 686 F.3d 372, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that a debtor-licensor’s rejection of an executory trademark license does not terminate the licensee’s right to use the trademark. The decision creates a circuit-level split that may invite Supreme Court review. However, no final resolution is likely soon. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case, denying a petition for a writ of certiorari in December of 2012.