Given the current state of the economy, it should come as no surprise that business related bankruptcy filings increased 41.6 percent and non-business bankruptcies increased 28.4 percent between June 30, 2007, and June 30, 2008, with more than one million Americans filing for bankruptcy during calendar year 2007, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
On April 27, 2009, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari on two of three questions presented for review from the decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Schwab v. Reilly. Below, the Third Circuit affirmed the district court's decision, which held that when the values on a debtor’s list of assets and on her claim of exemptions are equal, a Chapter 7 Trustee must object to a debtor’s claim of exempt property within 30 days in order to retain his statutory authority to later sell property for the benefit of creditors.
On May 22, 2009, President Obama signed into law the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (the “Credit CARD Act of 2009” or the “Act”), Public Law No: 111-24. The Act is intended to crackdown on certain credit card practices perceived as abusive – such as retroactive interest rate increases, "double cycle" billing and the offering of "fee harvester" cards. For credit counseling agencies and those that advertise and market debt management plan services to consumers, the Act is notable in three primary ways:
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York issued a decision earlier this year that is likely to have a significant impact on bankruptcy sales of property. In In re New 118th, Inc., 398 B.R. 791 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2009), the court held that certain tax exemptions available pursuant to section 1146(a) of the Bankruptcy Code in connection with transfers of property that occur "under a plan," apply to pre-confirmation sales that close after confirmation and are necessary to the consummation of the debtor's plan.
United States Supreme Court
Washington, D.C.
November 3, 2009
On November 4, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC” or “Commission”) held a public forum to discuss proposed amendments to the Commission's Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”) to address the sale of debt relief services. The proposed rules would reshape the availability of alternatives to bankruptcy and services to counter the efforts of debt collectors.
In RGH Liquidating Trust v. Deloitte & Touche, LLP, 2011 WL 2471542 (N.Y.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. It is not surprising then that a less than scrupulous debtor might be less than candid when disclosing assets and liabilities to a bankruptcy court. But what happens if an individual debtor is discovered to have concealed assets – possibly fraudulently or in bad faith – and then seeks to exercise his or her statutory right under the Bankruptcy Code to exempt all or a portion of the discovered assets from being available to satisfy creditors? Can a bankruptcy court in that circumstance look to the bad acts of the debtor as a basi
Re Trident Fashions PLC: Exeter City Council v Bairstow [2007] EWHC 400 (Ch)
In March 2007 the High Court ruled that that non-domestic rates are payable as an expense of the administration as a “necessary disbursement” under Rule 2.67(1)(f) Insolvency Rules 1986 (IR), in priority to payment of the administrator’s remuneration.
Last week, our post “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” discussed a Texas bankruptcy court decision rejecting efforts by debtor Sam Wyly to claim as exempt a number of offshore private annuities.