In a non-precedential ruling, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld a district court decision to grant summary judgment in favor of a defendant that was sued for violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
This past Friday, February 8, 2019, a panel of the Fourth Circuit unanimously held that the Bankruptcy Code does not bar a creditor from asserting an unsecured claim for attorneys’ fees incurred after the filing of a bankruptcy petition if those fees are guaranteed by a pre-petition contract. In Summitbridge Nat’l Invs. III, LLC v. Faison, No. 17-2441, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 3967 (4th Cir. Feb.
As summarized in the March 2018 issue of the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, ABI’s Consumer Bankruptcy Committee has recently issued several recommendations and made several observations regarding the treatment of student loans under the Bankruptcy Code, codified in Title 11 of the United States Code.
Rev Op Group v. ML Manager LLC (In re Mortgages Ltd.), 771 F.3d 623 (9th Cir. 2014) –
Under the terms of a debtor’s confirmed plan of reorganization, an entity (ML Manager) was designated to manage the debtor’s portfolio of mortgage loans. The issue in this appeal was whether ML Manager was authorized to act as an agent for pass-through investors in selling loans over the objection of some of the investors.
n re New Bride Missionary Baptist Church, 509 B.R. 85 (Bankr. E.D. Mich. 2014) –
After the bankruptcy court denied confirmation of a debtor’s proposed chapter 11 plan of reorganization because there was no accepting impaired class, the debtor proposed an amended plan that placed a mortgagee’s large deficiency claim in one class and claims of other unsecured creditors in a separate “administrative convenience” class.
Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC v. Summit Bank, N.A. (In re Francis), 750 F.3d 754 (8th Cir. 2014) –
A lender that attached the wrong legal description to its recorded mortgage sought equitable subrogation and/or reformation of the mortgage in order to obtain a first priority lien on the intended property.
A chapter 7 trustee successfully sought to avoid a mortgage using his “strong arm” powers on the basis that the mortgage was not properly acknowledged. Once again a mortgagee paid dearly for sloppy execution of a document.