It’s a beautiful day for the beach. Even though some of us may be at the beach today (and if you are at the beach, why didn’t you invite us?), bankruptcy, like time, waits for no one. Wherever we happen to be, ‘tis the season for a little something light – or at least lighthearted. In the spirit of summer Fridays, we wanted to take the opportunity to bring you some of the colorful quotes that we’ve come across in bankruptcy decisions over the past few months. And for those of you who crave more: worry not – we’ll keep combing our records in efforts to bring you furth
The Eleventh Circuit’s recent opinion in Wiand v. Lee clarifies longstanding issues relating to an equity receiver’s standing to pursue clawback claims for the benefit of the receivership estate under the Florida Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (“FUFTA”). See Wiand v. Lee, 2014 WL 2446084 (11th Cir. Jun.
Mortgage litigators often face a variety of bankruptcy issues. There are three main chapters of bankruptcy that affect the average mortgage litigator: Chapter 7, Chapter 13 and Chapter 11. Upon the filing of Chapter 7, Chapter 13 and Chapter 11 by a borrower, the bankruptcy code provides for a bankruptcy automatic stay. The automatic stay provides that all judicial or administrative proceedings or actions against a borrower must immediately stop. This includes all foreclosure actions, eviction actions and general state court litigation against a borrower.
Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the Southern District of New York last week ruled that the U.S. Bankruptcy Code does not permit a bankruptcy trustee to recover foreign transfers. Specifically, Judge Rakoff refused to allow Irving Picard, the trustee of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (“BLMIS”), to recoup monies initially transferred from BLMIS to non-U.S.
International businesses involved in transactions associated in some way with U.S. citizens received a measure of relief over the 4th of July holiday weekend.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Clark v. Rameker has given individuals with IRAs a new reason to consider the use of trusts as their designated beneficiaries. On June 12, 2014, the Court’s unanimous decision made clear that inherited IRAs do not receive bankruptcy protection under federal law.
FEDERAL EXEMPTION
The inclusion of third-party releases in plan of reorganization can be a particularly contentious aspect of the plan confirmation process. Debtors seeking such releases typically face opposition from affected creditors and scrutiny from bankruptcy courts that consider such releases prone to abuse.
In re Madoff Securities Extends Morrison Framework to Prevent Avoidance of Purely Foreign Transfers under SIPA and the Bankruptcy Code
In Crawford v. LVNV Funding, LLC, the Eleventh Circuit became the first federal circuit court of appeals to hold that filing a proof of claim on a time-barred debt in a bankruptcy case violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”).[1] See No. 13-12389,__ F.3d __, 2014 WL 3361226 (11th Cir.