The Illinois Bankruptcy Lawyer Blog

Entries categorized as ‘cir 3’

case roundup – cir 1, 2, 3, 5

October 21, 2008 · Leave a Comment

seal of the bankruptcy court

seal of the bankruptcy court

Cir 1 [Oct 06, 2008]
Gray v. Evercore Restructuring LLC, No. 072588
In a bankruptcy matter alleging gross negligence and breach of fiduciary duty for formulating and promoting an unworkable restructuring plan to the bankruptcy courts, judgment in favor of defendants is affirmed over claim that the district court erred in dismissing complain on in pari delicto defense grounds.

In Re High Voltage Eng’r Corp., No. 072589
In a bankruptcy matter, dismissal of trustee-plaintiff’s claim is affirmed where: 1) the trustee filed his notice of appeal in the wrong set of cases; and 2) the misdirected filing deprived the district court of jurisdiction to modify, vacate, or rescind the fee awards.

In Re Engage, Inc., No. 081257
In a bankruptcy matter, questions on attorney’s lien statute are certified where there was no controlling precedent and where the questions were determinative of the pending cause of actions. Certified questions are: 1) Does chapter 221, section 50 of the Massachusetts General Laws grant a lien on patents and patent applications to a Massachusetts attorney for patent prosecution work performed on behalf of a client? and 2) If chapter 221, section 50 of the Massachusetts General Laws does grant a lien and the issued patents or patent applications are sold, does the attorney’s lien attach to the proceeds of the sale?

Cir 2 [Oct 14, 2008]
Browning v. MCI, Inc., No. 062079
Bankruptcy court’s order enjoining property-owner plaintiff from further prosecuting state claims against defendant-MCI is affirmed where to the extent plaintiff’s claims were viable under state law, they were pre-petition claims that were discharged by confirmation of defendant-MCI, Inc.’s plan of reorganization.

Cir 3 [Oct 16, 2008]
In Re: Mystic Tank Lines Corp., No. 06-4033
In a bankruptcy case, allowance of a state government’s claim against debtor for damages for cleanup of contamination at a gas station is affirmed where: 1) the claim was subject to the police-power exception to the automatic stay against the pursuit of money judgments in bankruptcy cases; and 2) a state court had jurisdiction to enter a default judgment against debtor, notwithstanding that the state had already brought a related claim before the bankruptcy court.

Cir 5 [Oct 13, 2008]
Campbell v. Countrywide Home Loans Inc., No. 07-20499
In a suit accusing defendant of filing a claim attempting to collect a pre-petition debt in violation of an automatic stay in plaintiffs’ Chapter 13 bankruptcy, an interlocutory order granting partial summary judgment for plaintiffs is reversed where: 1) unpaid escrow payments that accumulate pre-petition in the year that a bankruptcy petition is filed, and which the creditor had a right to collect under the loan documents, constitute a “claim” under the Bankruptcy Code; but 2) the filing of a proof of claim including the amounts of these payments does not by itself violate an automatic stay in a bankruptcy proceeding. (Revised opinion)

Share this post :

Categories: case update · ch 11 · ch 13 · ch 7 · cir 1 · cir 2 · cir 3 · cir 5 · crisis · current-events · data · economy · foreclosure · fraud · income · individual

New Case Cavalcade

September 25, 2008 · Leave a Comment

seal of the bankruptcy court

seal of the bankruptcy court

cir 3

In Re: Schaefer Salt Recovery, Inc., 06-4574 [Sept. 9, 2008]
Petitioner accused of deliberately filing frivolous petition to forestall foreclosure; bankruptcy court’s denial of sanctions and reconsideration is vacated and remanded. Reasoning: The bankruptcy court is a unit of the district court and therefore comes within the scope of sec. 451 – hence it had plenary authority to impose sanctions under 28 U.S.C. 1927.

cir 5

In the Matter of Soza, 06-21004 [Sept. 12, 2008]
Bankruptcy court’s decision to exempt an annuity, purchased a day prior to filing, from the debtor’s estate is reversed and remanded because 1) its purchase was not an intentional fraud but to decide whether the state-law based exemption should apply a lower standard should have been applied by the court; and 2) several “badges of fraud” were evident in the purchase so under a “totality of circumstances” test the transaction represented a payment made in fraud of a creditor.

cir 7

In Re: Willett, 07-1850 [Sept, 12, 2008]
Grant of debtor’s sec. 522 motion to avoid a lien on their residence is reversed and remanded because, for purposes of ruling on such a motion, the bankruptcy court should have valued the ch. 13 debtor’s interest in the real property as of the date that their interest became part of the bankruptcy estate.


cir 8

In re: M & S Grading, Inc., 07-3909 [September 09, 2008]
In a case arising out of the bankruptcy of an excavation company that participated in employee-benefit plans wherein the plans and their trustees claimed that debtor’s bankruptcy trustee improperly made payments to a bank instead of the plans, various rulings are affirmed where: 1) unpaid contributions owed to the plans were not employee contributions because the contributions were not withheld from employees’ paychecks; 2) thus, the unpaid contributions remained corporate assets and did not become assets of the plan; 3) trustee’s failure to assert a claim against the bank was justified and the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying plans’ motion to commence litigation against the bank; 4) there was no abuse of discretion in not granting an equitable subordination claim; and 5) plans’ motion for removal of the bankruptcy trustee was properly denied without a hearing.

cir 10

In re: Sandoval, 07-5165 [Sept. 11, 2008]
In the context of bankruptcy law, sec. 523(a)(7) does not render non-dischargeable a debt incurred by a debtor who has guaranteed a bail bondsman to make the bondsman whole in the event a criminal defendant jumps bail.

Share this post :

Categories: 28 U.S.C. 1927 · 451 · 522 · 523 · ED · IL · ND · case update · ch 13 · ch 7 · cir 10 · cir 3 · cir 5 · cir 7 · cir 8 · consumer · current-events · individual

filings head back up! up! up!

September 1, 2008 · Leave a Comment

Bankruptcy Filings Nearing Million

From the Bankruptcy Law Network

Posted Aug 28 by Jill Michaux

Almost a million bankruptcy cases were filed since last June according to UST statistics.

The Highlights

Consumer +28.4%

Business +41.6%

Ch. 7 +36.7%

Ch. 13 +16.9%

Ch. 11 +30.6%

Categories: Administrative Office of the Courts · BAPCPA · Census Bureau · Executive Office of the UST · IL · IND · Middle class · UST · administrative · aoc · article · bankruptcy · blogging · blogs · business filings · ch 11 · ch 13 · ch 7 · cir 1 · cir 10 · cir 11 · cir 2 · cir 3 · cir 4 · cir 5 · cir 6 · cir 7 · cir 8 · cir 9 · consumer · current affairs · current-events · data · debt · economy · filings · government unit · individual · pay.gov · subprime · trustee

Case Roundup

August 5, 2008 · Leave a Comment

cir 3

In re: Carco Elec., 07-1009 [July 29, 2008]

In a dispute between competing bidders in the acquisition of debtor’s production facilities during bankruptcy proceedings, an appeal from a protective order limiting the disclosure of the bidders’ respective trade secrets during discovery is dismissed for lack of appellate jurisdiction where the order was neither final nor appealable under the limited scope of the collateral order doctrine.

In re: Mullarkey, 05-4081, 05-4651 [July 31, 2008]

In a suit alleging fraud in a bankruptcy proceeding by co-owners of debtor’s property, dismissal of claims is reversed where the bankruptcy court had subject-matter jurisdiction over the complaint, but erred in dismissing plaintiff-debtor’s claims on various theories of preclusion.

cir 4

Sartin v. Macik, 071464 [July 28, 2008]

A state default judgment, entered as a penalty for a party’s failure to comply with a North Carolina court’s discovery order, does not have collateral estoppel effect in subsequent litigation in bankruptcy court.

cir 9

In the Matter of: Coleman, 06-16477 [August 01, 2008]

“[U]ndue hardship” determinations, whereby bankruptcy courts decide whether student loans qualify for discharge, can be ripe in a Chapter 13 case substantially in advance of plan completion.

cir 10

In re: Paul, 07-1395 [July 28, 2008]

In an adversary proceeding brought by former debtors after a bankruptcy discharge claiming that defendant violated a discharge injunction via a state court action, an order sanctioning defendant and enjoining her from pursuing the state court litigation is reversed where neither the bankruptcy court’s findings, nor the facts of record on which they are based, demonstrated that defendant’s facially permissible actions violated the discharge injunction.

Share this post :

Categories: blogs · case update · cir 10 · cir 3 · cir 4 · cir 9

case updates – hometown, cir 3, cir 8

July 24, 2008 · Leave a Comment

3rd cir

Windt v. Qwest Communications, 06-4662, 06-4808 [June 10, 2008]
In a lawsuit brought by bankruptcy trustees of a Dutch company asserting various claims against defendants who were allegedly responsible for the company’s insolvency, judgment dismissing trustee-plaintiff’s complaint on forum non-conveniens grounds is affirmed where the district court did not abuse its discretion in: 1) affording low deference to plaintiffs’ choice of forum in view of Netherlands’ substantial interest in resolving a dispute concerning alleged mismanagement of a Dutch company by board members and officers of that Dutch company; 2) concluding that avoiding problems in the application of foreign law favored dismissal; 3) balancing the public and private interest factors implicated in the case; and 4) determining that the convenience of litigating the dispute in New Jersey was outweighed by the oppressive or vexatious effect on defendants.

 

8th cir

US v. Mitchell, 07-3136 [June 10, 2008]
Conviction upon defendant’s retrial for knowingly and fraudulently making a false statement under penalty of perjury in a bankruptcy case is affirmed where the circuit court declines to revisit a double jeopardy issue, and there was sufficient evidence to sustain his conviction.

ND IL ED

In re Weadley, 06-1854
Bibby Financial v. Weadley, 07-683
Issued June 11, 2008
Judge A. Benjamin Goldgar

Categories: 101 · 109(h) · 1307 · 1308 · 1322(b)(11) · 1325(a)(5) · 1325(a)(9) · 1326(a)(1)(C) · 1328 · 15 USC 1692k(c) · 342 · 362(c)(3)(A) · 362(c)(3)(B) · 362(c)(4)(A)(i) · 363 · 5.15.1.7 · 502(b)(6) · 510 · 521 · 523 · 527(a)(2) · 528(a) · 550 · 707 · 727 · 9019 · 9023 · Administrative Office of the Courts · BAPCPA · Bankrupt · Blogroll · CA · Census Bureau · Congress · ED · ESI · Executive Office of the UST · FDCPA · FL · FLA · Fed. R. Bankr. Proc. · IL · IND · IRS · Middle class · ND · accounts receivable · adequate protection · administrative · adversary · aoc · appellate court · article · assets · audit · automatic stay · automobile · bad faith · black · blogging · blogs · bubble · business filings · call · careers · case update · cash collateral · ch 11 · ch 13 · ch 7 · chapter 7 · cir 1 · cir 10 · cir 11 · cir 2 · cir 3 · cir 4 · cir 5 · cir 6 · cir 7 · cir 8 · cir 9 · civility · claim preclusion · code · collateral estoppel · consumer · conversion · county · cox · cramdown · credit · credit counseling · creditor · current affairs · current-events · data · debt · debt relief agency · depreciation · discharge · dismissal · disposable · divorce · doyle · e-discovery · economy · elderly · empty-nest · estate · estate planning · fair credit reporting act · fees · filings · flipping · foreclosure · forms · fraud · fraudulent transfers · goldgar · government unit · grochocinski · hollis · income · individual · interest · investments · issue preclusion · jobs · joint · judge · lake · landlord/tenant · legislation · leibowitz · liability · lists · means test · median income · mortgage · non-debtor spouse · notice · opinion · pay advices · pay.gov · plan · pmsi-nonpossessory · pmsi-possessory · property · reaffirmation · real property