When Byron David filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case in July of 2018, Donald King was appointed Chapter 7 trustee. King filed an application to retain a law firm as his counsel. The bankruptcy court granted that application…
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/ Bankruptcy, Business Organizations, Civil Procedure
In a significant legislative shift, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 doubled the exemption amounts for estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes (collectively known as “Death Taxes”). As of 2024, the federal…
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/ Taxation, Wills, Trusts, & Estate Planning
When the government wants to take private property for a public project, it must compensate the owner at fair market value. The just compensation concept comes from the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause, which provides: “nor…
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/ Civil Procedure, Real Estate - Residential, Zoning, Planning & Land Use
Real property tax certificate sales provide a way for taxing authorities to collect delinquent taxes without having to foreclose on properties and take ownership. When the purchaser of the tax sale certificate obtains the…
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/ Finance & Banking, Real Estate - Residential, Securities Law
Nearly four years after the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, issues concerning the legal consequences of executive and legislative orders shutting down business operations are still working their way through appellate courts…
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/ Civil Procedure, Commercial Law & Contracts, Real Estate - Commercial
Roughly a decade ago, then-Governor Larry Hogan nixed plans for a public transit project connecting East and West Baltimore known as the Red Line. Governor Wes Moore revived the Red Line project in June 2023, and in recent…
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/ Transportation, Zoning, Planning & Land Use
The scenario is fairly common. A bank makes a loan to a business. The owners of the business guarantee the loan. The business defaults. The owners blame each other for the failure of the business. When the bank demands…
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/ Civil Procedure, Commercial Law & Contracts, Finance & Banking
News accounts of instances of stolen identity in which identity thieves incur debts in the names of innocent consumers are common. Given the structure of the consumer credit industry, it is difficult for consumers to know where…
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/ Consumer Protection, Finance & Banking
The scope of Bankruptcy Court jurisdiction has been the subject of numerous decisions, including multiple decisions by the United States Supreme Court since Bankruptcy Courts were created by the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978…
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/ Bankruptcy, Civil Procedure, Construction Law
The “loss before foreclosure rule” provided for in the Restatement (Third) of Property (Mortgages) §4.8 specifies that when improvements on secured property are destroyed by fire and the loan is due and payable, where a…
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/ Finance & Banking
The June 27, 2023 decision of the United States Supreme Court in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co. demonstrates that the Justices of the Court, as currently constituted, have difficulty reaching consensus even on issues…
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/ Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law
By: William L. Hallam The American Law Institute, a group of prominent judges, lawyers, and professors, publishes the Restatements of the Law. According to Brooklyn Law School, “The drafting process of the Restatements is…
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/ Civil Procedure, Construction Law, Consumer Protection
In Barton v. Barbour, the United States Supreme Court held that before another court could obtain subject matter jurisdiction over a suit against a receiver for acts committed in the receiver’s official capacity, the plaintiff…
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/ Bankruptcy, Civil Procedure, Professional Malpractice
In an apparent case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that the fact that the district court may be foreclosed by governmental immunity from ordering relief prevents the federal court from…
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/ Civil Procedure
As originally enacted, the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) required most people to maintain health insurance. Those who did not maintain the required insurance were obligated to pay a “shared responsibility payment” (“SRP”), often…
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/ Bankruptcy, Civil Procedure, Health, Insurance, Taxation
