Debtors, Consumer Bankruptcy, Judicial Estoppel

Establishing Judicial Estoppel Defense Against Bankruptcy Plaintiff Just Became Harder

Jackson Lewis P.C. on 1/22/2020

Establishing the judicial estoppel defense against a bankrupt plaintiff will be harder in the Eleventh Circuit following Smith v. Haynes & Haynes P.C., 940 F.3d 635 (11th Cir. 2019). Judicial estoppel is a legal defense...more

Is Judicial Estoppel Dead?

Butler Snow LLP on 1/10/2019

Simply put, judicial estoppel is an equitable doctrine that is intended to prevent a party from deliberately taking inconsistent positions under oath in separate proceedings and thus making a mockery of the judicial system. ...more

Fifth Circuit: Debtor Judicially Estopped For Failure To Disclose Asset

Fox Rothschild LLP on 8/2/2018

In a recent opinion, the Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that found that a debtor was judicially estopped from claiming a stay violation by a mortgagee, who foreclosed on the debtor’s property, due to the...more

Eleventh Circuit Narrows Application of Judicial Estoppel

Burr & Forman on 10/25/2017

The Eleventh Circuit has revisited the question of when a debtor may be judicially estopped from pursuing a civil lawsuit due to his or her failure to disclose the claims forming the basis of the lawsuit in their bankruptcy....more

Debtor’s Failure to Disclose No Longer Deadly in Eleventh Circuit

Perkins Coie on 10/3/2017

Employers and other defendants suffered a setback recently. Most large companies have been sued by an employee who failed to disclose the lawsuit or cause of action in their individual bankruptcy case. For many years, the...more

Inadvertence May Be Unavailing, Says the Fifth Circuit on Judicial Estoppel

Butler Snow LLP on 7/15/2014

The Fifth Circuit became the second United States Court of Appeals to establish a three prong test for determining whether a bankrupt debtor should be judicially estopped from pursuing a cause of action that she failed to...more