Hooper, Kearney and Macklin on Cutting Edge Topics in the False Claims Act
Filing a reaffirmation agreement in a chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding is a commonplace occurrence for many attorneys. However, the reaffirmation process is fraught with nuances and traps for the unwary attorney. Absent...more
Much of the bankruptcy chatter arising from the pandemic world in which we find ourselves is now focusing on the cascade of new bankruptcy cases that are predicted to arrive soon. We have already seen the effects of closed...more
The Bottom Line - The United States Supreme Court recently issued a unanimous decision in Ritzen Group, Inc. v. Jackson Masonry, LLC, No. 19-938 589 U.S. __ (2020), which held that a bankruptcy court’s unreserved denial...more
On January 14, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a decision resolving the question of whether a motion for relief from the automatic stay constitutes a discrete dispute within the bankruptcy that creates a...more
The consequences of an order or judgement being final or interlocutory are enormous. An order from an interlocutory order requires leave since these orders are not appealable as of right. In addition, a failure to obtain...more
When a debtor files for bankruptcy, the Bankruptcy Code provides for an automatic stay of almost all proceedings to recover property from the debtor. See 11 U.S.C. § 362(a). A party in interest can seek an order exempting...more
In a unanimous opinion released last week, the Supreme Court provided guidance as to how to determine the finality of an order in a bankruptcy case for purposes of an appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 158(a). The Court held that the...more
On January 14, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an opinion clarifying what constitutes a final order for purposes of bankruptcy appeal. The Ritzen decision comes a few years after the Supreme Court in...more
Under the Bankruptcy Code, filing a bankruptcy petition automatically halts efforts to collect pre-petition debts from the debtor outside of bankruptcy. This is the "automatic stay," and it is a command, not a suggestion....more
Earlier this week, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion regarding appeals of orders denying relief from the automatic stay. Generally, the automatic stay (section 362 of the Bankruptcy Code) prevents creditors...more
On January 14, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Ritzen Group, Inc. v. Jackson Masonry, LLC, No. 18-938, holding that an order unreservedly ruling on a creditor’s motion for relief from bankruptcy’s...more
Today, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion of interest to every debtor and creditor in a bankruptcy case as the decision involves the automatic stay. The appeal involved a bankruptcy court’s order that enforced...more
In a recent appeal directly to the Fifth Circuit from a Southern District of Texas Bankruptcy Court, the court affirmed the bankruptcy court’s denial of a motion to compel arbitration. In Henry v. Educational Financial...more
In a March 19, 2019 summary order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a purported shareholder’s appeal challenging the chapter 15 recognition of a Cayman Islands...more
Those seeking to purchase assets or a business out of a Chapter 11 case employing a “loan to own” strategy may well have received a boost from a recent decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit....more
In a decision widely anticipated by investors in emerging market and distressed debt, the Court of Appeal has upheld the decision of the High Court to refuse to grant an indefinite moratorium on claims under certain English...more
On June 4, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lamar, Archer & Cofrin, LLP v. Appling, No. 16-1215, 138 S. Ct. 1752, 2018 WL 2465174 (U.S. June 4, 2018), that an individual debtor's false statement about a single asset, as...more
Debtors generally file a bankruptcy petition seeking a fresh start, free from their personal debts. Debtors have the option to agree to pay certain debts to retain a car or other property through reaffirmation agreements and...more
Section 523(a)(2)(B) of the Bankruptcy Code provides that a discharge under the Bankruptcy Code does not discharge an individual debtor from any debt for money, property, services, or an extension, renewal, or refinancing of...more
In my last article, I discussed how the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of a Chapter 7 debtor’s discharge because the debtor intentionally lowballed the value of his interest in a real estate investment...more
The Supreme Court held that a statement about a single asset can be a “statement respecting the debtor’s financial condition” for purposes of determining the application of the exception to discharge set forth in Section...more
The recent decision from the United States Supreme Court in Lamar, Archer & Cofrin, LLP v. Appling (“Lamar”), further restricts a creditor’s ability to pursue future recovery on its debt through a nondischargeability action...more
On June 4, the Supreme Court decided Lamar, Archer & Cofrin, LLP v. Appling, No. 16-1215, in a unanimous opinion by Justice Sotomayor. The Court affirmed the Eleventh Circuit and resolved a circuit split about the meaning of...more
The U.S. Supreme Court resolved a dispute about whether debts obtained by false promises to pay (or fraud) can be discharged in bankruptcy. On June 4, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion affirming the U.S. Court...more
On June 4, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its opinion authored by Justice Sotomayor in Lamar, Archer & Cofrin, LLP v. Appling impacting the discharge of debts under Bankruptcy Code § 523(a)(2)(A)....more