Reversing the lower courts, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that a Chapter 13 debtor who had made voluntary contributions to an employer-sponsored retirement plan...
Judge(s):
Sidney R. Thomas, Consuelo M. Callahan, and Gabriel P. Sanchez, Circuit Judges
The appellants failed to meet their burden of showing that recusal of the bankruptcy judge was proper. Judicial recusal is proper only in exceptional circumstances, such as where the judge...
When seizing assets pursuant to a court order, a bankruptcy trustee has judicial immunity so long as they act within the scope of their authority as court-appointed officers. In the case at hand,...
A debtor's appeal from an order granting a creditor relief from the automatic stay becomes moot if circumstances change so that the court cannot grant any effective relief. Thus, (i) the debtor's...
Judge(s):
HASTINGS, Chief Judge, SURRATT-STATES, AND CONSTANTINE, Bankruptcy Judges
While a Chapter 7 trustee or creditor seeking to deny a debtor a discharge under 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(2)(B) must adduce evidence that the debtor acted with the specific intent to frustrate the...
The safe harbor provision of 11 U.S.C. § 546(e) protects all phases of Complex refinancing and recapitalization transactions in which prior equity owners of the debtor’s parent receive payment...
Judge(s):
SUSAN L. CARNEY, JOSEPH F. BIANCO, ALISON J. NATHAN, Circuit Judges
An order reversing a bankruptcy court's decision to deny recognition of a foreign insolvency proceeding does not trigger the automatic stay of 11 U.S.C. § 1120 nunc pro tunc to the date of the...
Judge(s):
Carlos T. Bea, David F. Hamilton,* and Morgan Christen, Circuit Judges [*United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, sitting by designation]
Regardless of how they are defined or computed under the applicable contracts, make-whole fees are interest and subject to disallowance under 11 U.S.C. § 502(b)(2). However, a debtor cannot...
The chapter 7 trustee (i) had Article III standing to bring a fraudulent transfer avoidance action because the trustee represents the bankruptcy estate, not the debtor's creditors; and (ii) did not...
Judge(s):
Carlos T. Bea, David F. Hamilton,* and Morgan Christen, Circuit Judges (*United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, sitting by designation)
Avoidance under 11 U.S.C. § 724(a) of the portion of a tax lien for penalties does not alter the priority of the amount of the tax authority's unavoided lien claim against the proceeds of the...
Judge(s):
Susan P. Graber, Roopali H. Desai, and Ana de Alba, Circuit Judges
