Here is a great article on the status of the Warren Sapp chapter 7 in Florida. The article says he gets $45,000 of income from a tv program and other sources but they are taking the position that the debts are not primarily consumer debts. He owes something near a million in domestic support obligations and nearly another million more or less in taxes. The taxes are apparently dischargeable. The meeting of creditors is May 8 so we won’t see a UST motion to dismiss for a while if its coming.
Judge Mark Houle Tentative on the Chapter 13 Addendum
Judge Mark Houle in Riverside has written a very nice tentative on the addendum and specifically whether it has been preempted by new Bankruptcy Rule 3002.1. You can get the tentative ruling here. Addendum-TENTATIVE- Houle His position is that the addendum remains alive and well.
My Article on Friedman and the Absolute Priority Rule
My article on Friedman and the Absolute Priority Rule, “Ninth Circuit BAP Confirms: No Absolute Priority Rule in Individual Chapter 11 Cases,” has been published in the Norton Bankruptcy Law Advisor and can be found at 2012 No. 4 Norton Bankr. L. Adviser 2.
In re Taylor — District Court Reverses Judge Wayne Johnson and Rules “Chapter 13 debtor’s right to convert to Chapter 7 is absolute.”
In re Taylor — Case No. EDCV 11-1879-GHK
Appeal from Bankruptcy Court’s (Judge Johnson, Riverside) dismissal of Chapter 13 case at the confirmation hearing “for failure to make payments and….timely file a secured debt payment history declaration” even though Debtors had filed their Notice of Conversion from Chapter 13 to Chapter 7 the day before the confirmation hearing.
The District Court reversed holding that “a Chapter 13 debtor’s right to convert to Chapter 7 is absolute…the Bankruptcy Court erred in failing to give effect to Appellants’ Notice of Conversion and subsequently dismissing Appellants’ Chapter 13 case.” Case was remanded to the Bankruptcy Court.
Read the decision, written by Hon. George H. King, here. I sat next to Judge King at Federal Bar Association program a couple of months ago (Dean Chemerinsky’s annual Supreme Court Review)!
Comprehensive Report On Self-Represented Litigants
ATTENTION:
A new Public Notice – PN 12-008 Re: Comprehensive Report On Self-Represented Litigants In the Central District of California Bankruptcy Court- has been posted on the Court’s website and is attached here for your convenience.
Any questions may be directed to the ECF Help Desk at: ECF_support@cacb.uscourts.gov.
Best regards,
ECF Help Desk
(213) 894-2365
New Bankruptcy Case to be Argued at the Supreme Court Next Monday
RadLAX Gateway Hotel, LLC v. Amalgamated Bank
| Docket No. | Op. Below | Argument | Opinion | Vote | Author | Term |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11-166 | 7th Cir. | Apr 23, 2012 | TBD | TBD | TBD | OT 2011 |
Issue: Whether a debtor may pursue a Chapter 11 plan that proposes to sell assets free of liens without allowing the secured creditor to credit bid, but instead providing it with the indubitable equivalent of its claim under Section 1129(b)(2)(A)(iii) of the Bankruptcy Code.
This is from scotusblog.com. You can get all of the briefs that have been filed in the case here.
New Median Income Numbers and IRS Charts Starting May 1, 2012
There will be new median income figures beginning May 1, 2012. The median income for the debtor’s household size determines whether he has to even do the means test in a chapter 7 and determines whether the chapter 13 plan has to be 3 years or 5 years. Starting May 1, the median income in California is 49,188 for a one person household; 63,481 for two; 68,135 for three; 77,167 for four; and $7,500 for each person after that. You can find the amounts for all states here. Also, the new IRS tables are effective May 1, 2012. They can be found here.
9th Circuit Annual Report Available
You can access the new 9th Circuit Annual Report for the fiscal year 2011 here. The 92 page report for the year ended Sept, 2011 has lots of pictures and statistics. For example, there were 826 requests during the year for en banc review of which 13 were granted. Every district in the 9th Circuit had fewer bankruptcy filings than the year before except the Central District of California. There were 1,011 appeals from bankruptcy court decisions, up 29% from the previous year. Of the total appeals, the BAP got 59% of them and the disctrict courts 41%. How’s this for an interesting fact: 11% of the appeals to the BAP resulted in reversal! It doesn’t say what the reversal rate was to the district courts. Of the BAP and district court appellate decisions, 178 were further appealed to the 9th Circuit.
Court of Appeals Cases from Last Week
United States Second Circuit, 04/10/2012
In re Quigley Company, Inc., No. 11-2635 bankruptcy court order holding that an injunction issued in a corporation’s bankruptcy proceedings applied to stay certain suits against its parent company, affirmed, where: 1) the Second Circuit had jurisdiction to hear the appeal; 2) the bankruptcy court had jurisdiction to enjoin the suits against the parent company; 3) the exercise of statutory bankruptcy jurisdiction to enjoin the suits was appropriate, since litigation of those suits would almost certainly have resulted in the drawing down of insurance policies that were part of the bankruptcy estate; and 4) the injunction, modeled on 11 USC section 524(g)(4)(A)(ii), did not enjoin the suits at issue.
Thanks to Findlaw.com
Public Counsel’s 2011-2012 Annual Report
Hi everyone,
Public Counsel’s 2011-2012 Annual Report is available now on our website at http://www.publiccounsel.org/pages/?id=0060. The report outlines Public Counsel’s efforts to tackle problems facing our communities through major litigation, policy change, legislation, and direct legal services. As Public Counsel’s CEO/President Hernán Vera so eloquently states in the introductory letter to the report,
“These difficult times require all of us not only to act, but to act swiftly and decisively. Whether it is a con artist defrauding a homeowner in trouble, a school district ignoring the civil rights of a child, a government agency failing to fulfill its duties to the homeless, or a duplicitous business strip-mining equity from our neighborhoods-Public Counsel is not afraid to step in aggressively to achieve justice.”
Together with all of you, Public Counsel will continue to be a force for good in people’s lives and affirm its commitment to equality and opportunity for all.
Thank you for your continued support! Best, Maggie
Magdalena Reyes Bordeaux
Senior Staff Attorney
Public Counsel
M. Jonathan Hayes Books
Publisher
Senior Contributor
Contributors
