In a win for debt buyers and servicers, the Supreme Court held in Midland Funding, LLC. v. Johnson that the filing of a proof of claim in a bankruptcy case for obviously time-barred debt is not false, deceptive, misleading, unfair, or unconscionable within the meaning of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA). The Decision … Continue Reading
After several years of drafting, debate, compromise and fine tuning, it appears that major changes to the administration of consumer bankruptcy cases are imminent. On April 27, 2017, Chief Justice John Roberts submitted to Congress amendments to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure that will have a profound impact on consumer bankruptcy cases. The most … Continue Reading
Just last fall, we wrote about the Eleventh Circuit’s decision in In re Failla, Case No., in our article, “The Eleventh Circuit has spoken: Debtors who surrender property must get out of the creditor’s way.” Now, it appears that the discharge of a debtor’s mortgage loan in bankruptcy has other implications as well, including eliminating … Continue Reading
In recent years, there has been a hotbed of litigation across the nation, particularly in Florida state and bankruptcy courts, regarding a debtor’s ability to contest a secured creditor’s foreclosure notwithstanding the debtor’s previous “surrender” of the subject collateral in bankruptcy. The issue ultimately made its way to the Eleventh Circuit and, much to the … Continue Reading
Good news for residential mortgage lenders: the Fourth Circuit recently held that post-petition mortgage payments under a Chapter 13 “maintenance and cure” bankruptcy plan should be calculated using the default interest rate triggered prior to the debtors’ bankruptcy. In Anderson v. Hancock, the court rejected the debtors’ argument that post-petition mortgage payments at the non-default … Continue Reading
Several of the Official Bankruptcy Forms will be replaced on December 1, 2015. For creditors, the most notable changes will be to two forms: the Proof of Claim form, Form 410, and the Mortgage Proof of Claim Attachment, Form 410A. These changes reflect an effort by the Bankruptcy Courts to elicit a clear and complete … Continue Reading
Following up on our coverage in the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a debtor in a Chapter 7 case cannot ‘strip off’ or void a wholly unsecured junior mortgage under section 506(d) of the Bankruptcy Code, I had the opportunity to discuss the ruling with Colin O’Keefe of LXBN TV. In this video interview, … Continue Reading
This morning, the United States Supreme Court ruled that debtors in Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases cannot “strip off,” or completely void, junior mortgages that—based on the value of the property and the amount of claims secured by senior mortgages—are completely underwater. This ruling eliminates a potential means for Chapter 7 debtors to maximize the relief … Continue Reading
Timely proof of claim filings by secured creditors have “been a thorn in the side of many Chapter 13 cases involving secured creditors,” according to Judge Wood in In re Pajian. However, a recent Seventh Circuit decision may cause the industry to revise their current process for proof of claim filings. Bankruptcy Rule 3002(c) requires … Continue Reading
