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In re Neclerio, 393 B.R. 784, 790 (Bankr. S.D. Fla. 2008) (Olson) (Citing Money v. Kagenveama (In re Kagenveama), 527 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2008), as amended, 541 F.3d 868 (9th Cir. 2008), and disagreeing with several other Florida decisions, projected disposable income test unambiguously and mechanically generates an amount and then “projects” that number over the applicable commitment period to fix the amount that must be paid to unsecured creditors through a Chapter 13 plan. That the result will sometimes lead to “peculiar results” must be “accepted as the will of Congress.”).

See Also: Bankruptcy Lawyers Boston

Brannanv. Btymer(In reBrannan),Hos. 06-32392-DOT,06-03125-DOT,2008 WL 1752206, at*12 (Bankr. E.D. Va. Apr. 14, 2008) (Tice) (Transaction in which debtor conveyed partial interest in property to stop foreclosure and in which other party borrowed additional funds secured by property “was an equitable mortgage subject to TILA, [and] debtor had the right to rescind it within three years if proper disclosures and information were not provided to her. It is undisputed that the proper disclosures were in fact not provided. Therefore, debtor has a three-year period within which to rescind the transaction.” Award of damages is reserved, although debtor failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence actual fraud under Virginia law, eliminating basis for punitive damages.), amended in part, No. 06-03125-DOT, 2008 WL 4526217 (Bankr. E.D. Va. Sept. 30,2008) (Tice) (Judgment is entered for all defendants with respect to Truth-in-Lending Act allegations.).

Regan v. Beneficial Mass., Inc. (In re Regan), No. 07-1308, 2008 WL 4373001, at *16 (Bankr. D. Mass. Sept. 22, 2008) (Feeney) (Complaint alleging multiple violations of Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act is dismissed when debtors failed to respond to summary judgment motion “with evidence to establish the existence of genuine and material issues of fact.”).

Turner v. Universal Debt Solutions, Inc. (In re Turner), No. 07-1139-DHW, 2008 WL 4168488, at *2 (Bankr. M.D. Ala. Sept. 5,2008) (Williams) (Collection notices violated Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a), by requiring debtor to dispute debts in writing within 30 days; statute “does not limit the method of notice and would permit oral notice of dispute.”).

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In re Rogers, No. 07-31186, 2008 WL 1902050, at *5 (Bankr. E.D. Tenn. Apr. 25, 2008) (Stair) (Objection to claims filed by eCast Settlement Corp. based on advisory opinion of Tennessee Attorney General that eCast should be licensed under Tennessee Collection Services Act are denied when Collection Service Board—”the governing body for application and implementation of the statutory requirements of [the Collection Service Act”—determined, subsequent to Attorney General’s advisory opinions, that eCast was not required to be licensed by the State of Tennessee.).
In re Jackson, No. 06-10814 (BLS), 2008 WL 1700415 (Bankr. D. Del. Apr. 9, 2008) (Shannon) (Debtor overcame statutory presumption of validity of claim for rent and other charges; landlord had general unsecured claim after debtor surrendered possession of property.).

See Also: Bankruptcy Lawyers New York

In re Pruitt, 401 B.R. 546, 554-66, 571 (Bankr. D. Conn. 2009) (Dabrowski) (Chapter 13 plan can surrender 910-day PMSI car in full satisfaction of debt. “The pre-existing ‘claim’ . . . that a creditor brings to a bankruptcy case necessarily has its origins in State Law. .. . [T]he ultimate amount, character and class of a creditor’s claim for purposes of treatment in the bankruptcy case is determined solely by the rules and principles of the federal bankruptcy law…. Section 502 stands in ultimate derogation of State Law. Because Title 11 is plenary and supreme, some claims that are potentially enforceable under State Law are nonetheless disallowed in a bankruptcy case, and visa versa …. [Fjor purposes of treatment in bankruptcy cases Congress intended that State Law deficiency claim concepts be wholly displaced by the plenary bankruptcy law standards of claim characterization .... [T]he Hanging Paragraph’s disabling of bifurcation should have general and uniform application to 910-Vehicle Claims in all treatment contexts. . . . [T]he ’surrender’ treatment option… fully satisfies the deemed unitary claim of Banknorth, and renders unnecessary any separate treatment of an ‘unsecured’ claim component representing any actual deficiency in the collateral for such claim [Butner v. United States, 440 U.S. 48, 99 S. Ct. 914, 59 L. Ed. 2d 136 (1979),] . . . deals with the nature and extent of property interests, not with the characterization of claims as secured and/or unsecured…. Butner … is wholly consistent with a position that views bankruptcy administrative concepts, such as claim characterization, as remaining within the exclusive province of federal bankruptcy law…. Allowance is not at issue in this case at bar; it is undisputed that Banknorth possesses an allowed claim under Section 502 that includes the full amount of any deficiency claim that it might otherwise possess under State Law. The issue before the Court, rather, is ultimately one of claim characterization …. [AJny manner of bifurcation of 910-Vehicle Claims was plainly an anathema to the animating purpose of the Hanging Paragraph If Congress had understood there to be a viable State Law bifurcation scheme that could operate within the fabric of federal bankruptcy law, it would certainly have acted to disable that scheme as well[.]” In an alternative holding: “Banknorth has presented a Proof of Claim in this case that asserts the entire amount of its claim as secured. . . . [I]ts voluntary election to present its claim as a unitary secured claim, rather than a bifurcated claim with secured and unsecured components, estops Banknorth from now objecting to the Debtor’s Plan on the basis of the plan’s failure to treat a portion of its claim as unsecured.”).

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Sometimes the debtors forget to list some of their assets. An example of this might be a person who comes in and just happens to forget that he has a diamond ring that he actually bought for more than $10,000.00 for his girlfriend. He plans on gifting it to his girlfriend as their engagement. However, this is something that you should list. Now, whether the trustee is going to go after this engagement ring is another question. However, this is something that needs to be listed. This way, if something ever does happen, your lawyer can actually protect that diamond ring with the $4,000.00 exemption, or he can make sure that the value — the resell value which he can realistically sell that diamond ring for — is less than the exemptions that you have. That way it’s covered.
However, if the trustee does decide to liquidate the diamond ring to pay back some of your creditors and your exemptions don’t protect you, then you still have a couple of options. First, you have to realize that the ring that was bought for ten thousand dollars is not worth that much any more. The resale value might only be six thousand dollars now. Therefore, your exemptions would have to cover only six thousand dollars. So let’s say you put the four thousand of the wildcard exemption into that ring and there is only two thousand left un-exempt. You have an option of offering the trustee the two thousand dollars that he would have made upon selling the ring. You might be able to borrow this money from your relatives and keep the ring. Basically, the principal behind this logic is simple. If you give the trustee whatever he could have made upon the liquidation of the property, he will let you keep that property.

Bankruptcy Lawyers Austin

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for state unemployment benefits rose more than twice as much as expected last week to a 26-year high indicative of continued employment declines amidst a recessionary economy, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Initial claims for jobless benefits spiked 58,000 to a seasonally adjusted 573,000 in the week ended Dec. 6, the Labor Department said today in a weekly report. The four-week average of new claims, which aims to smooth volatility in the data, also reached a nearly 26-year high, rising 14,250 to 540,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 526,250.

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A comprehensive bailout for General Motors, the Ford Motor Company and Chrysler could cost as much as $125 billion, and even the companies themselves are hard pressed to dispute that figure, the New York Times reported today. Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com, testified before Congress last week that the Big Three’s request for $34 billion in loans “will not be sufficient for them to avoid bankruptcy at some point in the next two years.” He said nearly $75 billion to $125 billion would be needed to pay for a full-scale reorganization of the automakers. Lawmakers have indicated they may give GM and Chrysler about $15 billion in emergency aid to keep them in business until the spring, when the Obama administration and the new Congress can craft a longer-term rescue plan. Despite an infusion of $700 billion into financial institutions, there are few signs that car loans are becoming more available to consumers - a critical component in any rebound in vehicle sales, which have fallen to their lowest level in 25 years in the United States.

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Despite government and industry efforts, the number of homeowners falling behind on their mortgages or already in foreclosure climbed during the third quarter and is poised to accelerate as the country’s recession deepens, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. About 6.99 percent of mortgage loans were delinquent during the quarter, according to the survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association, an industry group. Another 2.97 percent were in the foreclosure process — the highest level since the survey was established in 1979. Taken together, about 10 percent, or one in 10, home mortgages are now in some form of distress. At the current rate, lenders will start foreclosure actions against 2.2 million homes this year.

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