Blog
Repo-Man Worries Haunt Even the Art World
Last week The Wall Street Journal ran an article about a tussel between rival museums, one in Japan and one in New York, dedicated to preserving the work of Japanese-American sculptor, Isamu Noguchi. Each museum appears to be jostling for prestige as well as…
Breaking News from the Supreme Court! Everything is the Same.
Debt secured by collateral can be either over-secured (meaning that the value of the collateral exceeds the loan balance) or under-secured (meaning that the value of the collateral is less than the loan balance). When there are multiple loans secured by…
Duties of the Non-filing Spouse
Though many times married people choose to file a joint bankruptcy case, it is also common for only one spouse to file. Usually this happens when the problematic debt a family is attempting to discharge is only owed by one of…
Calm Down Everybody, Changing the Bankruptcy Code is Actually Really Complicated
I don’t know what sorts of news outlets you subscribe to, but around here this week, we were inundated with reports of President Obama instructing his administration (somewhat vaguely, it seems) to look into tweaking the bankruptcy code to do…
The Perils of Leaving Chapter 11 Too Quickly
No one likes being in bankruptcy. In fact, one of the great attractions of chapter 7 is that most cases are relatively short and debtors are sent merrily on their way within a few months of filing. But for companies or individuals who…
False Statements on Rental Application Leads to Exception from Discharge
Remember that fib you told on your rental application? The one where you said that you’d never been evicted before, even though you had, eight months earlier? Guess what? It matters. At least that was the ruling in Yankah v. Mack,…
Philip Sasser named a "Rising Star" by Super Lawyers
Sasser Law Firm associate Philip Sasser was named a 2015 business bankruptcy “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers Magazine. He is one of only two Raleigh debtors attorneys to receive that distinction this year.
NY Judge Slaps Wells Fargo for an Obnoxious Company Policy
Wells Fargo has a policy of freezing debtor bank accounts that have a balance of more than $5,000. Don’t look for the source of this policy in the bankruptcy code, rules, or jurisprudence. Don’t look for it in the “best…
A Trustee Gets His Fees Cut - Finally
Here is how a bankruptcy liquidation is supposed to work: a trustee sells a debtor’s non-exempt assets and distributes the proceeds to the debtor’s creditors based on the order of priority set forth in the bankruptcy code. It makes sense…
Chapter 7 Lien Stripping?
It has been settled law in every circuit but one that wholly unsecured subordinate mortgages could not be stripped-off in chapter 7 cases. But since it only takes one heterodox circuit to create a split in the circuits, the US…
