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Full-Text Articles in Law
Consumer Bankruptcy, Nondischargeability, And Penal Debt, Abbye Atkinson
Consumer Bankruptcy, Nondischargeability, And Penal Debt, Abbye Atkinson
Vanderbilt Law Review
This Article examines the issue of categorically nondischargeable debts in the Bankruptcy Code. These debts are excepted from discharge ostensibly because they indicate that the debtor incurred the debt through some misconduct, there is an important public policy at play that requires the debt to be excepted from discharge, or a discharge of certain state-imposed debts raises federalism concerns. Using penal debt as its lens, this Article critiques these analytical frames, arguing that they do not do much work to help explain why some debts are treated as categorically nondischargeable while others that seem to implicate the same concerns are …
Reexamining The Doctrine Of Equitable Mootness In Light Of The Detroit Bankruptcy, Nicole Langston
Reexamining The Doctrine Of Equitable Mootness In Light Of The Detroit Bankruptcy, Nicole Langston
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Garnering debate, and sometimes harsh criticism, the doctrine of equitable mootness has been a focal point for academic debates among legal scholars for decades. "Unlike the constitutional doctrine of mootness, which bars consideration of appeals because no Article III case or controversy remains, the doctrine of equitable mootness is a pragmatic judicially-created principle, grounded in the notion that, with the passage of time after a judgment in equity and implementation of that judgment, effective relief on appeal becomes impractical, imprudent, and therefore inequitable. Applied principally in bankruptcy proceedings because of the equitable nature of bankruptcy judgments, equitable mootness is often …