Law Commons^™

Cybergenics Ii: Precedent And Policy Vs. Plain Meaning, Nancy A. Haller

Maine Law Review

On September 20, 2002, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a panel opinion concluding that a court may not authorize a creditors' committee to commence an avoidance action in the trustee's name, on behalf of a bankruptcy estate. The decision shocked the bankruptcy bar and raised such a stir that many commentators raised it to the status of one of the “top cases of the year.” Furthermore, within two months, the Second Circuit came down with a squarely contrary decision, reaffirming the validity of the practice within the Second Circuit and failing to even acknowledge recent …

Credit Cards, Attorney's Fees, And The Putative Debtor: A Pyrrhic Victory? Putative Debtors May Win The Battle But Nevertheless Lose The War, Jennifer M. Smith

Maine Law Review

For decades, scholars have written about credit cards and attorney’s fees, but rarely together. This Article addresses the current financial crises of Americans, the credit card industry (including the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act) and attorney’s fees—perhaps a unique combination. It is based upon an actual case that left the putative debtor in a worse financial crisis than before the lawsuit was filed. This Article addresses the current credit card industry and its detrimental impact on society, and it discusses the history and purpose of attorney’s fees, as well as the pitfalls in attorney’s fee legislation. It analyzes …

Tipping The Scales: Balancing The Weight Of Equity With Loan Rescissions In Bankruptcy, Corey Scott Hadley

Maine Law Review

Prior to the passage of the Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA) in 1968, consumers were vulnerable to many deceptive practices employed by creditors when participating in loan transactions. Following the passage of TILA, it was the hope of Congress that consumers would now have the tools necessary to fend off predatory or deceptive credit terms buried within the fine print of a loan agreement. One of the options afforded to consumers facing a suspect loan agreement is the right to rescission. When lenders, creditors, and other parties in the credit transaction “fail to provide the consumer with proper disclosures about the loan …

The Apps For Justice Project: Employing Design Thinking To Narrow The Access To Justice Gap, Lois R. Lupica

Faculty Publications

The lack of available resources to make civil justice available to all, coupled with the fact that existing strategies fail to account for the research on cognitive capacity and other deployment challenges faced by the poor, explain in large part why a high percentage of low-income individuals facing legal problems fail to take action to respond to their legal problems. Such a failure to respond in a timely fashion to a nascent legal problem can lead to an escalation of the initial problem and the emergence of new ones.

The access-to-justice community has begun to respond to this intensifying crisis …