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An Empirical Investigation Into Appellate Structure And The Perceived Quality Of Appellate Review, Rafael I. Pardo, Jonathan Remy Nash
An Empirical Investigation Into Appellate Structure And The Perceived Quality Of Appellate Review, Rafael I. Pardo, Jonathan Remy Nash
Scholarship@WashULaw
Commentators have theorized that several factors may improve the process, and thus perhaps the accuracy, of appellate review: (1) review by a panel of judges, (2) subject-matter expertise in the area of the appeal, (3) other law-finding ability, (4) adherence to traditional notions of appellate hierarchy, and (5) the judicial independence of appellate judges. The considerable discussion that has expounded upon these theories has occurred in a vacuum of abstract generalization. This Paper adds a new dimension by presenting results from an empirical study of bankruptcy appellate opinions issued over a three-year period. The federal bankruptcy appellate structure provides certain …
Illness And Inability To Repay: The Role Of Debtor Health In The Discharge Of Educational Debt, Rafael I. Pardo
Illness And Inability To Repay: The Role Of Debtor Health In The Discharge Of Educational Debt, Rafael I. Pardo
Scholarship@WashULaw
For a debtor to obtain a discharge of student loans in bankruptcy, the debtor must establish that their repayment would impose an undue hardship. This Article presents the results of an empirical study of bankruptcy court doctrine over a ten-year period that involved undue hardship discharge proceedings where the court reported information on the debtor's health status, monthly household income, and monthly household expenses. The data show that a medical condition increased a debtor's odds of being granted a discharge by 140% but that household income and expense levels did not have a statistically significant association with legal outcome. These …