Law Commons^™

Rejection Of Nonresidential Leases Of Real Property In Bankruptcy: What Happens To The Mortgagee's Security Interest? , William E. Winfield

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Standing To Sue A Carrier's Killers , Davis J. Howard

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Broke But Not Bankrupt: Consumer Debt Collection In State Courts, Richard M. Hynes

Florida Law Review

Virginia, with a population of about seven million, has averaged more than a million civil filings a year since the late 1980s. The overwhelming majority of these filings seek to collect debts from consumers, and most judgments go unpaid. Despite this apparent insolvency, civil litigation appears to be only tenuously related to consumer bankruptcy whether one looks at Virginia or at the nation as a whole. Nationally, the non-business bankruptcy filing rate rose by more than 350% between 1980 and 2002, while the civil filing rate rose by about 12%. Prior research suggests that relatively few bankrupt debtors have been …

The New Value Exception To The Absolute Priority Rule In Chapter 11 Reorganizations: What Should The Rule Be? , Linda J. Rusch

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mandatory Class Action Lawsuits As A Restructuring Technique, Bryant B. Edwards, Jeffrey A. Herbst, Selina K. Hewitt

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Home Mortgage Strip Down In Chapter 13 Bankruptcy: A Contextual Approach To Sections 1322(B)(2) And (B)(5), Mark S . Scarberry, Scott M. Reddie

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bankruptcy Law, Hon. Douglas O. Tice Jr., K. Elizabeth Sieg, David W. Gaffey

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Playing The "Get Out Of College Free" Card: Dischargeability Of Educational Debts In Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, Julie J. Heimark

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Continuing The Litigation Of Collateral Valuation In Bankruptcy: Associates Commercial Corp. V. Rash, Kenneth L. Reich

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rehabilitating Bankruptcy Reform, Kara J. Bruce

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

State Default And Synthetic Bankruptcy, Richard M. Hynes

Washington Law Review

An insolvent state does not need bankruptcy if sovereign immunity would protect it from lawsuits and other collection efforts. To the extent that a state is not judgment-proof and needs bankruptcy, we may not need to modify the Federal Bankruptcy Code to allow it to file. First, a substantial share of state spending flows through their municipalities, and these municipalities have substantial obligations of their own. Unlike states, municipalities can file for bankruptcy under current law, and a state could substantially reduce the cost of accomplishing its own fiscal goals by forcing its municipalities to file. Second, states may be …

The Law Of Ponzi Payouts, Spencer A. Winters

Michigan Law Review

When a Ponzi scheme collapses, there will typically be net winners and net losers. The bankruptcy trustee will often seek to force the net winners - those who received more money back from the Ponzi scheme than they invested - to disgorge their profits. Courts diverge on whether they should compel disgorgement in this instance. This Note argues that under prevailing fraudulent transfer law, net winners in a Ponzi scheme need not disgorge their profits. This is because the investor's dollar-for-dollar discharge of a preexisting debt constitutes the transfer of value in exchange for the payout. There are two exceptions …

Mediating Disputes Arising Out Of Troubled Companies - Do It Sooner Rather Than Later, The Hon. Randall J. Newsome

Golden Gate University Law Review

Over the last several years, there has been much academic debate on the subject of “vanishing trials”—whether the settlement rate in bankruptcy and other courts is accelerating, and whether that is a healthy trend for our justice system. A more interesting question is why disputes in chapter 11 cases are not resolved sooner. Why does it take so much time and so much money for parties to settle their differences and arrive at a consensual chapter 11 plan?

Cite as 42 Golden Gate U. L. Rev. 661 (2012).

Obtaining The Release Of Grand Jury Evidence In Ponzi Cases, The Hon. Steven Rhodes

Golden Gate University Law Review

Evidence that law enforcement authorities obtain through the grand jury process is generally secret. Nevertheless, case law can provide a powerful basis for a trustee, a receiver or any party in a Ponzi case to obtain evidence that the government has in its possession as a result of its investigation of a Ponzi scheme. This Article considers the extent to which parties in a Ponzi scheme insolvency proceeding might be able to obtain evidence presented in a criminal grand jury proceeding relating to the Ponzi scheme.

Cite as 42 Golden Gate U. L. Rev.657 (2012).

Overcoming Administrative, Procedural And Evidentiary Hurdles In Ponzi Scheme Litigation, Sharon Z. Weiss, Natalie B. Daghbandan

Golden Gate University Law Review

The unfortunate reality that comes with a Ponzi scheme case in bankruptcy is a mass of deceived unsecured creditors clamoring for their money back, and few, if any, present assets within the bankruptcy estate with which to pay them. The sheer size of most Ponzi schemes cases necessarily presents unique evidentiary, procedural and administrative challenges to professionals seeking to sort out the failed Ponzi enterprise. Ponzi scheme cases are riddled with litigation, which generally falls into four categories: (1) litigation against the Ponzi scheme operator(s), (2) litigation against parties who enabled the scheme to continue (such as professionals), (3) litigation …

Black Swans, Ostriches, And Ponzi Schemes, Nancy B. Rapoport

Golden Gate University Law Review

Cite as 42 Golden Gate U. L. Rev. 627 (2012).

The Collapse Of Financial Fraud: Measuring Bankruptcy Avoidance Action, Jessica D. Gabel, Isaac Asher, Mary Beth Byington

Golden Gate University Law Review

Ponzi schemes lay their foundation on fraud. Once the con is exposed, the culprits are usually stripped of their pilfered millions and sent off to jail. Unfortunately for the victims, the process of recovering any portion of the money they lost in the scam is, to put it mildly, complicated. The challenge rests, in part, in differences between federal forfeiture statutes and Bankruptcy Code principles in determining what assets can be recovered and who is entitled to a portion of the Ponzi pie. What is a Ponzi scheme (as defined by the courts rather than the media)? The Second Circuit …

Handling Claims In Ponzi Scheme Bankruptcy And Receivership Cases, Kathy Bazoian Phelps

Golden Gate University Law Review

The end game for defrauded investors and other creditors in a Ponzi scheme case is the recovery of the maximum amount on their claims. Depending on whether the Ponzi perpetrator has landed in a bankruptcy case or a receivership proceeding, the rules governing the allowance and distribution priorities for claims filed in Ponzi scheme cases may vary. This Article discusses the treatment of the defrauded investor’s claim in both bankruptcy and receivership cases. This Article also contrasts relatively rigid provisions in the Bankruptcy Code for the allowance, priority and distribution of claims in Ponzi scheme cases with the more flexible …

Friction In Reconciling Criminal Forfeiture And Bankruptcy: The Criminal Forfeiture Part, Sarah N. Welling, Jane Lyle Hord

Golden Gate University Law Review

The federal government uses two general types of asset forfeiture, criminal and civil. This Article addresses criminal forfeiture, which allows the government to take property from defendants when they are convicted of crimes. It is “an aspect of punishment imposed following conviction of a substantive criminal offense.” The goal of this Article is to give an overview of the forfeiture process, specifically in relation to claims victims and creditors might assert as third-party claimants.

Cite as 42 Golden Gate U. L. Rev. 551 (2012).

Keynote Address: Stories In The Development Of Bankruptcy Law, Gerald F. Munitz

Golden Gate University Law Review

Cite as: 42 Golden Gate U. L. Rev. 539 (2012).

Debt And Crime: Inevitable Bedfellows, Karen Gebbia

Golden Gate University Law Review

Criminal law and bankruptcy law approach fraud with a variety of objectives, only some of which overlap. Each contains elements of both restorative and distributive justice—the notion that the fraudster should be held accountable, the injured should be compensated, and distribution should be fair. Yet, criminal law and bankruptcy law inculcate these goals with profoundly different understandings, histories, contexts and practices. Consequently, the long arm of the law and the strong arm of the trustee have uniquely honed tools, unavailable to the other, for achieving their purposes. Inevitably, then, tension arises when criminal law and bankruptcy law simultaneously attempt to …

Bankruptcy, James D. Walker Jr., Amber Nickell

Mercer Law Review

This Article offers a review of recent bankruptcy law developments' in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.' Two notable areas of activity in the past year included: (1) bankruptcy court jurisdiction, which was ruled on by the United States Supreme Court; and (2) mortgages in Chapter 13 cases, which were the subject of both case law and a new bankruptcy rule.

Did Bad Debtors Influence The Tenth Circuit To Make An Unfortunate Decision? Making Reorganization More Difficult For Farmers In United States V. Dawes, Laura Jones

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Asbestos Legislation Ii: Section 524(G) Without Bankruptcy, Francis E. Mcgovern

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Legislative Attempts To Address Asbestos Litigation, Steven Kazan

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Asbestos Litigation And Bankruptcy: A Case Study For Ad Hoc Public Policy Limitations On Joint And Several Liability, Richard L. Cupp Jr

Pepperdine Law Review

Over a decade ago, the Federal Judicial Conference warned of an asbestos litigation “disaster of major proportions.” The Supreme Court of the United States has described the litigation as a “crisis.” According the RAND Institute for Civil Justice, by the end of 2000, more than 600,000 asbestos claims were filed. RAND estimates that as many as three million more plaintiffs may eventually file claims. Most new claimants are not sick. The flood of claims has forced almost sixty companies into bankruptcy; many of these bankruptcies are very recent. As a result, defendants with only remote connections to asbestos – known …

Undocumented Debtors, Chrystin Ondersma

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Undocumented immigrants in financial distress are barred from seeking many forms of assistance. Bankruptcy is one tool that is, in theory, available to undocumented debtors because legal status is not a prerequisite to bankruptcy relief. This Article explores undocumented debtors' interactions with the bankruptcy system. Undocumented debtors face both formal and informal barriers to bankruptcy filing, including fear of deportation, misinformation, and the legal requirement that the debtor produce financial records. It is both possible and desirable to ease many of these barriers. Bankruptcy relief facilitates the rehabilitation of debtors in financial distress, contributes to the economic well-being of the …

Introduction: Bankruptcy, Debt & Gaming Law Symposium, Jennifer L. Carleton

UNLV Gaming Law Journal

An introduction to the symposium issue on Bankruptcy, Debt & Gaming Law.

The Long And Winding Road: State Sovereign Immunity's Effect On Gaming License Revocation For The Casino Debtor, Christopher M. Humes

UNLV Gaming Law Journal

One of the most vital and contentious proceedings between a casino debtor and a regulatory agency is a post-petition license revocation hearing. Much debate exists about whether the license qualifies as property of the estate and whether the regulatory agency can be exempted from the protections inherent in the Bankruptcy Code due to the use of police and regulatory power. However, maybe the most contentious and impactful debate is whether the regulatory agency is free from the bankruptcy court’s jurisdiction due to the Eleventh Amendment’s guarantee of sovereign immunity.

At the center of the tension concerning sovereign immunity lies 11 …

Introduction: Bankruptcy, Debt & Gaming Law Symposium, Robert D. Faiss

UNLV Gaming Law Journal

An introduction to the symposium issue on Bankruptcy, Debt & Gaming Law.