Law Commons^™

The Bankruptcy Discharge: Toward A Fresher Start, Doug R. Rendleman

Doug Rendleman

No abstract provided.

Beyond Contempt: Obligors To Injunctions, Doug R. Rendleman

Doug Rendleman

No abstract provided.

Twilight In The Zone Of Insolvency: Fiduciary Duty And Creditors Of Troubled Companies - History & Background, Royce De R. Barondes, Lisa Fairfax, Lawrence A. Hamermesh, Robert Lawless

Lawrence A. Hamermesh

No abstract provided.

Bankrupt Estoppel: The Case For A Uniform Doctrine Of Judicial Estoppel As Applied Against Former Bankruptcy Debtors, Eric Hilmo

Fordham Law Review

This Note examines the role judicial estoppel plays in supporting the U.S. federal bankruptcy regime. Though once considered an obscure doctrine, the use of judicial estoppel to bar pursuit of previously undisclosed claims by former bankrupts has grown apace with burgeoning bankruptcy filings over the last decade. While the doctrine’s application in federal courts has evolved toward a common standard of application, state courts’ application remains idiosyncratic. The Note argues that under the established laws of judgment recognition and in light of federal courts’ sophisticated application of the doctrine, state courts should apply federal judicial estoppel standards to further national …

Water Bankruptcy, Christine A. Klein

UF Law Faculty Publications

Many western states are on the verge of bankruptcy, with debts exceeding assets. And yet, they continue to take on additional debt through contracts and other commitments. Although this distress sounds like an outgrowth of the 2008 recession, this crisis involves water, not money. In particular, the problem concerns the western prior appropriation system of water law, which allocates the right to use water under the priority principle of “first in time, first in right.” In many states, the system is so “over-allocated” that it promises to deliver annually much more water than nature provides. The crisis will deepen as …

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.

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.

From Stem To Stern: Navigating Bankruptcy Practice After Stern V. Marshall, Michelle Wright

Missouri Law Review

In order to provide a foundation for understanding the Court’s reasoning in Stern, Part II of this Comment briefly covers the history of bankruptcy in America. Section III explains how the Supreme Court of the United States’ holding in Stern v. Marshall16 has affected bankruptcy courts’ disposition of state law claims. Scholars’ interpretations of Stern range from understanding it as a narrow holding that will change little in bankruptcy, to questioning whether it foreshadows the Court holding the entire bankruptcy system is unconstitutional in a future case. Given the breadth of opinions that the decision supports, it is predictable that …

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.

Rehabilitating Bankruptcy Reform, Kara J. Bruce

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Improving Bankruptcy Sales By Raising The Bar: Imposing A Preliminary Injunction Standard On Objections To Section 363 Sales, Matthew Adam Bruckner

Matthew Adam Bruckner

In response to objections causing wasteful, unnecessary, and inappropriate delay in the bankruptcy sale context, this article concludes that bankruptcy courts should employ a preliminary injunction standard for evaluating objections to bankruptcy sales. Employing a strict, clear and uniform standard would decrease the likelihood that strategic objectors will succeed in delaying bankruptcy sales, but should not bias creditors with “legitimate” objections. By preventing inappropriate delay, courts will ensure that creditors receive an appropriate amount of procedural protection for their legitimate claims, while at the same time preventing parties-in-interest from engaging in rent-seeking behavior by making strategic objections to bankruptcy sales.

Hauerwasian Christian Legal Theory, David A. Skeel Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

This Essay, which was written for a Law and Contemporary Problems symposium on Stanley Hauerwas, tries to develop an account of public engagement in Hauerwas’ theology. The Essay distinguishes between two kinds of public engagement, “prophetic” and “participatory.” Christian engagement is prophetic when it criticizes or condemns the state, often by urging the state to honor or alter its true principles. In participatory engagement, by contrast, the church intervenes more directly in the political process, as when it works with lawmakers or mobilizes grass roots action. Prophetic engagement is often one-off; participatory engagement is more sustained. Because they worry intensely …

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 …

The Indentured Generation: Bankruptcy And Student Loan Debt, Daniel A. Austin

Daniel A. Austin

A generation of Americans has borrowed heavily for their education, and hundreds of thousands of them are deeply in debt. Some 37 million Americans owe a total of approximately $1 trillion dollars in student loans. They constitute an Indentured Generation as many of them will be burdened with student loan debt for much of their lives. With one of the worst job markets in decades, members of the Indentured Generation who are in particularly dire circumstances will turn to bankruptcy for a “fresh start.” But most student loan debtors will not get relief through bankruptcy. This is because the Bankruptcy …

Calling All Supreme Court Justices! It Might Be Time To Settle This "Rejection" Business Once And For All: A Look At Sunbeam Products V. Chicago American Manufacturing And The Resulting Circuit Split, Alexander N. Kreisman

Seventh Circuit Review

As effective and efficient bankruptcy proceedings have become increasingly important in recent years, so has the need to protect intellectual property licenses. The Bankruptcy Code allows the representative of a bankrupt estate, with the court's approval, to reject executory contracts. Although rejection has taken many forms over the years, its goal is to offer debtors and trustees with a means to maximize the value of the bankrupt estate's remaining assets. Rejection accomplishes this by treating contracts that contain unfulfilled obligations by both parties as having been breached by the representative of the bankrupt estate.

However, the implications of this breach …

The Indentured Generation: Bankruptcy And Student Loan Debt, Daniel A. Austin

Daniel A. Austin

A generation of Americans has borrowed heavily for their education, and hundreds of thousands of them are deeply in debt. Some 37 million Americans owe a total of approximately $1 trillion dollars in student loans. They constitute an Indentured Generation as many of them will be burdened with student loan debt for much of their lives. With one of the worst job markets in decades, members of the Indentured Generation who are in particularly dire circumstances will turn to bankruptcy for a “fresh start.” But most student loan debtors will not get relief through bankruptcy. This is because the Bankruptcy …

The Indentured Generation: Bankruptcy And Student Loan Debt, Daniel Austin

Daniel A. Austin

THE INDENTURED GENERATION:

BANKRUPTCY AND STUDENT LOAN DEBT

By Daniel A. Austin

Associate Professor, Northeastern University School of Law

A generation of Americans has borrowed heavily for their education, and hundreds of thousands of them are deeply in debt. Some 37 million Americans owe a total of approximately $1 trillion dollars in student loans. They constitute an Indentured Generation as many of them will be burdened with student loan debt for much of their lives. With one of the worst job markets in decades, members of the Indentured Generation who are in particularly dire circumstances will turn to bankruptcy for …

The Indentured Generation: Bankruptcy And Student Loan Debt, Daniel A. Austin

Daniel A. Austin

THE INDENTURED GENERATION:

BANKRUPTCY AND STUDENT LOAN DEBT

By Daniel A. Austin

Associate Professor, Northeastern University School of Law

A generation of Americans has borrowed heavily for their education, and hundreds of thousands of them are deeply in debt. Some 37 million Americans owe a total of approximately $1 trillion dollars in student loans. They constitute an Indentured Generation as many of them will be burdened with student loan debt for much of their lives. With one of the worst job markets in decades, members of the Indentured Generation who are in particularly dire circumstances will turn to bankruptcy for …

Epic Fail: An Institutional Analysis Of Financial Distress, Jonathan C. Lipson

Jonathan C. Lipson

This paper presents an institutional analysis of financial distress. “Institutional analysis” compares the effectiveness of large-scale processes, such as markets, courts, and governments, at solving social problems. Although financial distress is one of our most acute problems, there has been virtually no effort to analyze it from an institutional perspective. This paper begins to fill that gap.

Institutional analysis shows that, contrary to conventional wisdom, financial distress is not a problem that courts, such as bankruptcy courts, usually solve by themselves. Instead, it is increasingly a problem that political organs (whether elected or regulatory) both create and purport to resolve. …

Risk Based Student Loans, Michael Simkovic

Michael N Simkovic

Credit markets serve a vital function in capitalist economies: evaluating the riskiness of a range of possible investments and channeling resources toward those investments that investors believe are most likely to prove successful. This process is known as the “risk-based pricing” of credit. Ideally, risk-based pricing should lead to lower cost of capital for lower risk investment choices with larger rewards, and therefore more investment in such promising activities. Conversely, risk-based pricing should lead to higher costs of capital, and therefore less investment, in high-risk activities with relatively low rewards. If creditors are well informed and analytic, and borrowers respond …

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).

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

Golden Gate University Law Review

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

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).

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 …