Bankruptcy Law Commons^™

The Manville Corporation Bankruptcy: An Abuse Of The Judicial Process?, Mark Kunkler

Pepperdine Law Review

Federal bankruptcy law offers a refuge to the honest debtor who is unable to pay his creditor's when his debts are due. Here, the twin aims of bankruptcy law, to give the debtor a fresh start and to provide roughly equal treatment for his! Creditors, are laudably accomplished. But what policies support the use of federal bankruptcy law when the "debtor" is in fact solvent and apparently seeks refuge only to escape liability for the products it manufactures? This comment examines the recent filing of the Manville Corporation for Chapter 11 protection under bankruptcy law with this question in mind.

The Dischargeability In Bankruptcy Of Debts For Alimony And Property Settlements Arising From Divorce, John Francis Murphy

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Code And The Constitution: Fifth Amendment Limits On The Debtor's Discharge In Bankruptcy, Nicholas A. Franke

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Saving Homes? Bankruptcies And Loan Modifications In The Foreclosure Crisis, Alan White

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Pension Plan Loans And Means Testing – The Pernicious Endurance Of Villarie, Laura B. Bartell

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Pitfalls In Brazilian Bankruptcy Law For International Bond Investors, Jeffrey M. Anapolsky, Jessica F. Woods

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Just Punch My Bankruptcy Ticket: A Qualitative Study Of Mandatory Debtor Financial Education, 97 Marquette Law Review 391 (2014), Michael D. Sousa

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

When Congress amended the Bankruptcy Code in 2005 through the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA), it mandated that individual consumer debtors undergo two debtor education courses, one as a condition precedent to filing for bankruptcy relief, and a second for later receiving a discharge of indebtedness. As for the pre-filing credit counseling course, Congressional aim was to have prospective debtors understand the potential alternatives to filing for bankruptcy relief with the goal of having some percentage of debtors settle their debt obligations outside of the bankruptcy system. Regarding the post-filing financial management course, Congress wanted debtors who …

Revisiting The Leveraged Buyout: Is Constructive Fraud Going Too Far?, 46 J. Marshall L. Rev. 429 (2013), Angelo Guisado

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Just Punch My Bankruptcy Ticket: A Qualitative Study Of Mandatory Debtor Financial Education, Michael Sousa

Marquette Law Review

When Congress amended the Bankruptcy Code in 2005 through the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA), it mandated that individual consumer debtors undergo two debtor education courses, one as a condition precedent to filing for bankruptcy relief, and a second for later receiving a discharge of indebtedness. As for the pre-filing credit counseling course, Congressional aim was to have prospective debtors understand the potential alternatives to filing for bankruptcy relief with the goal of having some percentage of debtors settle their debt obligations outside of the bankruptcy system. Regarding the post-filing financial management course, Congress wanted debtors who …

The Case For Public Pension Reform: Early Evidence From Kentucky, Maria O'Brien

Faculty Scholarship

Kentucky has managed to effect major changes to some of its pension plans in the face of poor funding ratios that threatened to swamp other budget priorities. At this point it is unclear whether the reforms are deep enough to bring the plans funding levels in line with those of “healthy” states like Wisconsin. It is also unclear whether there is the political will in other jurisdictions to curb costs by moving to defined contribution or hybrid cash balance vehicles. Transparency combined with a fear that pension obligations would soon swamp all other state budget priorities appears to have been …

Walking Back From Cyprus, Lee C. Buchheit, Mitu Gulati

Faculty Scholarship

Last Friday, the European leaders trespassed on consecrated ground by putting insured depositors in Cypriot banks in harm’s way. They had other options, none of them pleasant but some less ominous than the one they settled on.

Revisiting Sovereign Bankruptcy, Lee C. Buchheit, Anna Gelpern, Mitu Gulati, Ugo Panizza, Beatrice Weder Di Mauro, Jeromin Zettelmeyer

Faculty Scholarship

Sovereign debt crises occur regularly and often violently. Yet there is no legally and politically recognized procedure for restructuring the debt of bankrupt sovereigns. Procedures of this type have been periodically debated, but so far been rejected, for two main reasons. First, countries have been reluctant to give up power to supranational rules or institutions, and creditors and debtors have felt that there were sufficient instruments for addressing debt crises at hoc. Second, fears that making debt easier to restructure would raise the costs and reduce the amounts of sovereign borrowing in many countries. This was perceived to be against …

Securitization, Structured Finance, And Covered Bonds, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Turnover Actions And The “Floating Check” Controversy, David R. Hague

Utah Law Review

When a debtor files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a Chapter 7 trustee is appointed and is charged with collecting and reducing to money the property of the bankruptcy estate. One of the most basic collection methods a trustee possesses is its turnover power under § 542(a) of the Bankruptcy Code. Pursuant to § 542(a), an entity in possession, custody, or control, during the bankruptcy case, of property that the trustee may use, sell, or lease, must deliver to the trustee, and account for, such property or the value of such property.

An interesting issue has arisen that is placing debtors …

Bankrupting The Faith, Pamela Foohey

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This Article presents the results of a comprehensive empirical study of religious organizations that filed bankruptcy under Chapter 11 from the beginning of 2006 to the end of 2011. It examines the institutions’ characteristics, reasons for filing, and case outcomes to investigate whether Chapter 11 is an effective solution to their financial problems. In investigating the religious organizations’ cases, the Article also assesses the role of bankruptcy courts in adjudicating Chapter 11 cases and places the cases within theories about the larger purposes of Chapter 11.

The study finds that the vast majority of debtors are small organizations that operate …

Lien-Stripping In The Absence Of A Discharge: Bankruptcy's Answer To The Destruction Caused By Excessive Home Equity Extraction, 46 J. Marshall L. Rev. 915 (2013), Gregory Guest

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Turnover Actions And The “Floating Check” Controversy, David R. Hague

Faculty Articles

When a debtor files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a Chapter 7 trustee is appointed and is charged with collecting and reducing to money the property of the bankruptcy estate. One of the most basic collection methods a trustee possesses is its turnover power under § 542(a) of the Bankruptcy Code. Pursuant to § 542(a), an entity in possession, custody, or control, during the bankruptcy case, of property that the trustee may use, sell, or lease, must deliver to the trustee, and account for, such property or the value of such property.

An interesting issue has arisen that is placing debtors …

Teaching Business Law In The New Economy; Strategies For Success, Kamille Wolff Dean

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

The Virtue In Bankruptcy, Matthew Bruckner

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

In response to a gap in the corporate bankruptcy literature, this Article offers a new positive theory of corporate bankruptcy law based on virtue ethics. The dominant theory of corporate bankruptcy law—-the creditors’ bargain model-—is necessarily incomplete because it does not account for bankruptcy courts’ equitable and discretionary powers, or for bankruptcy courts’ need to consider decision-making criteria other than economic efficiency. By contrast, virtue ethics offers insights about these features of corporate bankruptcy law for at least three reasons. First, bankruptcy courts appear to give content to bankruptcy laws by using virtue ethical principles. Second, virtue ethics’ decision-making process—-practical …

Not "Special" Enough For Chapter 7: An Analysis Of The Special Circumstances Provision Of The Bankruptcy Code, Roma Perez

Cleveland State Law Review

The “special circumstances” provision of the Bankruptcy Code, Section 707(b)(2)(B), allows a consumer debtor to rebut the presumption of abuse that is triggered when debtor fails the means test. Congress enacted the statute as a procedural safeguard fully aware that means testing, as set-out in the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, could lead to arbitrary results for some debtors. For consumer debtors, the provision functions as a type of escape-hatch. It allows a debtor to avoid dismissal of his Chapter 7 bankruptcy case by introducing documentary evidence that the means test calculation, and its attendant income …