BankruptcyProf Blog

Call for Book Reviews: Women and the Law

Proposals Due September 25, 2008

The editors of Pace Law Review invite proposals from scholars, researchers, practitioners and professionals for contributions to a special book review issue to be published in Winter 2008.  We seek proposals for reviews of any book published in 2008, 2007 or 2006 that contributes to the understanding of women’s experiences with the law.

Pace Law School has a longstanding commitment to both the study of women and the law and the development of women as lawyers and leaders.  The Pace Women’s Justice Center was founded in 1991 as the first academic legal center in the country devoted to training attorneys and others in the community about domestic violence issues.  Pace is a vibrant and intellectual community that contains several nationally-recognized scholars of women’s, children’s and LGBT rights.

A law review volume devoted to books concerning women and the law promotes an ongoing discourse on women and the law, justice and feminist jurisprudence.

Please submit book review proposals of no more than 500 words by attachment to plr@law.pace.edu by September 25, 2008.  Proposals should include (a) the intended reviewer’s name, title, institutional affiliation and contact information; (b) the title and publication date of the book proposed for review; (c) a description of the importance of the book to the general topic; and (d) any other information relevant to the book or proposed review (e.g., the proposed reviewer’s expertise or any relationship with the author).  Authors are welcome, but not required, to submit a CV as well.  We expect to make publication offers by October 1, 2008.

Complete manuscripts from authors of accepted proposals will be due November 1, 2008.  Completed book reviews should not exceed 8,500 words.

Bridget Crawford
Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research
    and Faculty Development
Pace Law School
78 North Broadway
White Plains, New York  10603
Tel. (914) 422-4416

Chapter 7 Trustee Final Report Forms Have Been Revised

You can find the forms here. 

Article on Professional Fees in Chapter 11 Cases

Professor Stephen Lubben has a recent article in the American Bankruptcy Journal on Professional Fees in Chapter 11 cases.   Lubben, Stephen J.,Corporate Reorganization & Professional Fees. American Bankruptcy Law Journal, Vol. 82, p. 77, 2008  Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1094032

From his abstract:

"Among the key findings of this study are:

- Most of the regulation of professional fees provided by the Bankruptcy Code is valuable primarily for its deterrence effects.  Retention applications are rarely denied and requested fees are rarely reduced. This, of course, does not mean that the regulatory system is broken, but rather that much of the system is not easily viewed by outsiders.

- Unlike prior studies, I find that time spent in chapter 11 seems to have very little independent effect on the costs of the case.  Factors like the size of the debtor corporation, the number of professionals retained, and whether a committee is appointed play much bigger roles.

- Professional fees in chapter 11 are subject to economies of scale.  In particular, with every 1 percent increase in the size of a debtor, professional fees only grow by less than half a percent - holding other key factors constant.

- Lost in the sound and fury about large professional expenses in large cases is the fact that almost 35 percent of the chapter 11 cases result in no payment whatsoever to the professionals. These are typically smaller cases that are often converted to chapter 7 or dismissed outright."

5th Annual "New Deal for Consumer Bankruptcy" Program in New York in September

A one day program to be held in "historic Hyde ParK" on September 12, 2008.  The cast certainly looks great including five bankruptcy judges.  The brochure can be accessed here.

10th Circuit BAP Rules on Issue of Credit Counseling - Can the Counseling be Done Too Late - Before the Filing?

In re Francisco,  --- B.R. ---, 2008 WL 2600714 (10th Cir BAP,  July, 2008)

Issue:   Must the required credit counseling be completed no later than the day before the bankruptcy case is filed?                   

Holding:    No. 

The debtor completed the credit counseling the morning of the day she filed her chapter 13 petition.  The judge set an OSC re why the case should not be dismissed.  Section 109(h)(1) states: an individual may not be a debtor unless “such individual has, during the 180-day period preceding the date of filing of the petition by such individual, received [counseling].”  The judge dismissed the case.

The BAP reversed.  “[T]he filing of the petition is treated throughout the Bankruptcy Code as a ‘bright line’ that defines the estate and alters the rights and responsibilities of the debtor and its creditors.”  “[T]he focus of our inquiry is not whether Debtor's credit counseling was obtained within the 180-day period, but rather, whether it was obtained by the statutorily imposed deadline. Given that nothing in the legislative history supports an interpretation of that deadline as including a waiting period prior to filing of the petition, as well as the difficulty of enforcing such a waiting period under the current statutory language, we conclude that a debtor qualifies as a debtor under Section 109 so long as he or she completes the required credit counseling at any time between 180 days before, and the moment of, filing the petition.” 

The BAP acknowledged that Congress could have said (and did not) that the counseling could be done anytime before the filing.  It also said that FRBP 9006 which says you don’t include the date of the event when you are counting backwards gives support to the argument that the counsel must be done the day before filing.  In the end it took the pragmatic view obviously.   

Are Food Stamps a "Domestic Support Obligation"?

Yep, at least in one district court in Wisconsin. The department said the chapter 13 debtor had been overpaid and it wanted the repayment obligation to be a priority.  The bankruptcy court said no way, sho-hey, the District Court reversed.  See Wisconsin Dept. of Workforce Development v. Ratliff, 2008 WL 2345855 (E.D.Wis.).

Circuit Court of Appeals Cases for Last Week

2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, August 14, 2008
Chartschlaa v. Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co., --- F.3d ---, 2008 WL 3480084 (2nd Cir. 2008)(claims of ormer sellers of insurance policies belong to the bankruptcy estate of former insurance seller)

5th Circuit Court of Appeals, August 12, 2008
In the Matter of United Operating, LLC, --- F.3d ---, 2008 WL 3306724 (5th Cir. 2008)(In a suit following a bankruptcy case alleging mismanagement of debtor's property during reorganization, summary judgment against debtor is affirmed where debtor, in agreeing to the bankruptcy reorganization plan, failed to retain its right to bring a post-confirmation action, and therefore lacked standing)

5th Circuit Court of Appeals, August 12, 2008
In the Matter of Yorkshire LLC, --- F.3d ---, 2008 WL 3306680 (5th Cir. 2008)(sanctions against debtor affirmed where successive cases filed with a bad motive and with no meaningful thought being given to the actual purposes of Chapter 11 bankruptcy)

6th Circuit Court of Appeals, August 11, 2008
Winget v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., --- F.3d ---, 2008 WL 3268201 (6th Cir. 2008)(dismissal of action against defendant-JP Morgan raising claims of breach of guaranty and pledge agreements and requests for declaratory judgments affirmed for various reasons including res judicata and claims were not reserved in a Sale Order, and thus should have been brought during the bankruptcy proceeding)

6th Circuit Court of Appeals, August 13, 2008
In re HNRC Dissolution Co., --- F.3d ---, 2008 WL 3354269 (6th Cir. 2008)(admin claim filed by a postpetition insurer in Chapter 11 case denied as not an "actual, necessary cost[] and expense[] of preserving the estate")

7th Circuit Court of Appeals, August 13, 2008
In re Comdisco, Inc., --- F.3d ---, 2008 WL 3403053 (7th Cir. 2008)(appeal dismissed re claimants' motion to terminate a trust created as part of the reorganization plan as not a separable dispute subject to appeal as a final order)

8th Circuit Court of Appeals, August 13, 2008
In re W. Iowa Limestone, Inc., --- F.3d ---, 2008 WL 3367569 (8th Cir. 2008)(priority dispute between secured lender and subsequent purchasers under Iowa law)

8th Circuit Court of Appeals, August 14, 2008
Tri-State Fin., LLC v. First Dakota Nat'l Bank, --- F.3d ---, 2008 WL 3477789 (8th Cir. 2008)(dispute over prepayment penalty under South Dakota law)

Thanks again to Findlaw.com