BankruptcyProf Blog

Central District Filings for November

From Prof. Lawless' data base, the Bankruptcy Data Project:

Filings by chapter in the Central District of California in November, 2009:  Note:  November had 19 business days, October had 21. 

CACB

ch 7; 7,167

ch 11; 84

ch 13; 2,201

total; 9,452

Filings by chapter in the Central District of California in October, 2009:

CACB

ch 7; 7,839

ch 11; 107

ch 13; 2,366

total; 10,314

 

This compares to 9,089 total in September, 9,740 in August, and 9,886 filings in July, 9,578 in June, 8,965 in May, 8,398 in April, 8,518 in March, 6,967 in February and 5,999 in January. 

Chapter 13s were 2,025, in September, 2,180 in August, 2,053 in July, 2,291 in June, 1,988 in May.  Chapter 13 trustees received 440 new petitions each in November.

Total Central District filings in November by the way were more than double the entire state of New York,  9,452 to 4,368 and roughly double the entire state of Texas, 9,452 to 4,804.  So about the same as the Texas and New York combined.   

House Rejects Loan Modification Bill

You can access the Reuters article here.

A Summary of Bankruptcy Law

Dear Mr. Hayes,
 
This is Eileen Keusseyan.  I appeared before you for a mediation in an adversarial proceeding.  I found out about your publication during my appearance.
 
Well, I have read "A Summary of Bankruptcy Law" and I now use it almost on a daily basis as a summary guide.  Thank you for putting so much information together in such a concise and resourceful publication.
 
Thank you.
 
Sincerely,  Eileen Keusseyan

The book is available at Amazon.com.   
 

Circuit Court of Appeals Cases from Last Week

11th Circuit Court of Appeals, December 03, 2009
In re Coady, --- F.3d ---, 2009 WL -------- (11th Cir. 2009)(discharge denied where: 1) debtor concealed an equitable interest in his wife's businesses; and 2) the doctrine of continuing concealment applies when a debtor kept his assets out of a creditor's reach during the look-back period through a sham ownership arrangement established more than one year before the bankruptcy petition was filed)

Thanks to Findlaw.com

New SCOTUS Wiki Editor

I have been invited by Tom Goldstein's team at SCOTUSBlog.com to be the SCOTUS Wiki Editor for the case of Hamilton, Chapter 13 Trustee v. Lanning.  My mission is set forth by Manager Erin Miller:

You will be responsible for all the entries for the Lanning page that I initially listed: the three articles of roughly 800 words each (the argument preview, oral argument recap, and opinion analysis) and links to news/blog coverage.  It would also be great if you could link to any new amicus briefs that are posted in the case (we will post all the merits briets by the parties as they come in).
 
You and your blog will be listed as the caretakers of the Lanning page.  In addition, we will post the articles that you produce on the blog as well as the Wiki, if you would like.  If that interests you--we generally aim for previews to go up on the blog two days before an argument, and recaps and analysis to go up within two days of the event (the sooner the better).  Our editor Amy Howe reviews everything that goes up on the blog, so we would ask you to submit a draft a few days before (this is mostly a formality).

I consider this a serious honor and am up to the task. 

November Filings Down

Total bankruptcy filings for November, 2009 were 115,500, down 11.4% from October, 2009, 130,200, which was up 3.7% from September, 2009, 125,500.  Compare 120,000 in August; 130,500 in July; 124,800 in June; 120,400 in May; 128,700 in April, 131,000 in March, 102,000 in February and 89,000 in January.

Total filings Jan through November, 2009; 1,330,020
Total filings Jan through November, 2008; 1,000,200
Total filings Jan through November, 2007;    761,200

The "year ago" figures are finally starting to catch up.  For instance, filings in November 2008 were 91,400, not that far behind November, 2009 (although still 26% more than 2008).   

Thanks to the Bankruptcy Data Project. 

Prof. Mark Scarberry Article on Loan Mods

An email from Mark:

In case list members might be interested, let me say that I've just posted the following forthcoming article on SSRN:
 
A Critique of Congressional Proposals To Permit Modification of Home Mortgages in Chapter 13.
 
You can read the abstract and download the full text at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1520794. There may yet be a few edits, but it is in essentially final form.
 
The article follows up on my December 2007 congressional testimony, on the debate or conversation on mortgage modification at a January 2009 AALS program, and on the presentation I gave as part of the Pepperdine Law Review symposium on the mortgage crisis in April 2009, with some of you in attendance. The article will be published soon as part of the Pepperdine Law Review symposium edition.
 
As anyone who attended the AALS presentation or the Pepperdine symposium would expect, the article is sharply critical of the conclusions Georgetown Law Prof. Adam Levitin draws from his empirical studies. 
 
Best wishes,
Mark Scarberry
Pepperdine

NY Times Article on Why Loan Mods Fail

The article is here.  Thanks to Prof. Jean Braucher for pointing it out. 

House Taking Another Shot at Loan Modifications in Bankruptcy

From The Hill.