News Topic: ATexasBankruptcyLawyersBlog

The ABI Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11 unveiled a summary of its recommendations at the Winter Leadership Conference on December 4 in La Quinta, California.   The full report will be released on December 6 and contains 240 recommendations in ... Read full article

November brought four bankruptcy opinions from the Fifth Circuit covering everything from interpleader to Navajo law. ... Read full article

This is an article about the end of a Chapter 11 case.  As the Doors put it: This is the end Beautiful friend This is the end My only friend, the end Of our elaborate plans, the end Of everything that stands, the end ... Read full article

It's been a slow month in the Fifth Circuit, my home Circuit with just two bankruptcy-related opinions.   This month's cases involve a non-filing spouse who lost her homestead interest and a bank which provided "reasonably equivalent" ... Read full article

The Supreme Court doesn't take many cases on bankruptcy issues.  It has only ruled on attorney's fees in bankruptcy once since the Code was adopted and that ruling was on the narrow issue of whether a chapter 7 debtor's attorney could ... Read full article

Saturday concluded NCBJ with ethics and the Supreme Court review.   (There was also a program on scientific studies of mindfulness which I missed). ... Read full article

Jeffrey Lacker, President of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, made the case for why large financial institutions should subject to bankruptcy as the ABI Luncheon Keynote Speaker.  He started his address with the question "Why is a central banker ... Read full article

I spent the morning listening to presentations on very disparate topics:  hedge funds, examining an expert witness and the balance between secured creditors and unsecured creditors.   I was not able to capture the full extent of the discussions and in ... Read full article

William A. Strauss, an economist with the Chicago Fed, delivered the keynote address for the Commercial Law League of America's luncheon Thursday.   His overall forecast was for slow but steady growth, declining unemployment and low interest rates as ... Read full article

NCBJ is in Chicago this year.   The weather is pleasantly cool compared to the continuing Austin heat and the first day of CLE had some interesting programs.   Here is a wrap of Day 1, which included Chapter 9, reorganization for closely held companies, ... Read full article

Today I had the opportunity to debate venue reform at the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges in Chicago.   We had two excellent teams of debaters.   Arguing for the pro-reform position were Prof. Samir Parikh, retired Bankruptcy Judge Leif Clark and ... Read full article

The importance of alternate dispute resolution to  resolve cases is enshrined in federal law, 28 U.S.C. ... Read full article

The Fifth Circuit had several bankruptcy-related decisions during September.    This month, it dealt with jury trials, mootness, subject matter jurisdiction,  "quasi-estoppel" and the difference between civil and criminal contempt.   Click on ... Read full article

The Supreme Court may add another bankruptcy case to its agenda this term in a case where both the Petitioner and the Respondent support the grant of cert.    No. 13-1416, Gordon v. ... Read full article

This has not been a good year for Texas homesteads involved in bankruptcy proceedings.    In April, the Fifth Circuit ruled (after nearly two years under advisement) that the non-filing spouse does not have a separate homestead estate entitled to ... Read full article

There are more bankruptcy decisions that come out of the Fifth Circuit each month than I could ever write about.   I am going to try to provide at least a brief blurb for each one.  Here are five cases from the Fifth Circuit that came out during August.   ... Read full article

Many cases deal with debtors who fraudulently convey away their assets before filing bankruptcy.   But what about the situation where the debtor is the victim of a fraudulent conveyance rather than the perpetrator?    In Galaz v. Galaz (In re Galaz) , No. ... Read full article

Texas bankruptcy judge Jeff Bohm has ruled that a chapter 7 debtor who sold his homestead over a year after filing bankruptcy could not keep the portion of the proceeds when he failed to reinvest them within six months.  In re Smith , 2014 Bankr. LEXIS ... Read full article