Bankruptcy Blogs

Camp Mystic illustrates That Insurance Can Be Property of the Estate

07/12/26
A motion to lift the automatic stay to allow a tort claimant to proceed against the debtor's insurance coverage is one of the simpler pleadings to file in bankruptcy. Because insurance involves a third party's obligation to defend a suit or pay claims, property of the estate is not implicated. While the debtor remains a nominal party to the suit (thus requiring the stay to be lifted), the insurance company has the real economic interest. However, this is not always the case.
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Supreme Court Rejects Fifth Circuit's Approach to Judicial Estoppel

06/24/26

 The Fifth Circuit has long applied judicial estoppel aggressively when a debtor fails to list a cause of action. It once held (in a panel opinion overruled by the en banc court) that a trustee was bound by a debtor's failure to disclose assets. Reed v. City of Arlington, 620 F.3d 477 (5th Cir. 2010), rev'd en banc 650 F.3d 571 (5th Cir. 2011).

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