Bankruptcy Blogs

Arbitration Restrictions Could Hurt Consumers

07/16/15

A recent CFPB study lays the groundwork to roll back financial firms' use of arbitration clauses. But rather than protecting consumers, such a measure could wind up forcing people into costly and time-consuming lawsuits.

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'Single Point of Entry' Plan Ensures More Megabank Bailouts

07/16/15

Wall Street's favored bank-resolution strategy would virtually guarantee future bailouts while imposing the costs on taxpayers and ordinary investors. At the very least, the damage can be mitigated with three key reforms.

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Morning Scan: Citigroup Rebounds; Masters Hired by Santander

07/16/15

Breaking News This Morning ...

Earnings Galore: Citigroup, like its rival Bank of America, reported a huge increase in second-quarter profit, compared to a year earlier, thanks in large part to the lack of a costly legal settlement related to mortgages. Citi's net income rose to $4.85 billion from $181 million a year earlier. Meanwhile, BB&T's second-quarter net income increased to $454 million from $424 million a year earlier. However, merger-related charges and a loss from...

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Debtors Cannot Claim Homestead Exemption In Carve-out Funds Recovered By Trustee.

07/16/15

underwaterhouse In a July 2015 case the Chapter 7 Trustee sold a house that was underwater with three liens, and received a carve-out from the lender that held the second and third liens.  The Debtors did not object to the sale, but to the Trustee’s Final Report because it did not allow for payment of their homestead exemptions from

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Walter Energy Enters Chapter 11 Amid Drop in Coal Prices

07/16/15
Bloomberg

Walter Energy Inc. filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy prote

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Big Win for CFPB on Debt Collection

07/15/15

Yesterday, Judge Amy Totenberg of the Northern District of Georgia issued a very cogent 70-page opinion in the case of the CFPB v. Frederick Hanna & Associates, a large collection law firm with offices in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. The opinion denies Hanna's motion to dismiss in its entirety, and almost completely agrees with the CFPB's legal theory. In doing so, the opinion deals a serious blow to the collection law firm business model.

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The U.S. Needs 'Too Big to Fail' Banks

07/15/15

Nobody wants a big-bank bailout, but compared to the risk of contagion, it's the lesser of two evils.

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Attention on Dewey Trial Spans Globe

07/15/15
LEE CELANO/REUTERS

As Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP collapsed in 2012, Bruno Gattai was the head of the Italian practice, managing 18 partners and about 100 other lawyers and staff spl

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Low Inflation Is Still Too High for Bank Depositors

07/15/15

Banks often complain that the Federal Reserve's zero percent interest rate policy has been hard on profits. But they may not be as informed about the long-term negative effects of the Fed's annual inflation target of 2%.

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Morning Scan: BofA Profits Soar; How to Split Bank Settlements

07/15/15

Breaking News This Morning ...

B of A Earnings: Bank of America more than doubled its second-quarter profits to $5.32 billion, up from $2.29 billion a year ago. What a difference the lack of a costly mortgage settlement makes! The Wall Street Journal has a handy list of other items to look out for in the bank's report. Receiving Wide Coverage ... ...

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