News Topic: Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

Bankruptcy opinions tend to rely on two major tools for interpreting the Bankruptcy Code: the statutory text and pre-Bankruptcy Code practice. These two methods came into conflict in the Fifth Circuit's recent opinion in Ultra Petroleum Corp. v. Ad ... Read full article

When U.S. Sen Elizabeth Warren continued to speak at the confirmation hearing for AG Jeff Sessions after being cautioned by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, it gave rise to the feminist slogan, "Nevertheless, she persisted." A new opinion from ... Read full article

The Fifth Circuit has issued a new decision restricting application of the Rooker-Feldman doctrine and repudiating a prior precedent.  Miller v. Dunn , Case No. 20-11054 (5th Cir. 6/2/22), which can be found here. Under the new rule, which brings the ... Read full article

A new opinion from the Fifth Circuit highlights the perils of class proofs of claim, something I recently wrote about here . In West Wilmington Oilfield Claimants v. Nabors Corporate Services, Inc. (Matter of CJ Holding Company) , Case No. 21-20394 (5th ... Read full article

 One of the benefits of holding property or doing business through a limited liability company is that "entry of a charging order is the exclusive remedy by which a judgment creditor of a member or of any other owner of a membership interest may ... Read full article

 In a case involving multiple parties and proceedings, the Fifth Circuit has affirmed lower court rulings which prohibited one non-debtor from suing a second non-debtor and awarded sanctions against a party that told a state court to disregard the ... Read full article

A new opinion from the Fifth Circuit shows multiple mishaps in connection with a bankruptcy-related auction. However, its most important holding has to do with authenticating evidence. The bottom line is that a trial court decision limiting a defaulting ... Read full article

 Recently I wrote about a Fifth Circuit case where a creditor tried to escape the terms of a confirmed plan in a subsequent case. Now the Court has written an opinion about a debtor that tried to do the same thing. Fortunately the result was the same in ... Read full article

Summary judgment was intended to be a method of disposing of cases where there are not any disputed issues for the court to trial. Sometimes it seems that summary judgment is a way to get rid of cases that the court doesn't want to try. In a new ... Read full article

Third party releases are a controversial topic with Congress considering legislation to ban them. However, Judge Greg Costa, writing for the Fifth Circuit, has distinguished between an impermissible third-party release and a plan provision reducing a ... Read full article

Depositions serve two important functions in pre-trial procedure. First, they can be used to discover what a witness or party will say and tie down the witness’s story. Second, they can be used to create testimony which can be used at trial. However, the ... Read full article

Bankruptcy and arbitration are both intended to provide a quick and relatively efficient resolution to disputes between a debtor and his creditors. Both allow adjudication without a jury. Both systems should be able to move more swiftly than a court of ... Read full article

A new decision from the Fifth Circuit holds that implied consent cannot overcome a formal denial of consent to entry of a final judgment by a magistrate judge, even when the objecting party expressly consented.  PNC Bank v. Ruiz , Case No. 20-50255 (5th ... Read full article

 In a very convoluted case, a plaintiff learned that removal to Bankruptcy Court can result in a do-over of adverse state court rulings.  Cohen v. Gilmore (Matter of Alabama & Dunlavy) , Case No. 19-20152 (5th Cir. 12/15/20).  While the Rooker-Feldman ... Read full article

Just in time for the holidays, the Fifth Circuit has released THE MOST BIZARRE OPINION OF THE YEAR. A lawyer claiming to be a Deity and a Monarch brought suit against the United States and the State of Louisiana on behalf of the Atakapa Indian de Creole ... Read full article

In the Fifth Circuit's opinion in French v. Linn Energy, LLC (In re Linn Energy, LLC), 2019 U.S. App. Bankr. LEXIS 26595 (5th Cir. ... Read full article

The Fifth Circuit has released a new opinion which underscores just how hard it is to discharge a student loan under the undue hardship standard.   Thomas v. Department of Education (In re Thomas) , 931 F.3d 449 (5th Cir. 2019).     A Sympathetic Debtor ... Read full article

When dealing with contentious litigation, I have occasionally had a client ask why we can't sue the opposing lawyer.  When I try to explain that the other lawyer is merely representing his client, I get a tirade about how evil the other attorney ... Read full article