Supreme Court

Grammar Dooms Innocent Spouse in Non-Dischargeability Case

02/23/23

While we often recite that bankruptcy is for the honest but unfortunate debtor, a new case from the Supreme Court shows that getting into bed or business with the wrong person can lead to a non-dischargeable debt for an innocent spouse. The case is No. 21-908, Bartenwerfer v. Buckley, which you can find here.

What Happened

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A Look at the Jurisprudence of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (Bankruptcy and Otherwise)

03/04/22

Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has played a variety of roles in her legal career. She has been a public defender, an attorney in private practice, a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, a U.S. District Judge and a Court of Appeals Judge. Unfortunately, these jobs have given her scant exposure to bankruptcy law. I will explore all three of her bankruptcy related opinions (out of a total of about 600) as well as a handful of her other jurisprudence.

A Small Exposure to Bankruptcy

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Supreme Court Rules That Passive Retention Does Not Violate Stay

01/14/21

 The Supreme Court decided that a creditor which passively retains possession of estate property does not "exercise control" over such property in violation of 11 U.S.C. Sec. 362(a)(3). The Court viewed the word "exercise" to require active measures.  Case No. 19-357, Chicago v. Fulton (1/14/21), which can be found here.

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A Few Thoughts on the Opinions of Amy Coney Barrett

09/30/20

 This post was originally intended to be about the bankruptcy jurisprudence of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. That would have been a very short post. She has been on panels which issued seven per curiam unpublished opinions in bankruptcy matters, none of which were very remarkable. Instead, I will look at three of her opinions dealing with consumer financial services and cases where she did not rule for law enforcement or employers,  traditional favorites of conservatives.

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Supreme Court Set to Hear Passive Stay Violation Case

12/29/19
Seeking to resolve a 5-3 split among the Courts of Appeals, the Supreme Court will consider whether a creditor which passively retains property of the estate violates the automatic stay.  Case No. 19-357, City of Chicago v. Fulton. The Second, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Eleventh Circuits have ruled that retaining possession or control of property of the debtor violates the stay. The Third, Tenth and D.C.
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Justice Gorsuch Addresses NCBJ

11/09/19

Bankruptcy Judge Michael Romero had a fireside chat with Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch about his role on the Court and his new book, The Republic If You Can Keep It.   If it looks like they are speaking from the pit of Hell, it is because there was a giant video fireplace behind them.

Judge Romero started by reminding Justice Gorsuch about the quiet and happy life he left behind in Denver when they had  courthouses across the street from each other.

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ABI's Keynote Address: CBS's Jan Crawford Talks About the Supreme Court

11/08/19

Jan Crawford of CBS News gave a talk on The Supreme Court Under Trump at the ABI Luncheon.  She asked the audience to turn back to 1990 – 1991.  David Souter and Clarence Thomas had just replaced two liberal giants on the court.  After Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Stephen Breyer were appointed in 1994,the same nine justices would serve together for eleven years.   It was a time of great hope for conservatives.

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Mission Products v Tempnology – Supreme Court Declines to “Vaporize” Licensee’s Rights Under Rejected Trademark License Agreement

05/24/19

The Supreme Court this week resolved a long-standing open issue regarding the treatment of trademark license rights in bankruptcy proceedings. The Court ruled in favor of Mission Products, a licensee under a trademark license agreement that had been rejected in the chapter 11 case of Tempnology, the debtor-licensor, determining that the rejection constituted a breach of the agreement but did not rescind it.

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Square Peg / Round Hole – The Supreme Court and the Constitutional Authority of U.S. Bankruptcy Courts

09/11/18

The judicial power of the United States is vested in courts created under Article III of the Constitution.

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How Would Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh Approach Bankruptcy?

07/10/18
President Donald Trump has selected D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh to be his second Supreme Court nominee.    A post describing his bankruptcy opinions would be very short.  I could find only one opinion authored by Judge Kavanaugh arising out of bankruptcy court and that case dealt with equitable subrogation under the laws of the District of Columbia.   Smith v. First American Title Ins. Co. (In re Stevenson), 789 F.3d 197 (D.C. Cir. 2015). This is not surprising given the D.C.
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