The economy continues to struggle to mount a real recovery. Economists and banking experts argue about how to maintain the little bit of momentum we’ve seen over the last six months. From our view as Virginia creditors rights lawyers, we think there is a coming wave of preference claims that will surprise a lot of [...]

So Maybe We Now Know When A Claim Arises, But Can A Debtor Discharge The Claim? Although not admitting that it succumb to acknowledged “universal disapproval” of its 1984 decision in Avellino & Bienes v. M. Frenville Co. (Matter of M. Frenville Co) 744 F3d 332 (3rd Cir. 1984), the Third Circuit Court of Appeals [...]

On March 23, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 9 – 0 opinion in United Student Aid Funds, v. Espinosa  (08-1134) in which the Court affirmed the 9th Circuit’s holding that a chapter 13 debtor can obtain a discharge of a student loan by including it in a chapter 13 plan, if the creditor fails [...]

Just this week, another big financial company — CIT Small Business Lending Corporation — filed bankruptcy. CIT filed a “prepackaged” filing, in which terms for restructuring are negotiated before the bankruptcy case is filed. In more conventional bankruptcy filings, it can take a year or more before a plan is confirmed; in a pre-pak, filers [...]

It is the mid-1980′s. Savings & Loan institutions are failing at an alarming rate. So many are insolvent, in fact, that the Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC), the deposit insurer of thrifts at that time, is running out of money to close insolvent thrifts. What does FSLIC do? It seeks out purchasers, who [...]

In Wednesday’s Business Week, Ben Steverman’s anaylsis of the possiblities of upcoming bankruptcy activity indicates that filings, rather than slowing as the economy gains its footing again, will instead swell with the failure of numerous entrepreneurial and high-debt companies. His opinion is that this will be due largely to the continuing spin-down in consumer demand [...]