On January 14, 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States resolved a circuit split by unanimously holding that the “mere retention of property” by a creditor after the time a debtor files its bankruptcy petition does not violate the automatic stay under § 362(a)(3) of the United States Bankruptcy…
The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Mexico recently held that a federal credit union chartered under the Federal Credit Union Act, 12 U.S.C. §§ 1752, et seq., constitutes an “instrumentality of the United States” included in the definition of a “governmental unit” under the…
Congress passed the long-awaited Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“CAA”) December 22, 2020, which now is awaiting the President’s signature to become law. The CAA contains several COVID-19-related amendments to the United States Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. §§ 101, et seq. (“Bankruptcy Code”),…
On October 30, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued a final rule (“Final Rule”) that amends Regulation F, 12 C.F.R. part 1006, which implements the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. 1692, et seq. (“FDCPA”).
The Final Rule addresses communications…
On November 30, 2020, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the OCC, and the FDIC released a statement that details the projected timeline of the transition away from the U.S. Dollar London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”). The statement indicated that the administrator of LIBOR has…
A recent decision from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of Illinois (“Court”) is a stark reminder of the importance of paying attention to notices received from bankruptcy cases and the need for creditors to consider retaining counsel to protect their interests in such…
As noted in prior Alerts, in its order issued April 20, 2020, the Indiana Supreme Court exercised its emergency rule-making authority to order that all Indiana trial courts “shall issue no new orders placing a hold on, attaching, or garnishing funds in a judgment-debtor’s account in a depository…
On October 27, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) issued the final version of its “true lender” rule (the “Final Rule”). The Final Rule resolves uncertainty regarding which entity in a lending partnership between a bank and a nonbank lender is the “true lender.” The Final…
In Announcement 2020-12, released September 22, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) informed lenders that they should not report qualifying loan forgiveness amounts from covered loans made under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) by filing Form 1099-C with the IRS.
Background
As described in…
Dischargeability of student loans is a “hot button” issue in both the bankruptcy world and mainstream media. In fact, last September another colleague wrote about the history of student loan dischargeability, and the current obstacles borrowers face.[1] Since that article, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court…
On July 30, 2020, pursuant to Executive Order 20-39, the Governor of Indiana extended the prohibition on filing foreclosure actions or proceedings involving residential real estate or property through August 14, 2020. The Governor’s directive does not impact the federal “Foreclosure and Eviction…
On July 6, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (which covers appeals from federal courts in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin) handed down the third in a series of decisions related to Chicago debtors seeking chapter 13 bankruptcy protection in order to avoid or defer…
