In an earlier precedent setting ruling, the bankruptcy court held that a bank’s temporary freeze on its depositor’s accounts did not violate the bankruptcy court’s automatic stay in a Chapter 7 proceeding. Here, the Bank of Newport had a standing policy that upon notice of a checking account customer filing a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, the funds on […]

In this case, debtors owed more than $15,000 to Hancock Bank on a loan secured by debtors’ Chevrolet Caprice. The amount owed was not in dispute. Debtors’ Chapter 13 Plan proposed to repay Hancock Bank the value of its security, which was listed at $8,175. The balance of the funds owed to Hancock of approximately $6,800 was […]

In this case, the Bankruptcy Court held that a general judgment previously entered in the state court would not be discharged in bankruptcy. Here, a state court judgment was entered against the debtor for $100,000. The state court judgment did not indicate that the judgment would not be subject to discharge in a later bankruptcy, […]

Court denies reinstatement of lien denied in this case when CoreStates Bank inadvertently released a secured lien it held on debtor’s Mercedes automobile. The release took place after the debtor filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. CoreStates attempted to reinstate the lien and requested the bankruptcy court to enforce imposition of the mistakenly released lien. The bankruptcy court […]

Debtor’s attempt to re-open his bankruptcy case was denied by the Court when debtor asked to reopen his bankruptcy case fourteen months after the case was closed.   The debtor sought to reopen the case and add an additional creditor which had not been listed in the initial case. The bankruptcy court applied the “doctrine of laches”, which prohibits an […]

Credit Union Home Equity Mortgages and deeds-of-trust of any nature are generally junior in position to a first mortgage/lien holder. As such, the credit union can and should protect its Home Equity portfolio as securely as possible from collateral damage if a first mortgage proceeds into foreclosure. Question: Will the credit union receive a notice if the […]

Debtors’ residence was in a mortgage foreclosure when, after the foreclosure judgment but prior to the sheriff’s sale, the debtors filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The debtors’ Chapter 13 Plan provided for curing the prepetition arrearage over the term of the Chapter 13 plan and also provided for regular monthly payments on the mortgage after […]

In these two cases, the bankruptcy court entered two nondischargeable judgments against the same debtor in favor of Pittsburgh Police Federal Credit Union and Allegheny County No. 1 Federal Credit Union. Here, the debtor was a member of both Pittsburgh Police Federal Credit Union (hereinafter “PPFCU”) and Allegheny County No. 1 Federal Credit Union (hereinafter […]

Here, the Chapter 7 Debtor made voluntary payments to creditor after debtor’s filing for bankruptcy. Both debtor and creditor agreed that the post-petition payments would be applied to prepetition debts owed to the creditor. The debtor made more than $39,000 of voluntary payments to creditor.   Some two years after the voluntary payments were made, […]

In this case, the Chapter 13 debtors moved to hold Idaho Central Credit Union in contempt for allegedly violating the Bankruptcy Court’s automatic stay after the credit union froze members’ funds on deposit. Debtors also sought sanctions against the credit union for the alleged violation. The credit union responded by contending it did not violate the […]