Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Friends:Twenty-six years is a long time in one place. While there is sadness in parting, the partners of Seder & Chandler, LLP and I have mutually agreed to separate our practices. Effective March 1, 2015, I will leave the firm and join my wife, Marina R. Matuzek, at her law offices
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Hot Button Issues Before the U.S. Supreme Court: Bankruptcy Now Rules Docket
Interesting statistic: a litigant has a 1% or less chance of convincing the U.S. Supreme Court to review his, her or its burning legal issue that all other appellate courts have rejected, dismissed or pooh-poohed. Don’t believe me? Look here: http://dailywrit.com/2013/01/likelihood-of-a-petition-being-granted/ As of today (December 15, 2014), the U.S. Supreme Court has accepted…
11th Circuit: §506(d) "Strip-Offs" Part Deux
What Has Gone Before Back in April, I posted about the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari on an unpublished order of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, in which the 11th Circuit followed a previous unpublished decision that allowed wholly unsecured liens to be “stripped off” in Chapter 7, using 11 U.S.C. §§506(a)…
EXECUTIVE BENEFITS INSURANCE AGENCY v. ARKINSON: THE STERN V. MARSHALL APPLE CART STAYS UPRIGHT
This morning, on June 9, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision in Executive Benefits Agency v. Arkinson, settling an issue that has plagued federal courts on all levels since the SCOTUS’s 2011 decision in Stern v. Marshall, 564 U.S. ___, 131 S. Ct. 2594 (2011): Does the bankruptcy…
Sound & Fury & No Hybrid Chapter 13 Plan Decision From The First Circuit
In high school, my English teacher tasked me with memorizing and reciting a monologue from Shakespeare’s famous “Scottish Play”, Macbeth. The monologue – the title character delivered it — came from Act V, Scene 5, after Lady Macbeth’s own guilt catches up with her and takes her own life. Although I sometimes confuse my…
When is a Waiver Not a Waiver? The New Rules of Massachusetts Homesteads
Last month, Judge William Hillman of the Boston Bankruptcy Court, in In re Maria A. D’Italia, Case No. 13-16051-WCH (March 18, 2014), confronted the following questions: if a debtor signs a waiver of homestead rights in a guarantee, does that waiver then either: (a) release or subordinate the debtor’s homestead vis-à-vis the…
CHAPTER 13 FOR BUSINESS DEBTORS IN MASSACHUSETTS
Chapter 13 is not just for consumers. An individual in a sole proprietorship (or who is engaged in some business activity, such as renting properties as a landlord) has Chapter 13 available to him or her, provided that he or she meets the debt limits in 11 U.S.C. §109(e) and has regular…
Now in Play: §506(d) "Strip-Offs" in Chapter 7
On March 31, 2014, the Supreme Court of the United States denied certiorari in Bank of America, N.A. v. Sinkfield, Petition No. 13-700. To put it in terms appropriate to Major League Baseball’s opening day, this was the equivalent of Casey’s mighty whiff at strike three in the ninth inning, with the…
Exemptions, Objections, and Law v. Siegel
Law v. Siegel (U.S. Supreme Court opinion March 4, 2014)Exemptions Safe From Bankruptcy Court’s “Adjustment”Kevin C. McGee, Esq.PartnerSeder & Chandler, LLPWorcester, MA On March 4, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Law v. Siegel, on an appeal from the Ninth Circuit. The facts were that the Chapter 7…
STERN V. MARSHALL SEMINAR MATERIALS PRESENTED 12/6/12 TO WORCESTER COUNTY BAR ASS'N BANKRUPTCY SECTION
STERN v. MARSHALL, 131 S.Ct. 2594 (2011):WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?Kevin C. McGee, PartnerSeder & Chandler, LLP339 Main Street, 3rd FloorWorcester, MA 01608©Kevin C. McGee
- The Stern v. Marshall Facts:
- Former Playmate of the Year Anna Nicole Smith (real name: Vickie Lynn Marshall) (“Smith”) marries J. Howard
…