Bankruptcy

Bespoke, Tailored, and Off-The-Rack Bankruptcy: A Response to Professor Coordes’s ‘Bespoke Bankruptcy’

Christopher D. Hampson

Response to Laura N. Coordes, Bespoke Bankruptcy Abstract Toward the end of every semester that I teach bankruptcy, I let my students vote on which “non-traditional” insolvency regimes they would like to study, including municipal bankruptcy, sovereign bankruptcy, and financial institutions. What I am really trying to do is convey to the students that the […]

Bespoke Bankruptcy

Laura N. Coordes

Abstract The U.S. Bankruptcy Code is the primary source of bankruptcy relief for debtors in the United States. But it is not the only source. Over the years, Congress has occasionally created bespoke bankruptcy—customized debt relief designed for a particular group of debtors. Bespoke bankruptcy may provide desperately needed bankruptcy relief to entities that are […]

Bankruptcy’s Adjunct Regulator

Alexandra Sickler & Kara Bruce

Abstract This Article bridges the fields of consumer finance and bankruptcy by presenting the first comprehensive study of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s potential as bankruptcy regulator. It provides an in-depth picture of how the Bureau’s regulatory authority crosses over into the consumer bankruptcy system. Based on the observations of this study, it makes the […]

The Fresh Start Canon

Written by: Jonathon S. Byington

Abstract A primary policy of bankruptcy law is to give consumer debtors a “fresh start” by discharging their debt. A rival policy is that the discharge of debt is a selectively conferred privilege that is not granted in some situations. For example, society is unwilling to pardon debt related to embezzlement or a domestic-support obligation. […]

Student Loans and Surmountable Access-To-Justice Barriers

Written by: Jason Iuliano

Findings and conclusions from the 2012 American Bankruptcy Law Journal Study and Response to Professor Rafael I. Pardo’s latest piece, The Undue Hardship Thicket: On Access to Justice, Procedural Noncompliance, and Pollutive Litigation in Bankruptcy.

Rafael I. Pardo, The Undue Hardship Thicket: On Access to Justice, Procedural Noncompliance, and Pollutive Litigation in Bankruptcy

This Article offers new insights into understanding the complexities and costs of the litigation burden that Congress has imposed on debtors who seek a fresh start in bankruptcy. In order to explore the problems inherent in a system that necessitates litigation as the path for obtaining certain types of bankruptcy relief, this Article focuses on […]

Alan M. White & Carolina Reid Saving Homes? Bankruptcies and Loan Modifications in the Foreclosure Crisis

Do homeowner bankruptcy filings work to delay or prevent home foreclosures, and how do they compare to voluntary loan modifications specifically targeted to mortgage relief? The 2007–2012 financial crisis provides a unique opportunity to assess whether bankruptcy can help homeowners avoid the negative consequences of over-indebtedness and mortgage default. This empirical study analyzes a large, loan-level mortgage dataset to determine which […]

In Response to Rafael I. Pardo’s The Undue Hardship Thicket: On Access to Justice, Procedural Noncompliance, and Pollutive Litigation in Bankruptcy

Michael A. Olivas

Abstract Response to Rafael I. Pardo, The Undue Hardship Thicket: On Access to Justice, Procedural Noncompliance, and Pollutive Litigation in Bankruptcy In this essay, I attempt two impossible tasks. First, limited to approximately 1,000 words, I respond to Professor Rafael Pardo’s towering 78 page article, The Undue Hardship Thicket: On Access to Justice, Procedural Noncompliance, and […]

Easy Access to Loans, But What About Access to Justice?

Brooke D. Coleman

Abstract Response to Rafael I. Pardo, The Undue Hardship Thicket: On Access to Justice, Procedural Noncompliance, and Pollutive Litigation in Bankruptcy Rafael Pardo’s article, The Undue Hardship Thicket: On Access to Justice, Procedural Noncompliance, and Pollutive Litigation in Bankruptcy, thoughtfully details how, in bankruptcy litigation involving student-loan debt, repeat-player creditors have an undoubted advantage. This advantage, however, goes beyond the standard […]

Kimon Korres, Bankrupting Bankruptcy: Circumventing Chapter 11 Protections Through Manipulation of the Business Justification Standard in § 363 Asset Sales, and a Refined Standard to Safeguard Against Abuse

63 Fla. L. Rev. 959 (2011)|  | | NOTE :: Of the twenty largest public company bankruptcy filings from 1980 to the present, seventeen have taken place since 2001, and ten of those seventeen were filed between March of 2007 and August of 2009. One such example is In re Chrysler LLC, in which Chrysler, on […]

Creola Johnson, Renters Evicted en Masse: Collateral Damage Arising from the Subprime Foreclosure Crisis

62 Fla. L. Rev. 975 (2010) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: Across the country, innocent renters are becoming victims of their landlords’ inability to avoid foreclosure on their rental properties. Many are not receiving the legal rights that they are entitled to under federal and state law. For example, Marjorie Benedum and her husband […]

Andrew S. Brown, Breaking Up and Making Out (Rich): Recommendations for Revision of the Bankruptcy Code Provisions Governing Break-Up Fees Used by Stalking Horse Bidders in § 363 Bankruptcy Asset Sales

62 Fla. L. Rev. 1463 (2010) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: Since December 2007, the United States has suffered through a “Great Recession.” The stock market had plummeted more than 40% from its peak as investors pulled their money from investments seeking safety under their mattresses. Companies and individuals have struggled as bankruptcy filings […]

Brent J. Horton, In Defence of Private-Label Mortgage-Backed Securities

61 Fla. L. Rev. 827 (2009) | | | | ABSTRACT :: The House Financial Services Committee recently concluded that lack of regulation of private-label mortgage-backed securities (MBS) is to blame for the unsustainable housing bubble that peaked in mid-2006-and consequentially, the economic crisis that ensued when the bubble burst. It is true that the […]

Richard M. Hynes, Broke but not Bankrupt: Consumer Debt Collection in State Courts

60 Fla. L. Rev. 1 (2008) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: Virginia, with a population of about seven million, has averaged more than a million civil filings a year since the late 1980s. The overwhelming majority of these filings seek to collect debts from consumers, and most judgments go unpaid. Despite this apparent insolvency, […]

Diana L. Hayes, Bankruptcy Law: An Exercise in Statutory Interpretation-Staying True to the Broad Aim of the Code or Ignoring Plain Meaning and Purpose?

59 Fla. L. Rev. 697 (2007) | | | | TEXT :: State law required Petitioner to maintain workers’ compensation coverage for his freight trucking business. Petitioner contracted with Respondent to provide this insurance. After Petitioner canceled the policy and filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Respondent, in an amended claim, asserted that the unpaid premiums […]

Lindsay Roshkind, Employment Law: An Adverse Action Against Employers: The Supreme Court's Expansion of Title VII's Anti-Retaliation Provision

59 Fla. L. Rev. 707 (2007) | | | | TEXT :: State law required Petitioner to maintain workers’ compensation coverage for his freight trucking business. Petitioner contracted with Respondent to provide this insurance. After Petitioner canceled the policy and filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Respondent, in an amended claim, asserted that the unpaid premiums […]

John H. Rains IV, Searching for Fairness in all the Wrong Places: Valuing the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's Unsecured Claim in Bankruptcy

58 Fla. L. Rev. 1107 (2006) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: Imagine waking up to this headline: “Major American Corporation Seeks Bankruptcy Protection.” Amid concern over lost jobs, reduced benefits for current employees, dramatic changes in stock prices, protracted litigation, enormous losses for creditors, and the displacement of current owners of the business, two […]