6th Circuit

Courts Hopelessly Split on Modifying Mortgages on Mixed-Use Residential Properties

Judge Buchanan collects authorities on all sides of two questions befuddling courts everywhere.

Sixth Circuit Pronounces a Two-Prong Test to Determine ‘Finality’

Appeals court insinuates that denial of a lift-stay motion without prejudice is not appealable.
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Functionally Illiterate, Disabled Debtor Succeeds in Discharging Student Loans

Why must the system require a trial to discharge student loans by a debtor in hopeless circumstances?

Sixth Circuit Panel Splits on the Attributes of a ‘Governmental Unit’

Sixth Circuit narrowly rules that a community health service is not a governmental unit and is thus eligible for chapter 11.
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Sixth Circuit Expounds on a Loophole in the Rooker-Feldman Doctrine

Bankruptcy court may overrule a state court that rules incorrectly on the discharge of a debt.
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Terminating a Lease for Default Doesn’t Invoke the § 362(b)(10) Stay Exception

Lower courts are split on whether terminating a nonresidential lease for default means there is no automatic stay.

Appeal from Interpretation of a Prior Sale Order Is Reviewed for Abuse of Discretion

A creditor can’t have derivative standing if the trustee already sold the claim, BAP says.
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Mandatory Abstention Applies to an Entire Adversary Proceeding, Not Individual Claims

Abstention can’t be used to peel off some claims from an adversary proceeding, the BAP says.
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Penalties for Fraud Are Nondischargeable Despite Chapter 13’s ‘Superdischarge’

Fraudsters get no sympathy from the Sixth Circuit on dischargeability.
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Debtors Benefit When Trust Law Meets Bankruptcy Law

A trust designed to defeat the claims of creditors can sometimes hold up in bankruptcy.
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