Business Reorganization

Docketing Judgment Doesn’t Create a Lien on Personalty Until Execution

The issuance of an execution to the sheriff in New York results in the creation of a lien on personalty and the time of a transfer for preference purposes.

Administratively Closing an Individual’s Chapter 11 Case Terminates the Stay

If an individual chapter 11 debtor administratively closes a confirmed case to avoid U.S. Trustee fees, be sure to have an order continuing the stay until a discharge is entered.

The Two-Year Deadline for Avoidance Actions May Be Extended, Judge Baer Says

Only one circuit court has opined on the ability of a bankruptcy court under Rule 9006(b) to extend the deadline for filing avoidance actions.
Supreme Court Oct 20, 2025

Cert. Granted on a Circuit Split About Judicial Estoppel for Undisclosed Claims

Amicus briefs are needed so the Supreme Court sees the big picture and understands that creditors can suffer if judicial estoppel is applied indiscriminately.
10th Circuit Sep 30, 2025

Lack of Financial Distress Results in Chapter 11 Dismissal for Bad Faith

Lack of financial distress was one of several contributing factors for the Tenth Circuit BAP’s affirmance of dismissal for bad faith filing in chapter 11.

Inside ABI October 2025

Event Roundup Mid-Atlantic Bankruptcy Workshop Convenes in Chocolate Town, U.S.A. This year’s Mid-Atlantic Bankruptcy Workshop, geared toward practitioners in the Mid-Atlantic region, was held Aug. 18-20 in Hershey, Pa., at the family-friendly Hershey Lodge. Attendees

3rd Circuit Sep 3, 2025

Circuit Judge Ambro Scribes the Boundaries Between Rooker-Feldman and Preclusion

A final judgment on an issue in state court doesn’t by itself deprive federal courts of subject matter jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, the Third Circuit explains.
11th Circuit Aug 26, 2025

Courts Must Use Inherent Powers for Sanctions on Pro Se Litigants, Eleventh Circuit Says

In a nonprecedential opinion, the Eleventh Circuit holds that 28 U.S.C. § 1927 may not be used to impose monetary sanctions on pro se litigants.

Inside ABI September 2025

President’s Column As I write this, I’m in the midst of a multi-hour delay at Jacksonville, Fla., airport on what has been a “three conferences in three weeks” tour: ABI’s Northeast Bankruptcy Conference & Consumer Forum in my old stomping grounds at Bretton Woods, N.H