The court granted the Chapter 7 trustee's requests for payment of fees and expenses for professionals retained to assist him with his duties as administrator of the debtor's ERISA plans. The bankruptcy court has jurisdiction to authorize payments from the ERISA plan assets as well as from the bankruptcy estate assets, and estate assets may be used to compensate the professionals if the U.S. Department of Labor subsequently reviews the matter and determines the payments should not have been made from plan assets.
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Opinions
United States Courts Opinions (USCOURTS) collection is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) to provide public access to opinions from selected United States appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts.
The District of Nebraska offers a database of opinions for the years 1997 to current, listed by year and judge. For a more detailed search, enter the keyword or case number in the search box above.
The court overruled a creditor's objections to the debtors' disclosure statement and Chapter 11 plan, ruling that the plan appeared to be feasible and the creditor's claim could be crammed down because the creditor would retain his lien until the property is sold and then would be paid from the proceeds.
The bankruptcy court deferred a motion to assume a lease with purchase option and motion to sell free and clear of liens, finding that permissive abstention was appropriate because the validity of the purported pre-petition termination of the agreement was the subject of pending state-court litigation. The state court could determine whether the agreement was properly terminated and the amount of damages, if any, owed to either party.
The bankruptcy court granted the creditors' application for an administrative expense claim for damages resulting from the debtor's breach of a lease she had assumed pursuant to her Chapter 13 plan. Following In re Masek, 301 B.R. 336 (Bankr. D. Neb. 2003), the court found the post-assumption breach gave rise to an administrative expense claim rather than a general unsecured claim.
The court sustained the Chapter 7 trustee's objection to a claimed exemption in a retirement fund belonging to the debtor's late mother because it did not constitute an "inherited retirement account." The debtor did not receive the retirement account directly. Rather, the fund was to be liquidated and the proceeds paid to his mother's estate; from there, the money would be distributed to the heirs, including the debtor. The fund loses the attributes warranting the exemption of a retirement account by being liquidated through the probate estate.
The court permitted the debtor to claim a personal property exemption in wages garnished within the 90 days before bankruptcy filing because the debtor would have standing to avoid the transfer of exempt property, which the wages would have been, once in the debtor's possession, had they not been garnished.
The court overruled an objection to a claim that was based on a loan made ostensibly to the debtors but used by the debtors' owner for personal purposes. The evidence indicated that a portion of the funds were used to pay operating expenses for one of the debtors. In addition, the court found that despite a purported transfer of all of the debtors' assets prior to the loan being made, the owner continued to operate the business and the lender could reasonably have believed the funds would be used for business purposes. The court approved a reduced amount of the claim as agreed to by the bankruptcy trustee.
An unsecured junior lien on the debtor's residential real estate may be avoided after the debtor completes Chapter 13 plan payments. The case law in the Eighth Circuit, interpreting Nobelman, permits wholly unsecured liens to be stripped off.
An unsecured junior lien on the debtor's residential real estate may be avoided after the debtor completes Chapter 13 plan payments. The case law in the Eighth Circuit, interpreting Nobelman, permits wholly unsecured liens to be stripped off.
The court granted summary judgment to a lender who objected to the debtors' attempt to modify their monthly mortgage payments through their proposed Chapter 13 plan. The debtors argued that the terms of the loan had been modified, but there was no evidence of anything other than a temporary modification. The debtors were given time to file an amended plan to account for the appropriate mortgage payment.