Discharge/Dischargeability

All Private Student Loans Are Not Excepted from Discharge, Second Circuit Holds

No circuit split: The Second Circuit agrees with the Fifth and Tenth Circuits that only a subset of private student loans is automatically nondischargeable.

Maryland Decision Shows the Hardship Imposed on Debtors by Student Loans

Judge Harner does the best she can to ease the burden imposed on a debtor by student loans.

Judgment for Sexual Discrimination Automatically Made the Debt Nondischargeable

Although the arbitrator didn’t explicitly find willful and malicious injury, the nature of a successful claim for sexual discrimination supplied the required findings for nondischargeability.

Treble Damages for ‘Willfulness’ Won’t Automatically Result in Nondischargeability

The lack of specific findings of fact by the arbitrator meant that a treble damage award for willful breach of contract was dischargeable.

Debt-Collection Reforms Draw Congressional Focus Post-COVID

July 2021

Arbitration Clause Results in Temporary Stay of ‘Core’ Proceedings in Bankruptcy Court

Decision by Bankruptcy Judge Michelle Harner demonstrates the flaw in the Fourth Circuit’s rule requiring parallel proceedings in bankruptcy court and in arbitration when disputes are both core and non-core.

Avoiding a Lien Doesn’t Bar Collecting the Underlying, Nondischargeable Debt

First Circuit BAP explains what lien avoidance does and doesn’t do.

Nightmarish Consumer Issues

Judge Elizabeth Katz Gives Some Relief for a Debtor Ineligible to Discharge Student Loans

Massachusetts bankruptcy judge requires flexibility from both the government and the debtor who is saddled with huge student loans.