When the time comes to collect a debt, few organizations are as accomplished as the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS showed just such guile in the case of In re Williams, a recent Chapter 7 proceeding in the Middle District of Georgia, in which the creditor raised an interesting, and more importantly, successful defense to… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: McNeal
Let the Stripping Begin: Lower Courts in the Eleventh Circuit Cautiously Embrace McNeal
Posted in Bankruptcy, Commercial LendingIt was only a matter of time before judges in the lower courts of the Eleventh Circuit began to accept the appellate court’s decision in McNeal. Two such opinions have recently been published in the Middle Districts of Florida and Georgia, and they address McNeal with as much contempt as many commentators have previously expressed…. Continue Reading
Though not Precedent, McNeal Proves Persuasive in Southern District of Florida
Posted in Bankruptcy, Commercial Lending, Debt and Judgment CollectionMortgage modification has long been an angst-ridden topic for consumer creditors. The issue once again rose to the forefront in May of 2012, when the Eleventh Circuit issued the unpublished opinion of In re McNeal, wherein the court allowed a Chapter 7 debtor to “strip off,” or avoid, a wholly unsecured junior mortgage. As discussed… Continue Reading
The Threat of Lien Stripping in “Chapter 20” Bankruptcy
Posted in Bankruptcy, Debt and Judgment CollectionAs discussed in the McNeal posts below, junior mortgage holders are increasingly finding that their mortgages are worth less than the paper they were printed on. Especially troubling to lenders, are conflicting decisions that allow liens, which otherwise would have passed through a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, to be avoided in a subsequent Chapter 13 proceeding…. Continue Reading
First Challenge to McNeal Reveals Lien Stripping Challenges for Chapter 7 and 13 Debtors
Posted in Bankruptcy, Commercial Lending, Debt and Judgment CollectionNearly five months after McNeal was decided by the Eleventh Circuit, a challenge has arisen within the Eastern District of New York, which has historically been fertile ground for bankruptcy law. In Wachovia Mortgage v. Smoot, the court rejected a debtor’s attempt to strip off a wholly unsecured junior mortgage in a Chapter 7 proceeding,… Continue Reading
Pending Re-Hearing, McNeal is Stripping Away
Posted in BankruptcyRecently, in an article published in the American Bankruptcy Institute, we dissected the recent 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the case of In re McNeal. The decision was short, only two pages in fact, but in it the court drastically changed the rights of upside-down debtors with junior mortgages who have filed for… Continue Reading