News

Case Summaries

Bankruptcy Law

[06/23] In re: Trout
In a bankruptcy trustee's appeal from a decision of the bankruptcy appellate panel affirming the bankruptcy court's determination that, having successfully avoided a preferential vehicle lien under 11 U.S.C. section 547, the trustee was not entitled to a money judgment equal to the value of the avoided liens under section 550(a), the order is affirmed where the bankruptcy estate had been sufficiently returned to its pre-transfer status by avoiding the preferential lien at issue and stepping into the lien priority of the avoided creditor under 11 U.S.C. section 551.

[06/23] In re McKinney
An appeal by a tax debt owner in Chapter 13 proceedings, arising from the bankruptcy court's denial of its objections to the debtor's proposed plan to pay off the tax debt with interest within five years, is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction as, although the issue that the tax debt owner cares about may have been resolved, its basic dispute with the bankruptcy estate has not been resolved and therefore the judgment of the bankruptcy court is not final.

[06/22] In re: Delta Airlines, Inc.
In creditors' appeal from a bankruptcy court's order upholding debtor's objections to their claims under tax indemnification agreements, the order is vacated where: 1) the bankruptcy court's construction of "pay" as that term was used in an agreement at issue nullified debtor's obligation to pay the "Owner Participant" under the agreement upon the occurrence most likely to call its provisions into play ? the debtor's insolvency; and 2) the bankruptcy court effectively nullified the agreements by stripping them of their ability to protect the Owner Participant in the event of debtor's default.

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Consumer Protection

[06/24] Olmstead v. Fed. Trade Comm'n
An order to partially satisfy a judgment against defendant in the FTC's suit for unfair or deceptive trade practices is affirmed as Florida law permits a court to order a judgment debtor to surrender all right, title, and interest in the debtor's single-member limited liability company to satisfy an outstanding judgment.

[06/21] Kleffman v. Vonage Holdings Corp.
In plaintiff's class action suit under section 17529.5(a)(2), which makes it unlawful to advertise in a commercial e-mail advertisement (i.e. spam) that "contains or is accompanied by falsified, misrepresented, or forged header information," dismissal of the complaint for failure to state a claim is affirmed as sending commercial e-mail advertisements from multiple domain names for the purpose of bypassing spam filters is not unlawful under section 17529.5(a)(2).

[06/21] Real Estate Bar Ass'n for Massachusetts, Inc. v. Nat'l Real Estate Info. Serv.
In the Real Estate Bar Association's suit against defendant for unauthorized practice of law, judgment of the district court is vacated in part, reversed in part and remanded where: 1) district court's judgment against plaintiff on its unauthorized practice of law claim is vacated as in Massachusetts, the state judicial branch and the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (SJC) in particular, is solely responsible for defining what is the practice of law, and here, there is no controlling precedent which addresses whether the activities at issue constitute unauthorized practice of law; and 2) district court's judgment on defendant's dormant Commerce Clause counterclaim is reversed as plaintiff is not a state actor, defendant has not stated a dormant Commerce Clause claim against plaintiff, and plaintiff's bringing of its suit against defendant under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 221, section 46B is protected by the First Amendment.

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