On Bankruptcy and Mediation
Tick tock (photo by Marilyn Swanson) By: Donald L Swanson Being in business is risky. And the risks are ever-expanding. The latest illustration of a new risk is the case of TikTok, Inc. v. Garland. The new risk is for businesses using the TikTok social media platform: i.e., the U.S. Government can shut that social media... Continue Reading →
Is this “absurd”? No. (Photo by Marilyn Swanson) By: Donald L Swanson What does “projected disposable income” mean as a statutory standard for plan confirmation? U.S. Supreme Court—It means what it says In Hamilton v. Lanning, 560 U.S. 505 (2010), the U.S. Supreme Court applies the term, “projected disposable income,” in a Chapter 13 plan confirmation... Continue Reading →
Blocked from moving forward (photo by Marilyn Swanson) By Donald L. Swanson You’d think it’s immoral or something—or at least it’s in violation of some constitutional principle of great and foundational importance . . . like due process or First Amendment or separation of powers. I’m talking about tort claimants being denied payments for their injuries,... Continue Reading →
By: Donald L Swanson Four U.S. Supreme Court justices (Kagan, Kavanaugh, Roberts and Sotomayor) provide the following summary of their Purdue Pharma dissent in the Purdue Pharma case. Wrong & Devastating Today’s five-justice majority opinion is wrong on the law and devastating for more than 100,000 opioid victims and their families: the majority opinion rewrites the... Continue Reading →
Uniformity? (Photo by Marilyn Swanson) By: Donald L Swanson The bankruptcy clause of the U.S. Constitution focuses on a requirement of uniformity. Here’s the Constitution’s language: “The Congress shall have power . . . To establish . . . uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States” [Article I, Section 8, Clause 4... Continue Reading →
Nonconformity (photo by Marilyn Swanson) By: Donald L Swanson Provisions of the Bankruptcy Code and the Federal Arbitration Act can collide. How those collisions are to be sorted out remains an open question. The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued an opinion on remedies for a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s uniformity requirement for bankruptcy laws[Fn. 1];... Continue Reading →
Waving easily (photo by Marilyn Swanson) By: Donald L Swanson Contracts can provide for the arbitration of disputes. And those arbitration rights are enforced by the Federal Arbitration Act. But contractual arbitration rights can be waived. And the question is this: Is it easy . . . or hard . . . to waive those rights?... Continue Reading →
Uttering an expletive? (Photo by Marilyn Swanson) By: Donald L Swanson The phrase “Texas Two-Step,” as used in bankruptcy, is a legal expletive. Regardless of what the details of a Texas Two-Step might be, the phrase has become synonymous with: abusive behavior; bad faith conduct; a means for swindling creditors; the antithesis of “doing what’s right”;... Continue Reading →
By: Donald L Swanson Here’s a dilemma: Should bankruptcy be available as a tool for resolving mass tort cases of all types (like it already is in asbestos contexts)? Here’s an illustration of the dilemma: many tort claimants in the Johnson & Johnson case DO NOT want bankruptcy involved; but many tort claimants in the Purdue... Continue Reading →
A narrow view (photo by Marilyn Swanson) By: Donald L Swanson The U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion is Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum Co., Inc., Case No. 22-1079, Decided June 6, 2024. Opinion’s Q & A The Truck Insurance question is this: Whether an insurer with financial responsibility for a bankruptcy claim is a “party in... Continue Reading →
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