In re Seres; WDNY Bk 08-12185; Ford Credit v. Seres & Wallach; AP 09-01289 (Judge Bucki; Decision dated October 1, 2010). If a debtor fails to list an ongoing personal injury lawsuit on his bankruptcy petition, or report it to the trustee at the 341 hearing, that...
New York Governor Patterson signed a new law on October 20, the "Access to Justice in Lending Act" (Chapter 550 of the Laws of 2010), which allows defendants who are successful in defending against foreclosures to have the bank pay their attorney fees. Bill A01239...
Back in the day, law offices actually employed their own staff to do the office work in foreclosures. But in the past half decade, several high-volume foreclosure law firms (called by some "foreclosure mills") have taken a new tactic: spinning off their back-office...
As we all know, the mortgage funding world changed dramatically in the past few decades. Back in the 'day', the bank which provided the mortgage used its own funds to finance the mortgage, collected on it directly, and held the note as its own mortgage. Over time,...
The Amherst, NY law office of Steven J. Baum, the biggest foreclosure law firm in New York, has been getting some heat recently. I will be posting a separate blog about the complicated relationship between the Baum office and Pillar processing LLC. But independent of...
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a final rule amending the Telemarketing Sales Rule, restricting many of the most egregious abuses of the debt settlement industry. Some of these changes went into effect September 27, 2010; the rest will go in effect a...
Bankruptcy filings in both the Rochester and Buffalo Divisions of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western New York are down, compared to the past two years. Bankruptcy cases are numbered consecutively when filed, and on October 5, 2010, the 2,438th case of...
In re: Lyons Equipment Company, Inc. Bk 09-21419; AP 09-1059 (Judge Bucki; decision September 8, 2010) Buffalo Bankruptcy Judge Carl Bucki has ruled that a secured creditor which took over management of a corporation is not liable for unpaid wages that were incurred...
In re: Tullar; Bk 10-11214 (Judge Kaplan; August 18, 2010). It would be an understatement to say this was a case of first impression. The debtor's sole residence was the sleeper cab in his Peterbilt truck. Did the truck qualify for New York's homestead exemption?...
In re Lang Bk 05-16767 (Judge Bucki, decision September 17, 2010.) When this debtor filed Chapter 13 in 2005, she filed a five year plan to cure the arrears on her residence. At the time, she owned a car, free and clear, with $7,250 unexempt equity (value in excess of...