SUPREME COURT CURRENTLY SLATED TO CONSIDER SIX BANKRUPTCY-RELATED CASES
By granting cert last week in Harris v. Viegelahn, No. 14-400, and Bullard v. Hyde Park Savings Bank, No. 14-116, the Supreme Court will now be considering six bankruptcy-related cases in its current term. Additionally, there were nine amicus briefs filed in Baker Botts LLP v. ASARCO LLC, No. 14-103. For more information on all six cases, including the issues presented in each and petitions and briefs filed in the case, be sure to visit the Supreme Court section of the ABI Newsroom.
OCC SEES CREDIT QUALITY IMPROVING, BANKS TAKING ON MORE RISK
A U.S. banking regulator said it sees signs banks are taking on more credit risk but said the overall quality of loans is improving along with the economy, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), in its twice-annual assessment of risks among nationally chartered banks, reiterated its worry about loosening underwriting standards, particularly in auto loans, credit cards and leveraged loans to companies with high levels of debt. Yesterday's report followed the release of an OCC survey on Tuesday identifying a three-year trend of eased lending standards — a phenomenon not seen since the period before the 2008 financial crisis. Overall, the OCC said the banking sector is continuing to recover, with firms making more new loans and experiencing fewer problems with existing ones. In mortgages, a sector at the heart of the 2008 crisis, the OCC said it sees default rates and foreclosures dropping — a sign the quality of mortgages loans is improving. Read more. (Subscription required.)
REPORT: U.S. CREDIT CARD ACCOUNTS ROSE BY 24 MILLION SINCE LAST YEAR
The American Bankers Association reported today that the number of open U.S. credit card accounts in the second quarter of 2014 increased by 24 million from a year earlier, while purchase volumes also increased significantly, CollectionsCreditRisk.com reported today. The Federal Reserve Board previously reported that revolving credit rose by 6.3 percent between April and June. The ABA found that monthly purchase volume by credit card users with the highest credit scores rose by 8.2 percent from the first quarter. For customers in the middle band of credit scores, between 680 and 759, purchase volume rose by 10.3 percent. During the second quarter, there were 304 million credit card accounts open, which was up from 280 million a year earlier, the report found. The increasing use of credit cards is not leading to a substantially higher debt burden, at least right now, according to the ABA. As a percentage of disposable income, credit card debt outstanding remained at a 15-year low in the second quarter, according to the report. Read more. (Free registration required.)
FED SAYS IT WILL BE "PATIENT" ON INTEREST RATE TIMING
Janet L. Yellen, the Federal Reserve chairwoman, said yesterday that the Fed still expected to start raising interest rates next year, but that it would wait patiently for the right time and did not expect to begin any earlier than late April, the New York Times reported today. Yellen's remarks, and a statement issued by the Fed's policy-making committee, both emphasized that the nation's central bank was not inclined to act more quickly in light of positive economic news, including stronger job growth and plummeting oil prices. "The committee considers it unlikely to begin the normalization process for at least the next couple of meetings," Yellen said, ruling out scheduled sessions in January and March. For almost a year now, Fed officials have pointed toward the summer of 2015 as the most likely time for the long-awaited lift of short-term interest rates, which the Fed has held near zero since December 2008. Read more.
ABI MEMBERS INVITED TO TRY BLOOMBERG BNA'S RECENTLY LAUNCHED BLOOMBERG LAW BANKRUPTCY TREATISE
Bloomberg BNA welcomes ABI members to try the Bloomberg Law: Bankruptcy Treatise, an online-only resource recently launched to help attorneys find information and conduct legal research in the fast-moving, procedurally complex area of bankruptcy. The Bankruptcy Treatise integrates the news content of Bloomberg BNA's bankruptcy news coverage with over 600 chapters and more than 13,000 pages of content and expert analysis from over 60 renowned judges, law professors and practitioners. The Bloomberg BNA editorial team, with input from outside contributors, will update the material as bankruptcy rules change and courts apply and react to them, ensuring that all aspects of federal bankruptcy law and local rules are current. Practitioners will be pleased to discover that Bloomberg Law: Bankruptcy Treatise includes expert commentary and analysis for all 92 different local rule sets throughout the country, providing unique insights across jurisdictions. For more information on Bloomberg Law: Bankruptcy Treatise and to request a free trial of Bloomberg Law, please click here.
USTP NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING ON CHAPTER 11 MONTHLY OPERATING REPORTS
Section 602 of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) authorizes the U.S. Trustee Program (USTP) to issue rules requiring uniform periodic reports by debtors in possession or trustees in non-small business cases under chapter 11. The USTP just published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking public comment on the proposed rule and periodic report forms. The proposed rule is published in the Federal Register at 79 FR 66659 (Nov. 10, 2014) (to be codified at 28 C.F.R. pt. 58). The proposed rule, along with the proposed periodic report forms and instructions, may be viewed on the USTP's website. The proposed rule may also be accessed at www.regulations.gov. All public comments must be submitted on or before January 9, 2015, via www.regulations.gov. Please note that the proposed rule and forms only apply in chapter 11 cases filed by debtors that are not small businesses. Small business debtors are already required to use Official Form 25C, "Small Business Monthly Operating Report."
NEW CASE SUMMARY ON VOLO: LAWLESS V. NEWTON, JR. (IN RE LAWLESS; 6TH CIR.)
Summarized by Dean Langdon, DelCotto Law Group PLLC
The Sixth Circuit affirmed the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, which held that because the debtor could elect to take a lump sum distribution of his retirement funds, it was excluded from the Tennessee statute, which exempted such funds and constituted property of the debtor's bankruptcy estate. The decision was not recommended for publication.
There are more than 1,500 appellate opinions summarized on Volo, and summaries typically appear within 24 hours of the ruling. Click here regularly to view the latest case summaries on ABI's Volo website.
NEW ON ABI'S BANKRUPTCY BLOG EXCHANGE: FORMER LEADER OF FREEDOM INDUSTRIES SEEKS TO DISQUALIFY PROSECUTORS
A recent blog post examined how Gary Southern, the former leader of Freedom Industries Inc., the company behind a massive chemical spill, wants to disqualify the federal lawyers prosecuting him for fraud on the grounds that they also suffered from the spill.
Be sure to check the site several times each day; any time a contributing blog posts a new story, a link to the story will appear on the top. If you have a blog that deals with bankruptcy, or know of a good blog that should be part of the Bankruptcy Exchange, please contact the ABI Web team.
ABI Quick Poll
"Executoriness" should be dropped as a threshold requirement in § 365.
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