► In This Issue:

• Bullard v. Blue Hills Bank, 135 S. Ct. 1686 (May 4, 2015).
• Wellness International Network, Ltd. v. Sharif (May 26, 2015).
• Bank of America, N.A. v. Caulkett, 135 S. Ct. ____ (June 1, 2015).
• Harris v. Viegelahn (May 18, 2015).
• New and Improved! ABI’s Committee Website has Moved

The Spring 2015 session of the Supreme Court was one of the busiest for bankruptcy issues in many years. This special edition is designed to highlight the four recent decisions related to not only bankruptcy, but consumer bankruptcy. My sincere thanks to Judge Brown and Cecilia Lee for their willingness to review and prepare these materials quickly after the issuance of the decisions.

Elizabeth L. Gunn
Consumer Bankruptcy Committee, Newsletter Editor

Bullard v. Blue Hills Bank, 135 S. Ct. 1686 (May 4, 2015).

Hon. William H. Brown (ret.) Carbondale, Colo.

Denial of chapter 13 plan confirmation not a final order for appeal.

Affirming the First Circuit, the unanimous opinion of the Supreme Court, written by Chief Justice Roberts, held that an order denying confirmation was not a final order that the debtor could immediately appeal. The bank holding a mortgage on a multi-family house objected to the chapter 13 debtor’s proposed plan to bifurcate the debt and pay only $5,000 on the $101,000 unsecured portion, while paying the regular mortgage payments to satisfy the secured portion over the life of the original loan.
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Wellness International Network, Ltd. v. Sharif (May 26, 2015).

Cecilia Lee Lee & High, Ltd. Reno, Nev.

Petitioner Wellness International had a long history of chasing debtor Sharif, including obtaining default judgment against him as a plaintiff in Texas, which led to discovery in aid of collection efforts. Sharif allegedly evaded answering discovery and ultimately filed a chapter 7 petition in Illinois. The debtor failed to list assets that he contended were the assets of a trust that his mother created and for which the debtor served as trustee and his sister as the beneficiary. He testified about these assets and answered discovery relating to these assets, but he did not escape Wellness’s complaint objecting to his discharge. Wellness included as Count V in its complaint a claim for determination that the trust is the alter ego of the debtor and that trust assets are property of the estate pursuant to § 541. 
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Bank of America, N.A. v. Caulkett, 135 S. Ct. ____ (June 1, 2015).

Hon. William H. Brown (ret.) Carbondale, Colo.

Unsecured junior lien cannot be stripped in chapter 7.

In an opinion written by Justice Thomas, the Court declined to limit its prior opinion in Dewsnup v. Timm, 502 U.S. 410 (1992), to partially underwater liens, reversing the Eleventh Circuit in two cases and holding that chapter 7 debtors cannot use § 506(d) to void wholly unsecured junior liens. The amounts owing on first mortgage liens exceeded the current market values of the debtors’ homes, leaving the junior liens with no supporting value. Section 506(d) permits voiding the liens only if the bank’s claims were not allowed secured claims, and the only dispute here was whether the claims were “secured” within § 506(d)’s meaning.
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Harris v. Viegelahn (May 18, 2015).

Cecilia Lee Lee & High, Ltd. Reno, Nev.

Until 1994, three options existed for the disposition of plan contributions held by the chapter 13 trustee upon conversion to chapter 7: The funds could be given to (1) the chapter 7 estate, (2) to the debtor or (3) to creditors. Since the 1994 amendments to the Bankruptcy Code revised § 348(f), the first option for the disposition of funds from a converted chapter 13 case after confirmation of the plan was resolved: The chapter 7 estate is not a recipient of the funds unless the conversion to chapter 13 was made in bad faith. In Harris v. Viegelahn, the Supreme Court resolved the rights of the other competing parties to the funds by holding that a chapter 13 debtor who voluntarily converts to chapter 7 is entitled to the return of any post-petition wages not yet distributed by the chapter 13 trustee.
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New and Improved! ABI’s Committee Website has Moved

You may have noticed a few changes to the committee site over the last week, including a new location. The committees’ webpages have now been integrated into the main ABI website. To access these new pages, simply visit abi.org, hover over the “Membership” tab, and click on “Committees.” Here, you will be able to access newsletter articles, recent recordings, announcements, listserve activity and contact information for your leadership team.

Not sure of what committees you are a member? Update your profile, select the “Committees” tab and use the check boxes to update your status. While you’re here, take a few moments to update your full preferences, including CLE and bar information, contact information, title, and more. Uploading a professional photo is also a great way to make yourself more visible in the directory. Not only will your photo be included in the directory, but ABI staff will also have it available for use with any future article or speaking bylines.

Have comments, questions or concerns? Email us through our new support system: support@abi.org.