Scheer v. State Bar of California (In re Scheer)
Filing bankruptcy reinstates a lawyer’s license to practice by discharging her obligation to repay improperly collected attorney fees to her client. Read More
The following summaries are of recent published decisions of the California appellate courts, the Ninth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. The summaries are presented without regard to whether Severson & Werson represented a party in the case.
Filing bankruptcy reinstates a lawyer’s license to practice by discharging her obligation to repay improperly collected attorney fees to her client. Read More
The bankruptcy court wrongly held a creditor in contempt where the creditor reasonably believed that its action in seeking an attorney fee award from the debtor in state court litigation did not violate the discharge injunction based on the Ybarra rule. Read More
Sums received in settlement of borrower’s claims for improper construction are subject to the lien of the deed of trust encumbering the improperly built property and so must be paid to the lender, not the borrower’s bankruptcy trustee. Read More
In context of imposing a cramdown plan in the bankruptcy reorganization of a debtor who had obtained a HUD loan to build an affordable housing project, the bankruptcy court should have valued HUD’s claim as whatever the property would ordinarily be worth absent any restriction for use as affordable housing (even though the debtor ultimately intended to continue with the… Read More
A bankruptcy court applied the wrong test in determining whether interest payable on an oversecured creditor’s claim between the petition filing date and plan approval date should be paid at the loan’s default interest rate. Read More
A bankruptcy appellate panel is not a court established by an Act of Congress and so cannot issue a writ of mandate under the All Writs Act. Read More