Since 1978, dismissals of involuntary bankruptcy petitions due to petitioning creditors' bad faith have proliferated. In the process, a textual oddity has not gone unnoticed: even as “bad faith” is denominated as the basis for an award of punitive damages, nowhere in the Bankruptcy Code's...

Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code gives creditors whose rights will be impaired the right to vote to accept or reject a proposed plan of reorganization. Bankruptcy law subjects this right of franchise to two limitations. Section 1126(e) provides that a vote cast “not in good faith” or “not...

In a contested matter or adversary proceeding, Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7004(h) sets forth the requisites for service on an “insured depository institution.” Subject to three exceptions, a motion or complaint must be served by certified mail on an officer of these statutorily...

For more than two decades, a debate has raged over what to make of vindicatory contempts, a class of ostensibly civil contempt orders intended to punish a debtor for his or her defiance of prior judicial orders issued pre-petition by a state court. Because § 362(a)(1) applies to all judicial...

The second of a two-part "handbook" — the first has been simultaneously posted on author's SSRN page — this pithy article details the potential defenses available to financial institutions and the issues that all parties should be prepared to address when proposing or rebuffing a claim...

On Nov. 10, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed a lightly amended version of House Resolution 14279 into law. Days later, Rhode Island's Fernand St. Germain made clear its primary purpose: the modernization of the existing bank regulatory system. Tucked within this bill lay the Electronic Funds...

Over the course of its multi-decade existence, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ("RESPA") has been amended to cover many diverse yet related “real estate” subjects. In its present iteration, two provisions — sections 2605(g) and 2609 — deal with mortgage escrow accounts, with...