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In LaRosa v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the Fourth Circuit held that interest obligations arising from an erroneous IRS refund can constitute “unpaid tax” eligible for equitable innocent spouse relief under 26 U.S.C. § 6015(f).

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In American Acceptance Corporation of SC v. Gietz , the Fourth Circuit held that a secured creditor’s rights in collateral can temporarily give way when the property becomes critical evidence in a criminal prosecution.

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In , Judge Pamela McAfee denied confirmation of the Clarks’ Chapter 13 plan after concluding that continuing to spend $1,715 per month on private Christian school tuition while proposing to discharge roughly 90% of more than $300,000 in unsecured debt was inconsistent with the good faith requirement of 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(3).

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In , Judge George Hodges of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina denied a debtor’s attempt to revise an earlier order extending the deadline for filing nondischargeability complaints under 11 U.S.C. § 523(c).

In a decision that should send a chill through every contingent-fee lawyer handling claims for bankruptcy debtors, the Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina in Martinez v. Wolper Law Firm held that a law firm that successfully obtained a FINRA arbitration settlement nevertheless lacked an enforceable secured charging lien against the settlement proceeds because it failed to satisfy the Bankruptcy Code’s requirements for employment of professionals and failed to perfect its charging lien before the case settled. 

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The collapse of the much-publicized Believer Meats cultured-meat facility in Wilson County has now moved from construction disputes into full-blown insolvency administration. But rather than filing a federal bankruptcy case under Chapter 11, Subchapter V, or even Chapter 7, the parties instead proceeded through North Carolina’s Commercial Receivership Act. That strategic choice may ultimately become the most interesting aspect of this case.

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In this sweeping Consent Judgment, the North Carolina Attorney General effectively finishes what the North Carolina Business Court had already begun in its earlier summary judgment ruling against MV Realty: dismantling the company’s attempt to transform exploitative listing agreements into purported “covenants running with the land.”

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In a pair of unpublished but fascinating decisions, the North Carolina Court of Appeals once again returned to the seemingly never-ending Smoky Mountain Country Club litigation saga, this time reversing a trial court that had attempted to relieve homeowners from paying assessments arising out of a Chapter 11 plan confirmed in the bankruptcy case of the property owners’ association itself.

Summary:

In a trio of unpublished but significant decisions, the North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed arbitration awards against TitleMax arising from high-interest cross-border vehicle title loans made to North Carolina residents. The primary decision, Frazier v. TitleMax of Virginia, Inc., was accompanied by the companion cases of Jefferies v. TitleMax of South Carolina, Inc. and Hood v.