Summary:

What Judge Edwards has done in the DBMP decision—and what In re Wolbert foreshadowed years earlier—is to remind us that attorney-client privilege in bankruptcy is not a static shield. It is a conditional protection, one that can erode—sometimes quickly—once the debtor crosses the line from considering bankruptcy to committing to it.

And that line matters.

Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=6378922

Available at: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/lawreview/vol99/iss3/7/

Abstract:

Summary:

The Fourth Circuit recently issued a published opinion in Dale v. Peoples Bank Corp. addressing a question that arises whenever creditors pursue bank accounts to satisfy a judgment: can a bank be sued for conversion when it turns over funds pursuant to state judgment-enforcement procedures? The court’s answer was a clear no.

Summary:

In JSmith v.  Clancy & Theys, Judge Joseph Callaway addressed a familiar temptation in bankruptcy litigation: trying to convert an ordinary contract dispute into a turnover action under 11 U.S.C. § 542. The court allowed most of the debtor’s claims to proceed—but drew a clear line around turnover.

Summary:

In Israel v. Zachary, the North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed that a landlord who interferes with a tenant’s efforts to retrieve property after eviction can be liable for conversion and unjust enrichment, though the court vacated the damages award for lack of sufficient valuation evidence.