In In re Systematic Audio, LLC, Chief Bankruptcy Judge Laura T. Beyer addressed two frequently litigated issues in Chapter 11 practice: when a bankruptcy court should lift the automatic stay to allow pending state court litigation to proceed, and when (if ever) that stay should be extended to protect a non-debtor corporate officer.
Two recent North Carolina bankruptcy decisions demonstrate that recovering unclaimed bankruptcy funds is no longer simply an administrative matter. Instead, disputes over court registry funds are increasingly involving competing claims, questions regarding exempt property, concerns over fraud, and heightened judicial scrutiny of third-party companies that specialize in recovering unclaimed funds.
Ashley Deady, "Bankruptcy's Blind Spot: An Examination of How the System Turns its Back on Mentally Ill Debtors," argues that while the Bankruptcy Code promises a fresh start for the "honest but unfortunate debtor," it frequently fails those whose financial distress is intertwined with mental illness.
In Hollis v. Lakeview Loan Care, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina dismissed a pro se homeowner's federal lawsuit without prejudice, finding that although the borrower had raised legitimate concerns about her mortgage servicer, she failed to properly identify the defendants, accomplish valid service of process, or plead a recognizable legal claim.
