Chris Miller, appearing pro se, appealed a ruling from the bankruptcy court but failed to file a designation of items from the bankruptcy docket for inclusion on the appellate record. After explicitly providing Mr. Miller 30 additional days to file the designation the court held that before dismissing an appeal pursuant to Rule 8003(a)(2), least one of the following steps must be taken:
The first section of this Bankruptcy Law Letter examines the questions surrounding the undefined term “educational benefit” in 11 U.S.C. §523(a)(8)(A)(ii), which makes private student loans, which do not meet the IRS definition of being a “qualified educational loan”, nondischargeable. These private loans can include bar review courses, loans for attendance at unacredited schools, loans for school or test preparation and ad hoc borrowing for that somehow relates to education.
Following the financial crisis, many home mortgage borrowers found themselves living in properties encumbered by debt that far exceeded their value. The result was an increase in mortgage default rates, followed by a wave of foreclosures as lenders scrambled to minimize the financial damage to their investments. From the wreckage, a new creature emerged that threatened to devastate borrowers who believed that foreclosure was their chance for a fresh start: the zombie mortgage.
The facts and legal interpretations in this case, where the 4th Circuit found that the business structure of Big Picture Loans was protected by the tribal sovereign immunity of the Lac Vieux Desert Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, are not particularly pertinent to bankruptcy or consumer rights issues that are the focus of this blog.
