Summary:

Judge Laura Beyer’s decision in In re Holland drives home a now-settled point in North Carolina bankruptcy practice: if a debtor does not intend to keep collateral and make payments, then the debtor does not get to deduct those payments on the Chapter 7 means test.

Summary:

In this Western District case, the pro se plaintiff, Brittney Moseley, brought what has become a fairly common species of Fair Credit Reporting Act litigation — alleging that a lender “pulled” her credit report without authorization and, in the process, violated both the FCRA and North Carolina’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

The Court did not buy it.

Summary:

In yet another chapter of what is becoming a running series on pay-to-pay mortgage fees, Chief Judge Catherine Eagles has issued a significant opinion certifying a statewide class of North Carolina homeowners against Dovenmuehle Mortgage, Inc. (DMI). The ruling allows claims under both the North Carolina Debt Collection Act (NCDCA) and the Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act (UDTPA) to proceed on a class-wide basis.

This case ties directly back to earlier discussions here:

Available at:  https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5944454

Abstract:

In November 2022, the Department of Justice and Department of Education announced sweeping reforms designed to make student loan bankruptcy discharge more accessible to struggling borrowers.

Summary:

This case began as an interpleader filed by a closing attorney caught in the middle of a family property dispute — wisely deciding not to referee a fight over sale proceeds while trying to deliver clear title.

Summary:

In In re Granite City Mechanical, Inc., the Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina (Judge Laura T. Beyer) held that the United States may offset unpaid Employee Retention Tax Credits (ERTCs) against a debtor’s outstanding COVID-19 EIDL loan owed to the SBA.

Summary:

In Hultz v. Bisignano, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed the denial of Social Security Disability benefits to Crystal Hultz, a claimant whose primary disabling condition was fibromyalgia. Relying heavily on its earlier decision in Arakas v.

While this decision is, on its face, a fairly ordinary residential rental dispute—replete with mold allegations, maintenance requests, and implied-warranty skirmishing—the part that should actually catch the attention of consumer and bankruptcy attorneys is the Court’s treatment of the North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act and its companion Debt Collection Act provisions.

In Roach v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., the North Carolina Court of Appeals again draws a hard line between conduct that feels unfair and conduct that is legally actionable under Chapter 75. The court affirmed summary judgment for Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., holding that the borrowers’ grievances — however sympathetic — did not amount to unfair and deceptive trade practices.

This is a foreclosure case with a long backstory, and that backstory matters.

At first blush, Zuleger v. Clore looks like a pure state-law property dispute about life estates, remainders, and an aging house that no one can afford to fix. But for bankruptcy practitioners—especially in North Carolina—it quietly sharpens an issue we wrestle with all the time:  

How do you value a life estate or remainder interest when the law allows liquidation in theory, but the market reality says otherwise?