The Cook v. Chapter 13 Trustee decision is one of those deceptively modest Chapter 13 cases that, on closer inspection, carries outsized importance for consumer practitioners.
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.
In Tederick v. LoanCare, LLC, the Fourth Circuit vacated a summary judgment ruling that had dismissed a consumer class action against mortgage servicer LoanCare under the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act (WVCCPA). The appellate court held that the statute imposes strict liability, meaning that a borrower does not need to prove the servicer intended to violate the law.
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.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment against DiStefano, a TastyKake distributor terminated after receiving three breach notices in three months for leaving expired product on shelves and failing to meet store service requirements. The contract explicitly allowed termination after more than two notices in a 12-month period, and DiStefano admitted it had no evidence the notices were wrong.
In a case that reads like The Wolf of Wall Street meets Fixer Upper, the Fourth Circuit waded into an international fraud, a botched lis pendens, and a high-cost lender accused of acting as the “getaway driver” for a Baltimore restaurateur who managed to siphon nearly $7.8 million from a member of the Kuwaiti royal family.
In this unpublished October 15, 2025, decision, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the rulings of the Bankruptcy Court and the Eastern District of Virginia in a messy dispute arising from the dissolution of a small limousine company, All American Black Car Service, Inc. (“AABCS”). The case reads like a familiar tale of closely-held corporate dissolution gone awry—complete with COVID-era losses, unwritten understandings, and shareholder distrust—transposed into the bankruptcy context.
