In Sugar & Sasser v. Burnett, the Fourth Circuit upheld in part and vacated in part a district court’s affirmance of the bankruptcy court’s sanctions arising from a Chapter 13 debtor’s unauthorized sale of her residence. The debtor, Christine Sugar, sold her home during the pendency of her case without prior court approval as required by Eastern District of North Carolina Local Bankruptcy Rule 4002-1(g)(4) and her confirmed Chapter 13 plan, even though the property was partially exempt
The Fourth Circuit vacated and remanded a bankruptcy court ruling that had held Gary D. LeClair, a founding member of the now-defunct law firm LeClairRyan PLLC, liable for tax obligations due to his status as a firm member at the time of its bankruptcy filing.
Several small businesses had entered into two separate agreements with Bank of America—one for deposit accounts (which contained an arbitration clause) and one for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans (which did not). When the businesses sued over handling of the PPP loans by Bank of America,it moved to compel arbitration based on the deposit agreements.
