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In this unpublished October 15, 2025, decision, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the rulings of the Bankruptcy Court and the Eastern District of Virginia in a messy dispute arising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.
Clarence Davis began receiving prerecorded debt-collection calls from Capital One, despite never having been its customer. The problem arose because his cell phone number had previously belonged to a delinquent Capital One account holder. Even after Davis twice told Capital One to stop calling, the robocalls continued briefly.
In this published decision, the Fourth Circuit reversed the district court’s refusal to compel arbitration in a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) case brought by a Chapter 13 debtor against Experian. The debtor, after receiving a bankruptcy discharge, discovered that Experian continued to report discharged debts as delinquent, allegedly contributing to credit denials. After repeated disputes failed to correct the inaccuracies, the debtor sued under 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681e(b) and 1681i(a).
