More flavor to savor (cases, that is)

Coroprate veil may be pierced to reach Debtors

In re Aoki (1st Cir. BAP 2005)

Bankruptcy court did not err in piercing corporate veil to hold debtors personally liable for a corporation's debts, nor in determining that a debt was nondischargeable in the individual debtors' bankruptcy case.

Partial discharge of student loans permissible In re Fields (6th Cir. BAP 2005)

Bankruptcy court may grant partial discharge of student loan debt upon a finding that repayment of the entire debt would impose an undue hardship pursuant to § 523(a)(8), although repayment of a portion of the whole would not.

Tax Court properly declined jurisdiction

Meadows v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (11th Cir. 2005)

Tax Court did. not abuse its discretion by declining to exercise jurisdiction over complex dischargeability question.

No interest on administrative expenses

In re Reed (5th Cir. 2005)

Code indicates that only creditors are entitled to payment of interest in a solvent Estate. Because administrative claimants are not creditors, interest cannot be paid on administrative claims when an Estate is solvent.

Chapter 13 fees by Debtor's Attorney were excessive In re Desai (Bankr. N.D. Cal 2005)

Rather than a competent attorney or paralegal sitting down and doing the work, 2 attorneys and 2 paralegals attacked the project in bits and pieces.

Fees for intra-office conferences reduced by 50% In re Condor Systems, Inc. (Bankr. N.D. Ca. 2005)

Professional must be prepared to justify intra-office conferences -- and that justification may not merely be generic. To say that the subject activities were related to each professional’s engagement and were more efficient in the long run is insufficient. Extensive use of .5 and 1.0 billing increments warrants a reduction in fees sought. A professional's failure to submit its time records in electronic form to a fee auditor resulted in a higher audit cost which should not be borne by the Estate. Mileage for professionals from the same office to travel separately to the same location is not reasonable and is disallowed.