The Ninth Circuit recently held that Federal Rule of Evidence (FRE) 501, rather than California's mediation confidentiality statute (Evidence Code § 1123(b)), governs the admissibility of mediation exchanges when a settlement relates to federal claims and is...
In Centinela Freeman Emergency Medical Associates v. Health Net of California, Inc., (Nov. 14, 2016, S218497) ___Cal. 5th [2016 Cal. LEXIS 9282] (hereinafter "Centinela") the California Supreme Court was asked to determine whether a HMO health plan ("HMO") which...
In re Quantum Foods, LLC, Case No. 14-10318, the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware held that a preference defendant could offset its preference exposure by the amount of its allowed administrative claim for food products delivered to the debtor...
Pursuant to a decision dated November 4, 2016, the Ninth Circuit in In re New Investments, Inc. effectively overruled In re Entz-White Lumber & Supply, Inc., 850 F.2d 1338 (9th Cir. 1988) finding that when a Chapter 11 plan cures a default, the debtor/borrower...
was recently successful in defeating an appeal of an order sustaining its Hospital client's demurrer to a class action complaint. The Court of Appeal affirmed the majority of the trial court's order sustaining the demurrer to plaintiff's...
In LSREF2 Clover Property 4 LLC v. Festival Retail Fund 1LP, Case No. BC59937, the California Court of Appeal reversed the Los Angeles County Superior Court to say that a guaranty was not a sham guaranty and as such, the guaranty could be pursued upon a default by the...
The entry of a discharge order under 11 U.S.C. § 727 gives rise to what is commonly known as the "discharge injunction". The discharge injunction is what gives the discharge its bite. It empowers the debtor to seek recourse against creditors who seek to collect...
In In re Obedian, 546 B.R. 409 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. March 1, 2016), a Central District Bankruptcy Court recently applied the California Supreme Court case, In re Marriage of Valli, 58 Cal. 4th 1396 (Cal. 2014). In Valli, the California Supreme Court found, that in an...
Our trustee clients as well as our creditor clients should keep in mind that alter ego claims are only property of the bankruptcy estate if there is a generalized injury to the debtor corporation and all of its creditors. See, In re Advanced Packaging & Prods....
In re Diaz, 547 B.R. 329 (9th Cir. BAP 2016), the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel ("BAP") held that the bankruptcy court incorrectly interpreted California law related to the homestead exemption. In particular, the BAP said the bankruptcy court failed to...