Louisiana native Beth Cenac never thought she would be the target of a jury scam. She is a professional with a master’s degree who worked as a public librarian for 30 years and previously served on a jury. That all went out the window when a stern voice on the telephone threatened to jail her for missing jury duty, unless she agreed to pay a fine. Duped by the elaborately staged scam that followed, Cenac lost $3,000. “I think most people go about their daily lives following t

Refusal to Turn Over Property Post-Petition Did Not Violate Stay The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit recently rejected the majority rule that a creditor violates the automatic stay by refusing to return repossessed property to a debtor post-petition. According to the court, neither the plain text of the automatic stay provision nor its legislative history supports the majority position that a creditor’s refusal to act violates the automatic stay. Violations of the

In Tower Credit, Incorporated v. Schott (In re Jackson), 850 F.3d 816 (5th Cir. 2017), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a bankruptcy court’s ruling that wages garnished within ninety days prior to a Chapter 7 debtor’s bankruptcy filing were recoverable by the trustee as preferential transfers. Although the creditor served the debtor’s employer with the garnishment order more than ninety days prior to the bankruptcy filing, wages earned by the debtor wi