Consumer Bankruptcy Journal Fall 2016 | Page 47
NCBRC CASES IN REVIEW
WL 3564376 (Bankr. N.D. Iowa June 22, 2016) (case no. 2:14-bk-168; adv. proc. no.
2:14-ap-9027), appeal filed, Fern v. FedLoan Servicing, Case No. 16-6021 (8th Cir. B.A.P.
filed July 8, 2016).
Means test—Current monthly income: Disagreeing with In re Inghilterra, 2012 WL
1137008 (Bankr. D. Colo. April 4, 2012), the court held that “demo” pay shown on
the Chapter 13 debtor's pay advice, which represented the value of the personal use of
a vehicle by the debtor in her employment as a car salesperson, was not included in
the debtor's "current monthly income." Concluding that the court should look to the
Census Bureau's definition of "income" for guidance, the court said that the definition
excludes this non-monetary benefit. In re Perez, 2016 WL 3230662 (Bankr. E.D. Wis.
June 3, 2016) (case no. 2:15-bk-31645).
Violation of stay—Damages—Punitive damages: Where the creditor filed a
notice of transfer of claim for which there was no basis in a Chapter 13 case, received
payments from the Chapter 13 trustee totaling $297.72 for the allegedly transferred
claim, and failed for five months to return the funds to the trustee, the court found
that the creditor had willfully violated the automatic stay and imposed punitive
damages of $250,000 on the creditor, representing one-half of the $500,000 the
creditor could have been fined in a criminal proceeding for filing a fraudulent transfer
of claim. While the element of fraud appeared to be absent, the creditor's conduct
was, at best, recklessly indifferent, and the creditor was remorseless and had taken no
action to changes its conduct in the future. In re Mocella, --- B.R. ----, 2016 WL
3611816 (Bankr. N.D. Ohio June 15, 2016) (case no. 4:10-bk-42287), appeal filed,
Nationstar Mortgage LLC v. Mocella, Case No. 4:16-cv-1662 (N.D. Ohio filed June 29,
2016).
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