Illinois Bankruptcy Lawyer Blog

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here's a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter,Nc reads This blog is on fire!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 12,000 times in 2010. That's about 29 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 109 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 493 posts. There were 26 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 2mb. That's about 2 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was January 6th with 171 views. The most popular post that day was Recent Law School Grad? Open a Bankruptcy Practice!.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were thebklawyer.com, bankruptcylawnetwork.com, mha-law.com, search.aol.com, and en.wordpress.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for do i qualify for bankruptcy, suburbs, bankruptcy blog, do i qualify for bankruptcy in florida, and do i qualify for bankruptcy in california.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Recent Law School Grad? Open a Bankruptcy Practice! December 2009

2 comments

do you qualify for bankruptcy? take the instant means test January 2009

4 comments

household size and median income (IRS v. Census Bureau) July 2007

1 comment

Buying Distressed Assets Under §363 of the Code March 2007

1 comment

how to get kicked out of your home or appartment March 2007

2 comments

This morning I noticed on Yahoo's front page that "Worst recession since 1930s hits end." Let's just say I'm still skeptical. Unemployment still hovers at 9.9% and that just doesn't feel like a party. The actual article to which the link refers contains the more subdued headline "Economy growing but recovery could be at risk." I thought so.

Look, the GDP has grown 3.5% this quarter. That's good news. According to a New York Times article, this growth rate is on par with average annual growth rate that the U.S. has enjoyed for the last 80 years. Nice. But before we get too excited, this increase in consumer spending (a major component of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product) is driven by the exorbitant expenditure on government programs. And as soon as such programs as Clash for Clunkers end (and they will eventually), economists predict that this recovery may not last.

Basically, the economy grew by 3.5%... but in the long term, it may or may not matter. Does a current quarterly increase in consumer spending mean that consumer spending has actually increased for good? It's just too early to say.

From MacroScope comes this gem about the "recovery" we are supposed to be experiencing . The Blue Chip Survey published August 10 indicated that economists were in agreement about one thing: that the recession, the longest since the Great Depression, will be over in September. Can you feel the recovery yet? Maybe these opinions from the surveyed economists will help:

87% Expect a recovery by September

16% Expect a strong recovery

16% Expect a double-dip recovery

65% Expect a long, slow recovery

100% Were full of hot air (hey, they're economists)

Nearly all agreed that the economy would continue to lose jobs for some time no matter what. The consensus was that the national rate of unemployment would peak at 10.2% by the first quarter of 2010. In short, prepare for more pain.

Charles Dharapak/AP by Alex Johnson of MSNBC

President Bush signs the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 in the Oval Office after the House passed the financial bailout bill Friday.

Pelosi: Bill brings order to chaos

Oct. 10: House Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer describe improvements in the bailout bill.

Blunt: Revised finance bill protects taxpayers

Oct. 3: House Minority Whip Roy Blunt says that the finance bill that was passed by the House contains provisions that "virtually ensures" taxpayers won't lose money.

President Bush signed into law Friday a historic $700 billion bailout of the financial services industry, promising to move swiftly to use his sweeping new authority to unlock frozen credit markets to get the economy moving again.

"It"s complicated, and we"re going to make sure whatever we do is done in a deliberative fashion," Bush told reporters after he signed the bill as soon as he got it from the House, which passed the measure after a topsy-turvy week of legislative victories, defeats and power plays.

But he promised to get the ball rolling quickly, because the authority is "essential to helping Ameica"s economy weather the financial crisis." [read the rest of the story]

Bankruptcy Filings Nearing Million

From the Bankruptcy Law Network

Posted Aug 28 by Jill Michaux

Almost a million bankruptcy cases were filed since last June according to UST statistics.

The Highlights

Consumer +28.4%

Business +41.6%

Ch. 7 +36.7%

Ch. 13 +16.9%

Ch. 11 +30.6%

cir 3

In re: Carco Elec., 07-1009 [July 29, 2008]

In a dispute between competing bidders in the acquisition of debtor's production facilities during bankruptcy proceedings, an appeal from a protective order limiting the disclosure of the bidders' respective trade secrets during discovery is dismissed for lack of appellate jurisdiction where the order was neither final nor appealable under the limited scope of the collateral order doctrine.

In re: Mullarkey, 05-4081, 05-4651 [July 31, 2008]

In a suit alleging fraud in a bankruptcy proceeding by co-owners of debtor's property, dismissal of claims is reversed where the bankruptcy court had subject-matter jurisdiction over the complaint, but erred in dismissing plaintiff-debtor's claims on various theories of preclusion.

cir 4

Sartin v. Macik, 071464 [July 28, 2008]

A state default judgment, entered as a penalty for a party's failure to comply with a North Carolina court's discovery order, does not have collateral estoppel effect in subsequent litigation in bankruptcy court.

cir 9

In the Matter of: Coleman, 06-16477 [August 01, 2008]

"[U]ndue hardship" determinations, whereby bankruptcy courts decide whether student loans qualify for discharge, can be ripe in a Chapter 13 case substantially in advance of plan completion.

cir 10

In re: Paul, 07-1395 [July 28, 2008]

In an adversary proceeding brought by former debtors after a bankruptcy discharge claiming that defendant violated a discharge injunction via a state court action, an order sanctioning defendant and enjoining her from pursuing the state court litigation is reversed where neither the bankruptcy court's findings, nor the facts of record on which they are based, demonstrated that defendant's facially permissible actions violated the discharge injunction.

The Bankruptcy Law and Practice Blog isn't exactly a name a mother could love. Well o.k. maybe our mother likes it, but ... For while we've been using the slightly shorter moniker bankruptcy blog to refer to ourselves, and it's worked out fine. But bankruptcy promises to be a bigger topic in 2008 than ever before, and we're meeting the needs of the anticipated hordes of readers by reinventing ourselves as the bk blog.

Hope you like. :-)

Ben Jones @ The Housing Bubble Blog is getting alot of attention today. His recent post gathers news media reports from around the country addressing the pending Housing disaster heading our way.

From those attempting only a few months ago to shake off the warning signs as over-cautious, too many that are finally coming too terms with this not so rosy of a picture. Forget the rest of year an just move too 2008.

Conservative thinking has always be cautious of this pending dilemma. Like all growth patterns there has too be a downside or we never appreciate the climb up. Now even WaMu is playing with numbers, half-billion $$$ in old loans gone bad.

As pointed out here, recent studies have empirically shown what bankruptcy attorneys have known anecdotally for years -- that debtors can not only obtain credit after filing, but that on average they receive 3 times as many solicitations as non-debtors. Those study concluded that this kind of behavior by banks and financing companies indicates that such creditors

• are aware of the debtor's recent bankruptcy -- even referring to it in it solicitation material

• do not believe that debtors are chronic deadbeats -- but rather that bankruptcy can be followed by greater financial stability (otherwise why extend additional credit to them?)

• may have been playing the bankruptcy system themselves when they fought tooth and nail to change the law, only to liberally grant credit to the very people they said were damaging them due to repeated defaults.

To my knowledge the credit industry has yet to respond.

From the Housing Bubble and Real Estate Market Tracker on the blog Seeking Alpha comes this encouraging snapshot of our times (yes, that was sarcasm)

:: Bankruptcy Attorney in Illinois :: M. Hedayat & Associates, P.C. ::