May 2023

I have $30K in credit card debt. I earn $70K a year. Should I file for bankruptcy?

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Many people will find themselves in debt at some point in their lives.

And it doesn’t matter whether you lost your job or it’s medical bills that have piled up, when you don’t have the money to pay your debt, collectors will track you down. But when deciding whether to file for bankruptcy, there are a lot of factors to consider.

For this reason, we sought advice from Karra L. Kingston, a bankruptcy lawyer on Staten Island and in New Jersey, who has helped hundreds of people get out of debt.

Question: I have 30K in credit card debt. I earn 70K a year. Should I file for bankruptcy?

Kingston: “Filing for bankruptcy is a difficult decision to make, but it can be the most effective way to take control of your finances and make a fresh start. Bankruptcy laws were established to help people who are struggling with debt to find a way out of their financial difficulties.

When deciding whether to file for bankruptcy, you need to assess your financial situation, including whether you have enough money to repay your debts, and whether your monthly expenses are greater than your income. If you

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May 23, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Patent Case United Cannabis v Pure Hemp no Inequitable Conduct

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the rejection of attorney fees, finding that neither inequitable conduct nor a conflict of interest rendered the case exceptional given the limited factual record following a stipulated dismissal in a patent case. United Cannabis Corp. v. Pure Hemp Collective Inc., Case No. 22-1363 (Fed. Cir. May 8, 2023) (Lourie, Cunningham, Stark, JJ.).

United Cannabis Corporation (UCANN) sued Pure Hemp for patent infringement. After the litigation was stayed pending bankruptcy proceedings, the parties stipulated to the dismissal. Pure Hemp then sought attorney fees based on alleged inequitable conduct by UCANN during prosecution of the asserted patent due to nondisclosure of a prior art reference used in the patent’s specification and based on a purported conflict of interest by UCANN’s litigation counsel. The district court denied Pure Hemp’s request, finding that the case was not exceptional. Pure Hemp appealed.

Pure Hemp argued that the district court erred by (1) failing to find Pure Hemp to be the prevailing party in the litigation, (2) not concluding that the undisputed facts established inequitable conduct and (3) not recognizing that UCANN’s attorneys had a conflict of interest.

The Federal Circuit found that although

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May 20, 2023 by ATTORNEY

State using ‘frivolous appeals’ in dam suits

An attorney representing central Michigan residents damaged by the 2020 dam failures accused state attorneys on Thursday of delaying court proceedings with “frivolous appeals.”

“You would think that the state would hold itself accountable for infrastructure,” Detroit attorney Ven Johnson said. “But in this particular case, the state is dug in.”

Johnson’s clients have accused the state of negligently regulating the Edenville and Sanford dams, which failed on May 19, 2020 and caused widespread flooding in the Midland area and causing about 10,000 people to evacuate. Johnson hosted a Thursday press conference in Sanford to commemorate the three-year anniversary of the dam failures.

The Edenville Dam as it breached on Tuesday, May 19, 2020.

In case filings, the state has placed the blame for those dam failures on Boyce Hydro, the company that owned the dams that is now bankrupt. Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office in a Thursday statement reiterated arguments it has made in court, where state attorneys characterized the residents’ lawsuit as “misguided” in their appeal.

The dispute hinges on whether residents’ claims qualify as “inverse condemnation” claims, which would mean the state took their property for public use without appropriate compensation and would remove Michigan’s governmental immunity protection.

Michigan Court of Claims sided in part with residents in

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May 19, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Bittrex approved to borrow $7 mln bankruptcy loan in bitcoin

May 10 (Reuters) – Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex Inc received court permission Wednesday to borrow $7 million in bitcoin to fund the start of its Chapter 11 case.

Seattle-based Bittrex filed for bankruptcy Monday, saying it intended to return customer funds and wind down its U.S. operations. The company’s international affiliates will continue to operate crypto exchanges for customers outside of the U.S., but Bittrex said that the U.S. regulatory environment had become untenable after the SEC sued the company for allegedly running an unregistered securities exchange.

Before filing for bankruptcy, Bittrex stopped accepting new deposits from U.S. customers and told its existing users to withdraw their crypto from the platform.

Bittrex’s U.S. operations made up a minority of its overall users. Affiliated exchanges based in Liechtenstein and Bermuda accounted for about 77% of the company’s 5.4 million users as of March 27, according to court filings.

Bittrex believes that it has enough cryptocurrency to fully repay all remaining customers, and the bankruptcy loan will ensure a smooth wind-down that protects customer assets, attorney Susheel Kirpalani told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon at a Wednesday court hearing in Wilmington, Delaware.

Shannon approved the loan on an interim basis, allowing Bittrex

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May 15, 2023 by ATTORNEY

St. Clare’s pensioners want lawsuit against Albany Diocese restarted after bankruptcy filing

The legal team representing the St. Clare’s Hospital pensioners has filed a motion requesting the case be sent back to state court.

In March, the Diocese of Albany announced it was filing for bankruptcy. Bishop Ed Scharfenberger insisted that the diocese didn’t see any other alternative, after settling 50 of over 400 cases brought under the Child Victims Act.

The filing put a hold on the lawsuits involving 1,100 St. Clare’s pensioners who worked at the former hospital in Schenectady. They lost some or all of their retirement savings when, in March 2019, the St. Clare’s Corporation petitioned the state Supreme Court to dissolve, claiming it had run out of money.

Six months later, a group of advocates, including the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York and the AARP, filed a lawsuit against the Diocese seeking damages for the pensioners.

In late 2022 a judge ruled the pensioner’s should merge with one filed in May by the Attorney General’s office.

Meryl Grenadier is a Senior Attorney at AARP Foundation.

“Our clients are what is considered, what is called ‘unsecured creditors’ in the bankruptcy proceeding,” said Grenadier. “And in order to obtain any money out of the bankruptcy

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May 13, 2023 by ATTORNEY
May 2023
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