The Figueroa v. Monsivais decision reads like a law school exam question—but with very real consequences for families who paid cash, moved in, and still ended up without title.
The Setup: Cash Paid, Possession Taken—But Nothing Recorded
What Judge Edwards has done in the DBMP decision—and what In re Wolbert foreshadowed years earlier—is to remind us that attorney-client privilege in bankruptcy is not a static shield. It is a conditional protection, one that can erode—sometimes quickly—once the debtor crosses the line from considering bankruptcy to committing to it.
The Cook v. Chapter 13 Trustee decision is one of those deceptively modest Chapter 13 cases that, on closer inspection, carries outsized importance for consumer practitioners.
The Fourth Circuit recently issued a published opinion in Dale v. Peoples Bank Corp. addressing a question that arises whenever creditors pursue bank accounts to satisfy a judgment: can a bank be sued for conversion when it turns over funds pursuant to state judgment-enforcement procedures? The court’s answer was a clear no.
In JSmith v. Clancy & Theys, Judge Joseph Callaway addressed a familiar temptation in bankruptcy litigation: trying to convert an ordinary contract dispute into a turnover action under 11 U.S.C. § 542. The court allowed most of the debtor’s claims to proceed—but drew a clear line around turnover.
