It appears that violating the automatic stay just got tougher on creditors. Recent court decisions now appear to suggest that creditors can no longer rely on a good faith defense to any technical violations of the automatic stay. Indeed, a recent court decision held a creditor liable and assessed punitive damages where there were no underlying damages and it took a court hearing just to determine whether the debtor was even liable for the debt associated with the repossessed collateral. In that case, the collateral wasn’t even estate property and the creditor truly believed that the debtor did not owe it any money! Stay tuned, more on this blog to be published soon!
Written by Michael G. Doan– Michael is a highly skilled Bankruptcy Attorney with over 17 years of experience in the fields of insolvency, bankruptcy, consumer rights, debt negotiation, creditor collection abuse, estate planning, contracts, real estate, and tax.
Are you interested in contacting a San Diego Bankruptcy Attorney? Doan is the place to that can give you a little piece of mind.