If 2nd Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor gets to sit on the US Supreme Court, she will likely give all parties a fair opportunity to be heard, and ensure that the rights of all parties, debtors and creditors alike, will be respected. This is the prediction from the Alliance for Justice “Report on Supreme Court Nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor”.
The Alliance for Justice report finds that “Judge Sotomayor’s decisions on the Second Circuit concerning bankruptcy law are well reasoned and well-supported by the law” Her bankruptcy opinions reflect “careful attention to the particular facts of the case, reliance on precedent, adherence to statutory text and congressional intent, and deference to governmental agencies when acting in their areas of expertise.”
In a case where a father filed bankruptcy and tried to discharge the legal expenses incurred by the mother in a custody battle (In re Maddigan, 312 F.3d 589 (2d Cir. 2002), Judge Sotomayor concluded that the father’s obligation was “in the nature of … support” because the legal fees were incurred in a custody proceeding concerning the welfare of his daughter and the family court had ordered the father to pay such fees based on the mother’s limited financial resources.
In another case where a lower court dismissed an individual debtor’s bankruptcy appeal based on a procedural error, the Judge wrote that the lower court should have considered lesser sanctions than dismissal of the appeal (In re Harris, 464 F.3d 263 (2d Cir. 2006).
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