Appellate Court Decisions Related
To Bankruptcy Cases

debtor signed his promissory note, he had a contractual or constitutional right to discharge after seven years of repayment. Bankruptcy is a legislatively created benefit, not a right, and the bankruptcy clause empowers Congress to retroactively impair contracts.)

In re Barrett, 487 F.3d 353 (6th Cir. Jun. 8, 2007) (In an action to discharge student loan debt on the ground of "undue hardship" pursuant to S 523(a)(8), expert testimony is not necessarily required to prove the second prong of the Brunner test, namely, that the particular circumstances of hardship are likely to persist for a significant portion of the repayment period of the student loans.)

Educational Credit Mgmt. Corp. v. Mason (In re Mason), 464 F.3d 878 (9th Cir. Sept. 28, 2006) (Bankruptcy court erred in finding that full repayment of student loans would cause debtor undue hardship under S 523(a)(8). Despite a learning disability, debtor had obtained a law degree, though he was unable to pass the state bar exam on his first try. The record showed the debtor's efforts to find additional employment inadequate in light of the significant free time his schedule provided him.)

In re Cumberworth, 347 B.R. 652 (8th Cir. Aug. 10, 2006) (Bankruptcy court properly applied totality of circumstances test to conclude that requiring debtor to repay student loans would constitute "undue hardship" pursuant to S 523(a)(8), in light of her permanent 100% disability that prevented her from working and increasing her income, her good faith attempt to renegotiate an income-contingent repayment plan, and her good payment history when she was employed.)

In re Udell, 454 F.3d 180 (3rd Cir. July 10, 2006) (Five-year ban prohibiting discharge of Air Force Academy educational debt pursuant to 10

U.S.C. S 2005(d) does not conflict with the "undue hardship" discharge requirement of S 523(a)(8) of the Bankruptcy Code.)

In re Hawkins, 469 F.3d 1316 (9th Cir. Dec. 4, 2006) (Ninth Circuit upheld and adopted B.A.P. opinion that a medical school tuition subsidy received by the debtor in exchange for her promise to practice in Ohio for five years upon graduation was not an educational loan or educational benefit that would give rise to a non-dischargeable debt pursuant to S 523(a)(8) upon her breach of the five-year practice provision.)