In Their Opinion : Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Commentary : Lawyer & Attorney Michael E. Rigney : Kelley Drye & Warren Law Firm

I am not a bankruptcy lawyer. Can anyone explain either side's thinking in the recent In re: Meyer decision (intheiropinion post here). The Trustee wanted $973.60 from an income tax refund turned over to the estate. Meyer thought she only needed to turn over $349.91. Yet the difference ($623.69) was the subject of litigation in the bankruptcy court, district court, and Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Even if the $600 was only one of several issues before the lower courts, it appears to have been the only issue in the Seventh Circuit. The Court frequently criticizes lawyers for bringing matters of such little monetary significance to the Court - here it did not do so at argument or in the opinion

• Did the Trustee's lawyers and Meyer's lawyers both get compensated by the bankruptcy estate?
• How is it in the best interest of a creditor to have that kind of fight over $600?
• Even if the issue itself is important and in need of a resolution, why resolve it here?
• Was someone else funding the litgation in order to get a resolution?
• What am I missing?

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 When was the last time you used "hugger-mugger" in a sentence? Do you even know what it means? I did not until last week's Thursday New York Times crossword puzzle. In the puzzle, "hugger-mugger" was used as a clue (at 12 Down) for "sly." In an opinion released yesterday morning, Chief Judge Easterbrook, in writing for a panel that reversed a criminal conviction, wrote (on page 11): "If Indonesia had not so recently been subject to an arms embargo, then hugger-mugger alone might permit a jury to infer knowledge that a license was required." It appears Chief Judge Easterbrook is invoking a definition different from sly - probably more in the nature of "confusion." Maybe its just a coincidence, particularly given the very different meaning, but he did also write, in 1996: "[A] newspaper deprived of access to the New York Times crosswords puzzles can find others, even if the Times has the best known one." Paddock Publications v. The Chicago Tribune, 103 F. 3d 42 (7th Cir. 1996). Anyway, it is a fun word and I am glad it made its way into an opinion.

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