By Alfred Villoch, III, at Savage, Combs & Villoch, PLLC Today, the Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled “A Maze of Paper. SEC Judgment against Raider Paul Bilzerian: $62 Million. Collected: $3.7 Million.” In the article, Michael Rothfeld and Brad Reagan write how Paul Bilzerian was a corporate raider in the…
by Alfred Villoch, III, with Savage, Combs & Villoch, PLLC In Florida, settlement of legal disputes is strongly encouraged. To encourage settlement, the Florida legislature enacted Section 768.79 of the Florida Statutes. Section 768.79 creates a substantive right to collect reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs as “penalties” when a party declines to accept a reasonable…
By Alfred Villoch, III, Esquire, at Savage, Combs & Villoch, PLLC In a recent blog post, the Bankruptcy Blawg addressed how difficult (almost impossible) it is to get rid of student loan debt in bankruptcy. See http://www.thebankruptcyblawg.com/?p=26. Yesterday, the Tampa Bay Times published an article entitled “Co-signing a student loan carries…
By Alfred Villoch, III, Esquire, at Savage, Combs & Villoch, PLLC Student loans are very difficult to get rid of in bankruptcy. Whether you file bankruptcy under chapter 7 or chapter 13, the test remains the same: you have to prove “undue hardship” in order to discharge or get rid of…
By Alfred Villoch, III, Esquire, at Savage, Combs & Villoch, PLLC If you’re a few months behind on your mortgage payments, the bank that loaned you the money to purchase your home (or alternatively, the company that services the loan) will likely file a lawsuit with the intent to sell your…
By Alfred Villoch, III, Esquire at Savage, Combs & Villoch, PLLC Chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code allows you to discharge certain debts immediately upon order of the bankruptcy court. But to qualify for chapter 7, you must satisfy what is called the “means test.” If you cannot satisfy this means…