Consumer Bankruptcy Reform and 11 U.S.C. 707(b): A Case-Based Analysis
![handle is hein.journals/bupi12 and id is 323 raw text is: CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY REFORM AND
11 U.S.C. § 707(b): A CASE-BASED ANALYSIS
ANN MORALES OLAZABAL* AND ANDREW J. FOTIr
I. INTRODUCTION
The dark cloud' of consumer bankruptcy reform seems to have been long-
looming on the horizon.2 Indeed, each Congress since 1997 has considered
specific proposals aimed at transforming consumer bankruptcy into a needs-based
regime. The current effort is the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer
. Assistant Professor of Business Law, University of Miami School of Business
Administration.
B.B.A. University of Miami 2002. Mr. Foti researched and drafted portions of this
Article in partial fulfillment of the requirements for summa cum laude honors.
See Charles Jordan Tabb, The History of the Bankruptcy Laws in the United States, 3
AM. BANKR. INST. L. REV. 5 (1995) (quoting CHARLES WARREN, BANKRUPTCY IN UNITED
STATES HISTORY 1 (1935)) (Bankruptcy is a gloomy and depressing subject.).
2 See Charles Jordan Tabb, A Century of Regress or Progress? A Political History of
Bankruptcy Legislation in 1898 and 1998, 15 BANKR. DEV. J. 343, 345 (1999)
([B]ankruptcy reform has been pushed by the consumer credit industry almost from the
day the ink was dry on President Jimmy Carter's signature on the Bankruptcy Reform Act
of 1978.). Indeed, proposals aimed at forcing more debtors into repayment plans rather
than liquidation/discharge have been proposed in earnest since as early as the 1930's. In
1932, conditional discharge (discharge conditioned on payments to creditors from future
income) was proposed and rejected as [u]n-American. Richard E. Coulson, Consumer
Abuse of Bankruptcy: An Evolving Philosophy of Debtor Qualification for Bankruptcy
Discharge, 62 ALB. L. REV. 467, 500 (1998) (citing Vern Countryman, A History of
American Banking Law, 81 COM. L.J. 226, 231 (1976)).
3 See Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2001, H.R. 333,
107th Cong. (2001); Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2001, S. 420, 107th Cong. (2001); The
Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2000, S. 3186, 106th Cong. (2000); H.R. 2415, 106th Cong.
(2000); Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1999, H.R. 833, 106th Cong. (1999); A Bill to Amend
Title 11 of the U.S. Code to Modify the Application of Chapter 7 Relating to Liquidation
Cases, H.R. 333, 106th Cong. (1999); Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1998, H.R.
3150, 105th Cong. (1998); Consumer Lenders and Borrowers Bankruptcy Accountability
Act of 1998, H.R. 3146, 105th Cong. (1998); Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1997,
S. 1301, 105th Cong. (1998); Responsible Borrower Protection Bankruptcy Act of 1997,
H.R. 2500, 105th Cong. (1997).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/bupi12&div=14&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Consumer Bankruptcy Reform and 11 U.S.C. 707(b): A Case-Based Analysis
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