On January 11, 2011, the US Supreme Court ruled that debtors applying for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy cannot count a car as a deduction in their repayment arrangement if the debtor has already paid off the vehicle. Justice Elena Kagan authored her first opinion [PDF] in the 8-1 decision in Ransom v. FIA Card Services, N.A.. Justice Kagan joined the bench in August 2010 after serving as the Solicitor General for the Obama administration and Dean of Harvard Law School. Her opinion upheld the decision rendered by the Ninth Circuit, which ruled [PDF] that a bankruptcy court could not permit that deduction.

Learn more about Justice Kagan and Chapter 13 from the JURIST news archive.

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