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Civil Contempt for Discharge Injunction Violations: A New Standard That Brings the 'Old Soil' with It

In its recent opinion in <i>Taggart v. Lorenzen,</i> the Supreme Court decided that “[a] court may hold a creditor in civil contempt for violating a discharge order if there is no fair ground of doubt as to whether the order barred the creditor's conduct.” Although this standard appears to be new, it is more than a century old and “brings the old soil” from civil contempt with it.

11 minute read August 01, 2019 at 12:03 AM
By
Stephanie Lieb and Dana Robbins
Civil Contempt for Discharge Injunction Violations: A New Standard That Brings the 'Old Soil' with It

The Bankruptcy Court has the inherent power to impose civil contempt as a sanction for a violation of the discharge injunction. 11 U.S.C. §105. Even though these inherent powers derive from civil contempt, courts have fashioned their own standards for violators of the discharge injunction.

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