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SBRA - Part 4: Discharge and Dischargeability

Judge Hannah Blumenstiel discusses discharge and dischargeability under the Small Business Reorganization Act (SBRA) of 2019. She explains that discharge timing depends on whether plan confirmation is consensual or non-consensual. For consensual confirmation, discharge follows Section 1141, except for 1141(d)(5), and applies to debts arising before confirmation, claims from rejected contracts, and priority tax claims. Non-consensual confirmation triggers Section 1192, with discharge after three years or up to five years. Exceptions to discharge vary by confirmation type, with Section 523(a) applying to individual debtors but not always to corporate debtors, leading to court splits.

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Bankruptcy judge, Small Business Reorganization Act, discharge, dischargeability, plan confirmation, Section 1141, Section 1191, Section 1192, Section 523, adversary proceeding, corporate debtors, individual debtors, Chapter 11, Chapter 7, litigation.

Hon. Hannah L. Blumenstiel is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. Prior to her appointment on Feb. 11, 2013, Judge Blumenstiel was an associate (2003-08) and then a partner (2008-12) with Winston & Strawn LLP, where she focused her practice on creditors’ rights litigation in state and federal court, including bankruptcy court. From 2001 to 2003, Judge Blumenstiel was an associate with Murphy Sheneman Julian & Rogers LLP, where she represented debtors, creditors and trustees in bankruptcy cases and adversary proceedings. She served as a law clerk to Hon. Charles M. Caldwell of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Eastern Division) from 1998 to 2001, and from 1997-98, she represented the State of Ohio’s interests in bankruptcy cases as an assistant attorney general with the Revenue Recovery Section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. Judge Blumenstiel is ABI’s Vice President-Research Grants and serves as an Executive Editor of the ABI Journal. She received her J.D. from Capital University Law School in 1997 while working full-time for the Columbus Bar Association as director of its pro bono initiative, “Lawyers for Justice,” and her B.A. from Ohio State University in 1992.

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