Latest 3 Cases: Microf LLC v. Cumbess (Bankruptcy), Cowen v. Georgia Secretary of State (Civil Rights), United States v. McGregor (Criminal Law)

Two’s Company: How About Three or More?

JOANNA L. GROSSMAN, LAWRENCE M. FRIEDMAN

SMU Dedman School of Law professor Joanna L. Grossman and Stanford law professor Lawrence M. Friedman discuss an amendment to Utah’s law against bigamy that recently went into effect. Grossman and Friedman provide a short history of bigamy and polygamy laws in the United States and explain how and why the laws are evolving.

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Microf LLC v. Cumbess

Docket: 19-12088

Opinion Date: June 3, 2020

Judge: Newsom

Areas of Law: Bankruptcy

The language of 11 U.S.C. 365(p)(1) is crystal clear: "If a lease of personal property is rejected or not timely assumed by the trustee . . . the leased property is no longer property of the estate." The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's decision upholding the bankruptcy court's denial of Microf's claim for administrative-expense priority. Where, as here, it is undisputed that the trustee did not assume the Microf lease, section 365(p)(1) means that the Microf lease dropped out of the bankruptcy estate upon confirmation of debtor's Chapter 13 plan. Because Microf has not otherwise shown that the lease confers a benefit on the estate, the court held that its claim of administrative-expense priority was properly denied.

Cowen v. Georgia Secretary of State

Docket: 19-14065

Opinion Date: June 3, 2020

Judge: Anderson

Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Election Law

The Libertarian Party filed suit against the Secretary of State of Georgia, alleging that Georgia's ballot-access requirements for third-party and independent candidates violated their associational rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments and their Equal Protection rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. The Eleventh Circuit vacated the district court's grant of summary judgment to the Secretary, holding that the district court's failure to apply the Supreme Court's test for the constitutionality of ballot-access requirements, as articulated in Anderson v. Celebreeze, 460 U.S. 780 (1983), constitutes reversible error. Accordingly, the court remanded to the district court with instructions to conduct in the first instance the Anderson test and to consider the Party's Equal Protection claim.

United States v. McGregor

Docket: 19-10163

Opinion Date: June 3, 2020

Judge: Marcus

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment overruling defendant's objection to the admission of the firearm evidence. The court rejected defendant's contention that the probative value was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice where the firearm was found in close proximity to the personal identifying information (PII) in a small closet, it tied defendant directly to the PII, and it had substantial probative value in proving that defendant actually possessed the PII. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that firearms are not so inherently prejudicial as to substantially outweigh the probative value here.