Justice Dept. Wants Bankruptcy Fee Hike Affirmed in Appeal Case

The Justice Department is urging a federal appeals court to affirm the constitutionality of its bankruptcy watchdog division’s fee increase, arguing that some implementation differences among states were caused by jurisdictional issues.

Congress in 2017 raised the fees that Chapter 11 debtors pay to the U.S. Trustee’s office for every quarter they remain in bankruptcy. The fee hike went into effect Jan. 1, 2018, and applied to companies that were already in bankruptcy.

The change didn’t go into effect in Alabama and North Carolina until October, 2018 because the judiciary’s bankruptcy administrators—not the U.S. Trustee—monitor cases in the two states. ...