Kagan Backs Bank on Bankruptcy in First Court Opinion
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Justice Elena Kagan, hailed last year by President Barack Obama as a defender of “ordinary citizens,” sided with a Bank of America Corp. unit against an indebted consumer in her first U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
The 8-1 decision limited a provision that lets people receiving bankruptcy protection cut their monthly payments by as much as $471 a month to account for car ownership costs. Kagan said consumers can take that deduction only when they are making loan or lease payments on the car.