All posts in Community

Email from Steve Fox:

Dear All:

First, thank you for putting up with and reading my emails each month announcing the programs. I appreciate it very much.

I am excited about our November program. It will be enjoyable not only for the subject matter -what do you do with a chapter 13 case which is nearing the discharge stage – it will be even more enjoyable for the high level of passion and enthusiasm I have seen in the panelists. They have prepared drafts and revised drafts, they have discussed by email and phone and they have argued (gently) too. They have put in months of thought, discussion and argument about the program.

The panelists are the Honorable Maureen Tighe, R. Grace Rodrigues, Stella Havkin and Michael Kwasigroch. All of them have a lot of experience in chapter 13 work. More importantly, they regularly deal with the back side of chapter 13 cases. What do you do six months before a case is up for discharge. Should you be objecting to any claims? Are there additional requirements for your client and for you? What do you do about the unpleasant surprises waiting for your client and for you?

Read more…

The Central District Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys Assn (cdcbaa) is putting on a program a week from this Saturday, Oct 25 at Southwestern Law School in downtown Los Angeles.  You can get the information here.  My friend Ray Aver, bankruptcy litigator par excellence will be telling us how to litigate violation of the automatic stay and discharge injunctions.  Judge Neil Bason will be on the panel and West Los Angeles attorney Gary Wallace.

Violations of the stay and discharge injunction seem to have become common here.  We will be filing one tomorrow.  A creditor filed an abstract during a previous case.  It is void as a matter of law.  The creditor refuses to remove it.  It has prevented our client from refinancing the property.  I recently received an award of $8,000 against a creditor who was suing my client after the bankruptcy case ended and the discharge was entered.  He would not back off even though I gave him 10 chances.  We are also seeing a lot of creditors ignoring confirmed chapter 11 plans.   The plan often changes the terms of secured debt, the mortgage payment on rental property being the most common.  The plan gets confirmed and the client sends in the new amount.  The bank sends it back and tells the client it’s the wrong amount.  The bank often starts foreclosing and ignores our letters.  We are filing requests for OSC re Contempt.  The court gives us the OSC without a hearing which sets a hearing.  The trickiest part is the damages, you have to prove damages, not just complain about it.

Come listen to Ray Aver.  It’s worth it.