All posts in Judges Corner

Something rather remarkable happened a couple of Friday’s ago in Bankruptcy Courtroom 5C of the Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse in Santa Ana — but almost passed unnoticed.  At noon on Friday, November 22, Judge Scott Clarkson held a special session of court commemorating the 50th anniversary of the passing of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.  The session was attended by about sixty five persons, mainly employees of the Bankruptcy, District and Magistrate courts in Santa Ana.  Also present were seven District Court, Magistrate Court and Bankruptcy Court Judges.

During his comments, Judge Clarkson highlighted many of Kennedy’s path-making accomplishments, while emphasizing the brevity of Kennedy’s term in office (only 34 months).  Judge Clarkson commented that Kennedy was the first Catholic president and a vigorous champion civil and equal rights.  Kennedy supported the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and his agenda prompted President Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy’s successor, to carry forward this legacy by managing the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  In a sobering aside, Judge Clarkson noted just how close the world was to nuclear war in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and explained how Kennedy’s efforts were instrumental in averting such a major catastrophe.  After Judge Clarkson’s opening comments, the court lights dimmed and the audience was treated to a full screening of President Kennedy’s January 20, 1961 inaugural address.

Dear Colleagues!

Please find advance notice of a probable upcoming program in SANTA BARBARA regarding meet the “new” Judges for Santa Barbara and their proposed courtroom practice changes that will implemented by Chief Judge Carroll and Judge Saltzman (appearing from LA by videoconferencing).

Here is the currently proposed date & time so far:

Date: Thursday, March 6, 2014
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Location: probably at the Santa Barbara City College due to the projected size of the seminar.

I’ll keep you posted as it progresses.

Keith Higginbotham
cdcbaacheck@aol.com

Dear Colleagues!

Judge Zurolo has announced today that any motions that contain a POS that does not conform with the Local Rules, i.e., stating the capacity of each party served, the Court will now continue the hearing in order to receive an Amended POS. In the past this Court would simply conditionally grant the motion subject to the movant submitting an amended POS. The Court stated that since he has been enforcing this Local Rule for over 2 years, and this procedure (courtesy) is now over.

To my creditor colleagues and my debtor colleagues (filing Responses and their own various motions) a big FYI!

Keith Higginbotham

Judge Clarkson has published a very nice policy statement on use of electronic devices in his courtroom.  You can access the statement here.  Be careful not to communicate with opposing counsel or witnesses however.

Judge Bruce Markell has announced that he will leave the bankruptcy bench in Las Vegas in July and become scholar in residence at Florida State University.  The FSU announcement is here.  The Credit Slips page is here.  That means he will be leaving the 9th Circuit BAP as well.  I’m going to miss his opinions which often resembled law review articles on different areas.

Judge Bufford as you know has moved on Penn State Uni as the Bankurptcy Scholar in Residence.  Here is his PSU webpage.