On More Effective Writing

(Used with permission. First published in the Southern District of Florida Courthouse Beacon, December 2021)

Imagine this is an article entitled Wiley Champion, Esq. Instructs How To Win Your Case Every Time. Enticing for sure. You start reading. The opening paragraph needlessly re-states the title, needlessly names the author, who is already mentioned in the title, and then defines the author with a short name that is unnecessary and distracting. The second, third and fourth paragraphs include a lot of confusing history. You have no idea why you are reading that history . . .

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Hon. Erik P. Kimball

United States Bankruptcy Judge, Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division

Hon. Erik P. Kimball, Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge, Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division. Erik P. Kimball serves as Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge in the Southern District of Florida. He was appointed in 2008 and reappointed in 2022. Judge Kimball received his J.D. from Boston College Law School in 1990 and his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1987. Judge Kimball began his legal practice at Hale and Dorr (now WilmerHale) in the firm’s Boston office. He twice left legal practice to work in the mutual fund industry as an investment professional. At the time of his judicial appointment in 2008, Judge Kimball was a shareholder at Akerman in the firm’s Orlando office. In legal practice, he specialized in representation of institutional investors and indenture trustees in connection with defaults of publicly traded debt securities.

From the Editor – Lien Issues

September 15, 2019

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Manufactured home did not become accession to real property. The creditor holding security interest in a manufactured home objected to confirmation, on the basis that § 1322(b)(2)’s anti-modification provision prevented bifurcation of its claim into secured and unsecured parts. The Eighth Circuit noted that the Bankruptcy Code does not resolve the issue of...

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Making Sense of the Means Test

April 28, 2019

By Leo G. Spanos, Senior Staff Attorney to Martha G. Bronitsky, Chapter 13 Trustee, Northern District of California (Oakland Division) 1. Background & Purpose of Means Test One of the most significant changes introduced BAPCPA is the requirement of a means test to determine whether a debtor qualifies for Chapter 7 relief or, if not, how much a debtor must...

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List It or Lose It: When Actual Knowledge Isn’t Enough

June 20, 2021

By Cathy Moran, Esq., (Redwood City, CA) To actually effect abandonment of unadministered assets in a bankruptcy case, the asset in question must appear on Schedule A/B. That’s the hard teaching of Stevens v. Whitmore from the 9th Circuit BAP. A passing reference to an asset in the SOFA isn’t sufficient. Neither was the fact the trustee explicitly knew about...

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Rule 3002.1, Contempt and Sanctions – How a Lender Can Create a Mess

Thomas D. DeCarlo

October 16, 2022

The facts in In re DeWitt, 2022 WL 4588320 (Bankr. S.D. Ohio 2022), are a bit “unusual”. Debtor filed Chapter 13 to reinstate her mortgage. The mortgage was “non-escrowed” and Debtor was required to pay property taxes directly. Surprisingly, she did not pay her property taxes. The first time, the Lender paid the property taxes but decided not to pursue...

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“Stripping” Residential Mortgages and the Effect of 11 U.S.C. § 1111(b) – Part 2 Eleven Eleven What?

July 24, 2021

By Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Wonk Alert This Part 2 wraps up some suggestions about how the parties to residential mortgages may avoid or minimize problems in the structuring and administration of these loans, with a discussion of subsection 1111(b) of Bankruptcy Code.1 This discussion may seem arcane, as indeed many experienced Chapter 11 practitioners...

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Critical Case Comment

November 3, 2019

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Standing Chapter 13 Trustee for the Middle District of TN (Nashville) A creditor may request an extension of time to file a claim under Rule 3002, F.R.B.P. only where the conditions of that rule have been fully satisfied; the filing of a defective list of creditors does not permit an extension of the time for...

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2022 Bankruptcy Procedure Year in Review: Revised Statute and Rules and Selected Cases Part 8 Selected Decisions Under Part III of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure

Lawrence R. Ahern, III

April 30, 2023

Introduction One new rule and amendments to 16 rules took effect December 1, 2022. Many reflected changes necessitated by the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA), and had been in place in the same or similar form on an interim basis since that legislation took effect. Part 1 of this series summarized . . . It looks like you...

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Kristina Stanger and Jessica Hopton Youngberg

November 3, 2019

Kristina Stanger is an attorney and shareholder at Iowa’s Nyemaster Goode, P.C. She is also a combat-experienced Lieutenant Colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard. She is currently one of Iowa’s highest ranking females and is the Chief of Plans and Operations for the Iowa Army National Guard. Jessica Hopton Youngberg is Senior Staff Attorney for Veterans Legal Services in...

Rule 12(b)(1) Dismissal

Tara Trevorrow

April 7, 2024

This article looks at Rule 12(b)(1) by presenting a three-question test synthesizing decades of Eleventh Circuit case law.

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Critical Case Comment – Ignoring 3002.1 Will Cost You

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

February 5, 2023

Mortgagee’s failure to disclose payment changes resulting from escrow adjustments and interest rate modifications compels the Court to order mortgagee to credit all undisclosed increases and subject it to sanctions, including attorney’s fees. (Somers) In re Kinderknecht, 2023 WL 320984 (Bankr. D. Kan. January 19, 2023) Case Summary Kyle and Chasity Kinderknecht filed a Chapter 13 petition in December of...

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