Ask Ms. Ps & Qs

By Professor Nancy Rapoport

Dear Readers:

Now that I have returned to the land of the living (in other words, I’m no longer juggling being a law professor with being the interim dean of a law school), I thought I’d spend this month’s column on an ethics issue that faces everyone: running your office.

You know that you should supervise the folks in your office (go to the first three rules in the “5” section of the Model Rules for the rules on supervision). But running an office is complicated.

Let’s say that you . . .

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Evidentiary Issues Arising from Attempts to Prove Alleged “Facts” Stated in The Monster Mash

October 27, 2019

By Alexander Schmidt1, Law Clerk, and The Honorable John P. Gustafson, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio (Toledo) You have never heard – or seen – the Monster Mash. What have you heard, is a song ABOUT the Monster Mash. Let that sink in for a minute. Inevitably, that leads to the obvious question: What facts...

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Bankruptcy Intersecting with Tevis Equals Malpractice Claim

Nicole P. Novak

March 20, 2022

A New Jersey attorney is the subject of a legal malpractice complaint for allegedly failing to properly preserve a marital tort claim as an exception to discharge. Asma J. Warsi v. Adrian J. Johnson (Case No. MID-L-001023-22, Super. Ct. of N.J., Middlesex County); In re Chaundry, 569 B.R. 372 (Bankr. D. N.J. 2017). In Chaundry, Creditor Wife had a marital...

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Federal Payments for Foster Care and Adoption Assistance in Bankruptcy

April 11, 2021

By Kara K. Gendron, Esquire, Mott & Gendron Law (Harrisburg, PA) If a Chapter 13 Debtor has adopted a child who is eligible for assistance under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, should those funds which were received in the six months prior to filing the petition be included in the Official Form 122C–1 Chapter 13 Statement of Current...

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Bankruptcy Courts Grapple with the “COVID-19 Discharge”

April 18, 2021

By Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction Analyzing the new "COVID-19 discharge" provision added to Chapter 131 by Congress on December 27 as part of the coronavirus emergency response legislation, the Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California decided in In re Ritter2 that, in order to receive such a discharge, debtors must still comply...

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An Open Thank You Letter to NACTT – Reflections from a New(er) Trustee: My First Two Years

March 7, 2021

By Dynele Schinker-Kuharich, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Canton, OH) I vividly remember getting the call that I was to be appointed as a Standing Chapter 13 Trustee (effective October 1, 2018). I was so honored, and humbled, and excited. At the time I was a panel Chapter 7 Trustee, but my heart had always been in Chapter 13. As corny...

From the Editor – Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

February 2, 2020

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Punitive damages reduced for FDCPA and RESPA violations. The mortgage servicer violated FDCPA, RESPA and the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act by treating account as delinquent after Chapter 13 debtor had cured arrears, brought account current and obtained discharge. The servicer mistakenly marked the Chapter 13 case as dismissed rather...

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Mary Ida Townson Appointed U.S. Trustee for Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Guy A. Van Baalen

January 2, 2022

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland recently appointed Mary Ida Townson as the U.S. Trustee for Florida, Georgia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (Region 21). Ms. Townson assumed her duties in June and replaced Nancy Gargula, who is the U.S. Trustee in Region 10 and who had served as the interim U.S. Trustee in Region 21...

Five More Things Debtors Should Know About the SBRA – Part VIII

February 16, 2020

By Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction This series has focused on the four bankruptcy-related bills that were enacted during the 116th Congress and signed into law on August 23, 2019. One bill, the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA), will be effective February 19, 2020. It appears in its entirety in Appendix B to...

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Taxes, Offset, and Mutuality

October 13, 2019

By Cathy Moran, Esq. (Redwood City, CA) Bankruptcy lawyers are accustomed to evaluating the dischargeability of taxes when deciding when to file a client's bankruptcy case. But as we approach the end of the tax year, a client’s current year tax situation becomes another moving part in the “when do we file” analysis. In the simplest situation, the client owes...

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It Takes a Village

September 29, 2019

By Katherine B. Brewer, Esq. (Westerville, OH) One of the first things we focus on in law school (other than the Rule Against Perpetuities, which always brings back fond memories), is that our clients come first. We learn the complexities of the law, memorize rule statements, and read thousands of pages of case law in order to learn how best...

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Related Articles

Evidentiary Issues Arising from Attempts to Prove Alleged “Facts” Stated in The Monster Mash

Bankruptcy Intersecting with Tevis Equals Malpractice Claim

Federal Payments for Foster Care and Adoption Assistance in Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy Courts Grapple with the “COVID-19 Discharge”

An Open Thank You Letter to NACTT – Reflections from a New(er) Trustee: My First Two Years

From the Editor – Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

Mary Ida Townson Appointed U.S. Trustee for Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Five More Things Debtors Should Know About the SBRA – Part VIII

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It Takes a Village

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