NACBA's 31st Annual Convention

April 27-30, 2023

Washington Hilton

Date & Time: Thursday, June 23, 2022
4:00-5:00 p.m. Eastern

Member Price: $25

 

Description: Join fellow NACBA member Cort Walker of the Sasser Law Firm as he discusses his successful case to sanction a medical provider for including Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in their bankruptcy claims. Mr. Walker successfully litigated a motion for sanctions for violations of Rule 9037 and obtained a judgment for his client that included actual damages, attorney's fees in the amount of $37,107 and punitive damages in the amount of $70,000. 

 

Why you should attend: The inclusion of Personally Identifiable Information is a persistent problem that usually takes uncompensated time to correct. You need to know how to litigate this type of problem, gather and demonstrate pattern and practice evidence, and present the argument to your court to correct creditors who routinely violate Rule 9037. 

 

Speaker: Cort Walker

Plaintiff’s attorneys were liable for monetary contempt sanctions for violating the automatic stay due to their failure to investigate the plaintiff’s bankruptcy petition which was filed decades earlier to determine whether he had disclosed his interest in mineral rights in land that was the subject of a current state lawsuit. In re McConathy, No. 90-13449 (Bankr. W.D. La. May 20, 2022).

A “bankruptcy court’s traditional power to impose contempt sanctions carries with it the authority to award damages and attorneys’ fees – including appellate attorneys’ fees.” Law Offices of Francis J. O’Reilly, Esq. v. Selene Finance L.P. (In re DiBattista), No. 20-4067 (2d Cir. May 17, 2022).

A fee arrangement bifurcating the Chapter 7 bankruptcy attorney’s representation into separate pre-petition and post-petition agreements violated sections 526 and 528 and was void. In re Siegle, No. 21-42321 (Bankr. D. Minn. May 19, 2022).

The below-median debtor was entitled to confirmation of his Chapter 13 plan where he proposed his plan in good faith and committed all of his disposable income to it despite the fact that he was in the middle of a divorce and his income and expenses were in a state of flux. In re Szafraniec, No. 21-10216 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. May 27, 2022).

A debt based on a civil judgment for pain and suffering arising out of an incident during which the debtor had an acute psychotic break and severely beat the claimant, was dischargeable in bankruptcy because his psychiatric condition prevented him from acting willfully within the meaning of section 523(a)(6). Lombardi v. Picard (In re Picard), No. 16-15432 Adv. Proc. No. 16-359 (Bankr. E.D. Pa. June 10, 2022).

Where the debtor’s restitution obligation was payable to Identified Consumers rather than a governmental unit, it did not fall within section 523(a)(7)’s exception to discharge. State of New Hampshire, Banking Department v. Dargon, No. 20-30300, Adv. Proc. No. 20-3017 (Bankr. D. Mass. March 11, 2022).

The Supreme Court denied certiorari in the case of Sensenich v. PHH Mortgage Corp., No. 21-1322 (cert denied, June 13, 2022).