Consumer

This panel will present a lively discussion of key issues decided in business and consumer bankruptcy cases throughout the country over the past year.

Oyez, oyez, oyez, all attendees are admonished to draw near and give their undivided attention to this panel as it delivers the most recent and updated analyses on this term’s U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

This panel will discuss the discharging of student loan debts, bankruptcy trustees and the avoidance of tuition payments, undue hardship and real life applications of these issues.

This panel will review important exemption cases post Law v. Siegel as well as membership interests in bankruptcies, wage garnishment preference claims and case law developments post Husky.

The panel will explore various express and implied trust interests and the issues they raise in bankruptcy, from what becomes property of the estate to exemption and avoidance issues, including under Bankruptcy Code Section 548(e) directed at domestic asset protection and other self-settled trusts.

This panel will discuss the plan effective date, rule amendments and plan confirmations.

Join this leading panel of experts as they discuss the most recent important consumer bankruptcy decisions.

Bringing together the perspectives of debtors, creditors and judges, this panel will survey the universe of nondischargeability causes of action, the realistic costs of pursuing and defending these actions, effective discovery and trial strategies, the impact of issue and claim preclusion based on pre-petition judgments, the anatomy of nondischargeability settlement agreements, the challenges of collection, and the prospects for recovery of attorneys’ fees.

This panel will focus on the uses and limits of Bankruptcy Rule 2004 discovery, including e-discovery pointers, the impact of the latest amendments, jurisdictional and scope (“fishing expedition”) limits on discovery, keeping results confidential, using Rule 2004 examination transcripts in later proceedings, and various “nuts and bolts” practice points. The discussion will be based on a fact pattern presenting these various issues.

From your first contact with your client until the entry of a discharge order and the closing of the case, risks for consumer malpractice claims abound. This panel will focus on minimizing those risks, including properly engaging the client, effectively gathering the information necessary to adequately comply with the myriad requirements and disclosures necessary to successfully commence and conclude a consumer bankruptcy case, and guarding against other hazards that could create problems for your client and for you.