Consumer

This panel will cover recent developments in consumer cases at the bankruptcy and appellate levels.

In 2013, ABI launched a study of individual chapter 11 cases to determine why individual debtors choose chapter 11 and to evaluate the efficacy of individual chapter 11 cases. The study team has gathered data to identify systemic problems that increase the cost and decrease the utility of chapter 11 cases to individuals. The panel, which includes the study’s reporter, investigators and cochairs, will provide an overview of the study’s findings and recommendations.

This panel will address many of the thorniest ethical issues for consumer lawyers, including avoiding conflictof- interest issues as counsel in a failing case, counseling a client who will not take your advice, and counseling a mentally ill client.

Who Pays the Price for Health Care Insolvencies: the Consumer, the Vendors or the Public at Large?

This panel provides updates on the law and suggests the necessary tools for your consumer tax toolbox, in particular concepts of cancellation of indebtness, home mortgage modiifcations, issuance of 1099s by creditors, separate-entity treatment under IRC section 1398, priority of tax claims, nondischargeability of tax claims, and other thorny tax issues frequently facing consumer bankruptcy lawyers.

This panel will discuss the latest cross-border insolvency decisions from U.S. and Caribbean courts.

The panel will discuss Puerto Rico’s present economic condition/situation, the sequence of events that have led to PR’s present economic crisis, what should/can be done to restructure PR’s debt, whether chapter 9 is an appropriate tool to restructure PR’s debt or a solution to its economic condition, and the legal issues that PR is likely to confront in light of its economic crisis.

This panel will conduct a mock oral argument at the conclusion of a confirmation hearing in an individual chapter 11 bankruptcy case. Issues unique to individuals who file chapter 11 will be explored by counsel for the debtor and an objecting creditor, as well as by the three-judge panel.