Consumer

Lawyers representing mortgage creditors, car creditors and unsecured creditors in consumer chapter 7 and 13 cases are familiar with the routine actions they can take to protect their clients (e.g., move to lift the stay, file proofs of claims and analyze disposable-income issues). But what actions can they take to protect their clients when an individual or small business debtor files chapter 11? What strategies and considerations should secured creditors use to decide whether to move to lift the stay? How active should unsecured creditors be in a chapter 11 before the debtor files a plan of reorganization? What strategies and considerations go into creditors’ evaluations of and voting on the debtor’s plan of reorganization? What initial issues do creditors’ attorneys need to think about when they receive notice of a chapter 11 petition, and how do these issues differ from the initial issues they need to think about when they receive a notice of a chapter 7 or 13 petition? Are proofs of claims handled differently in chapter 11, and if so, how? How do you explain the options to your client and manage your client’s expectations in chapter 11 so that they understand the potential costs and time involved?

Many consumer bankruptcy lawyers now find themselves filing chapter 11 petitions for individuals and small businesses, but chapter 11 cases are different than chapter 13 cases. This session will focus on the basics of filing and handling a chapter 11 case, including who is eligible to file a chapter 11 petition, the reasons to file chapter 11 rather than chapter 7 or 13, the ongoing reporting responsibilities of a debtor in possession, what goes into the preparation of a plan of reorganization and disclosure statement, how a chapter 11 plan differs from a chapter 13 plan, how the process of balloting on the plan of reorganization works, the requirements that must be met to confirm a plan of reorganization, and the time frames that govern the handling of chapter 11 cases.

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

This panel will discuss means of improving the chapter 13 process, including how to reduce abuses and thereby accelerate chapter 13 cases, as well as the new Rule amendments going into effect Dec. 1, 2017, and will contrast plans under chapters 11 and 13.

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.

Discussion of various claims related topics and issues including the impact and implications of the Supreme Court’s May 2017 decision in Midland Funding, LLC v. Johnson.

This session will present an in-depth analysis of the interplay among tax law, liquidation and bankruptcy. The panelists will examine some of the tax traps that exist for an individual when business obligations remain unpaid in a closure or bankruptcy, as well as how to use an insolvency defense to defeat phantom K-1 and 1099 income.

This session covers a number of recent confirmation hot topics, including structured dismissals and the absolute priority rule (In re Jevic Holding Corp.), interpretation of the Trust Indenture Act (Marblegate Asset Management v. Education Management Corp.), frontloading notice in prepacks (In re Roust Corp.), permissibility of nonconsensual third-party releases (In re Millennium Lab Holdings II LLC), and cross-border confirmations (Nortel Networks).

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