Court Connection: e-Edition

The Court is proud to share the e-edition of the Court Connection.

For readers who prefer to read the newsletter on paper, it can be printed in its entirety by downloading a full-text PDF version.

Click here for the PDF version.

Announcements
and
Upcoming Events

February 2 - 4

Alexander L. Paskay Memorial Bankruptcy Seminar

Embassy Suites - Downtown Tampa

*

May 5

Central Florida Bankruptcy Law Association Annual Seminar and "State of the District"

with Chief Judge Williamson

Citrus Club - Downtown Orlando

Tampa Courthouse Obtains Handicapped Parking

You read in a prior issue about Tampa's success in obtaining a handicapped parking space near the courthouse, prompted by an inquiry of attorney Susan Sharp.  City of Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn came through again by adding a second space in December.  If you have handicapped clients, let them know that there are now two handicapped parking stalls on Florida Avenue in the 700 block.

HELP WANTED!

Attorneys, do you know American Sign Language? If so, one of our referral networks has a need for assistance with cases from time to time. Please contact Lupe Mitcham at Lupe@hillsbar.com  if you are willing to help with hearing impaired referrals.

Judges' Corner Inside the lives of our judges

Judge Catherine Peek McEwen with former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Ryan Nece.  She spoke at his Foundation's PowerPlate Luncheon about the value of volunteerism.

Judge Jennemann’s Chambers participated in a volunteer project that helped feed local families for Thanksgiving.  They assembled 37 laundry baskets full of Thanksgiving meal ingredients, and they decorated the baskets with seasonal bows.

Awards  and Recognition

Laura Gallo honored as one of NCBJ's "Blackshear Fellows"

The National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges selects a handful of minority lawyers to attend its annual Conference as "Blackshear Fellows" each year.  Laura Gallo, a sole practitioner in Tampa, is one of five honorees this past year.  She attended the NCBJ Conference in San Francisco in October.  The fellowship benefits include attendance at special meetings and a stipend to be applied toward expenses.

Click here to read more.

Tampa Division Clerk's Office Honors Judge McEwen for Dedication to Pro Bono Work

Click here to read more.

Dear Point and Click: Answers to technical questions

Q.  I am in need of CLE credits and would like to increase my knowledge of local practices in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida.  Do you offer any online informational sessions?

A. Yes.  The Court offers several online Continuing Legal Education (CLE) approved programs.  The courses are available for attorneys who are authorized CM/ECF users in this Court.  The courses are always available through the Court's website and cover a broad range of legal topics relevant to local bankruptcy practices.

Click here for the full answer.

Fantastic Rules and Where to Find Them - a law clerks’ field guide to the recent amendments to the Local Rules

The Orlando law clerks spoke at a luncheon on November 17, 2016, for the Central Florida Bankruptcy Law Association.  The clerks introduced themselves to the bar and discussed the recent amendments to the Local Rules.  

Read more here.

Filing Statistics Click here for filing statistics from the district.

Local Bar Events Across the Middle District

Orlando

January 27 - OCBA Bankruptcy Committee -“How to Compel Surrender of Real Property in Bankruptcy” - Jonathan Sykes of Burr & Forman

February 16 - CFBLA Membership Luncheon - Issues and Trends in Larger Cases - Michele Michaelis of BDO

February 22 - OCBA Bankruptcy Committee - Assistant U.S. Trustee Charles Sterbach and Bankruptcy Analyst Maureen Gimenez

March 16 - CFBLA Membership Luncheon - Case Law Update - Brad Saxton and Andrew Roy of Winderweedle, Haines, Ward & Woodman

March 29 - OCBA Bankruptcy Committee - "Unfair Debt Collection Practices Act Claims" - Ian Leavengood of LeavenLaw

April 28 - OCBA Bankruptcy Committee feat. Judge Jennemann

May 5 - CFBLA Annual Seminar and "State of the District" with Judge Williamson

Tampa

February 2-4 - 41st Annual Alexander L. Paskay Memorial Bankruptcy Seminar

February 14 - TBBBA Luncheon - "State of the District" with Judge Williamson

March 7 - TBBBA Consumer Lunch feat. Judge May

March 21 - TBBBA CLE Luncheon

April 4 - TBBBA Consumer Lunch feat. Judge Delano

April 11 - TBBBA CLE Luncheon

May 2 - TBBBA Consumer Lunch feat. Judge McEwen

May 9 - TBBBA CLE Luncheon

Click here for the full calendar.

The Court Connection is published quarterly in January, April, July and October.  We are seeking ideas, articles, photos, news - and anything you'd like to share. 

Please submit items for the April edition by March 31, 2017 to:
newsletter@flmb.uscourts.gov

Welcome 2017

By Lee Ann Bennett, Clerk of Court

It’s hard to believe a new year has begun. It seems like only yesterday I was writing the lead article for the January 2016 newsletter. In that article, I shared that the Court would continue its commitment to becoming One Court, One Team with the focus on uniformity.  Although there were times it appeared our commitment got off track throughout the year, I found we all worked together to focus again on that goal.  So many are to be thanked for helping us continue to meet our goal. First, I thank our judges who continued with their commitment of thinking district-wide and not divisionally. In 2012, they agreed to focus on “what is simple, fair, necessary, and best meets the needs of our constituencies.” They continued with that focus in 2016. I also want to thank our staff and members of the bar who have continued to serve on various committees or working groups. The following deserve to be recognized:

Click here for the full article.

Trustee Spotlight: Meet Aaron Cohen, Chapter 7 Panel Trustee, Jacksonville

By Miriam G. Suarez, Orlando Office of the U.S. Trustee

Aaron R. Cohen is a Chapter 7 panel trustee in the Jacksonville Division of the Middle District of Florida.  He has served in that capacity since his appointment in 1997.  Aaron is originally from Cleveland, Ohio and moved to Florida when he was six years old.  He graduated from the University of South Florida with a B.A. in History, attended law school at “THE” University of Florida and graduated from UF in December 1985. Click here to continue reading.

Pro Bono Corner Helping the legal community

Bankruptcy for Beginners Seminar Yields Big Success

On October 20, 2016, the Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association, Bay Area Legal Services, Hillsborough County Bar Association, and the Bankruptcy Court hosted a free pro bono seminar, Bankruptcy for Beginners. The day-long seminar was free and attendees earned 8.5 hours of CLE credits. In consideration of attending the seminar, attendees were asked to accept one or more pro bono organization assignments. Included among the assignments were direct assignments from bankruptcy judges. 

Click here to continue reading.

Justin Luna, the president of the Middle District of Florida Bankruptcy Pro Se Clinic, sent the attached thank you letter to the Clinic Volunteers.

Judge McEwen's  Make-Me-Smile Moments

Thank you to:

Jonathan Semach for handling a Chapter 13 case.

Mara Shaughnessy for handling a student loan dischargeability action.

Paul Maney for accepting a Chapter 13 case assignment from a Tampa Division bankruptcy judge as a result of the Bankruptcy for Beginners seminar.  The debtor had been left hanging by a disbarred attorney.  Thanks also to Tim Sierra for agreeing to be Mr. Maney’s mentor. 

Ryan Reinert, of the Shutts firm, for giving access to the working poor by taking on a “low bono” case.

Thanks, as always, to the many courthouse clinic volunteers in our three bar-run clinics.  We judges notice.  You make our jobs easier and make the system run more smoothly.

Court Services

Help is on the Way!

Look for the New and Improved Procedure Manual

By the Honorable Karen S. Jennemann

As we enter 2017, I look at the progress our District has made in unifying our procedures and forms. The Court is working as “One Court, One Team.” Now, we need to share these forms and procedures with you—our bankruptcy lawyers, our pro se filers, and everyone using the Court. Help us help you!

Last year, we made progress in getting the word out.

Our journey to help continued in March when we released a proto-type version of a Procedure Manual on our website. You can find it under the “Procedures” tab under Code, Orders & Rules. I expect many of you still do not know it exists!

We pressed on down the road of making our procedures accessible to everyone when in August we sent out a survey to all CM-ECF filers asking for input on how to improve the Procedure Manual. Thanks to everyone who completed the survey!

We turned our attention to our home-base in October. I met with numerous folks at the Court for their ideas on how to make the Procedure Manual easier to find and to use.

The next month was our annual Bench Bar Conference where the Procedure Manual was the topic of lively discussion. I received pages of detailed suggestions and ideas on improvements. Again, thanks to everyone who attended the Bench Bar Conference and shared their many thoughts. We reviewed all of the suggestions and realized that our bar is critical in helping improve the Procedure Manual.

Now, drum roll, I want to share improvements to the Procedure Manual you will see in the next few months:

• Putting the Procedure Manual front and center on the website to make it easier to find.
• Installing navigational tools to let you quickly answer your questions.
• Installing a “mini-survey” option to encourage feedback and to suggest new topics to add. We want to give you the forms and guidance you need to do your job!
• Substantially increasing the content of the Procedure Manual to answer the common questions we receive every day at the Court. For example, when an attorney changes law firms or addresses, what does the Court require?
• Including many more forms with motion and order templates.
• Working with our bar and our staff to publicize the Procedure Manual. I expect over the next few months when you ask a question, you will be referred to the Procedure Manual.

I am very excited we will work toward making the Court’s Procedure Manual the model for Bankruptcy Courts across the country. Give me your ideas and suggestions. Watch for substantial improvements to come in 2017. Help us by using the Procedure Manual.

Changes are a Comin'

By Stephanie B. Villalobos and Danielle Merola, Law Clerks to the Honorable Judge Karen S. Jennemann

Just kidding—the changes have already taken place! Important amendments to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure took effect on December 1, 2016. Below is a quick snapshot of a few of the updates.

Be sure to look at the changes to Rule 7008, General Rules of Pleading, and Rule 7012, Defenses and Objections. Prior to the amendments, a pleader must have stated if the matter was core or noncore in their pleadings. This requirement was eliminated. The pleader must now state if they consent to final orders or judgments by the bankruptcy court regardless of whether the matter is core or noncore.

Continuing reading here.

IT News Security Updates

A Renewed Focus on Cyber Security

By Laurie Ellwood, Network Administrator

Although Cyber Security has always been important for the courts, our mission this year is to step up the fight to secure our systems and protect our users and data from ongoing threats. We will become more educated, informed, and aware as the threats and strategies to harm our systems and data change daily. The Judiciary has systems in place to help us provide a more secure environment for our users both internal and external and a top notch security team at the AO that monitors these systems 24/7. They also provide updated and improved systems and support to local courts to help further protect against these threats. FLMB implements and upgrades these systems and continues to update and educate our IT team and our users. Weekly reports, monthly staff reports, and quarterly scans give us an “IT Security Scorecard” that is used to assess the security status of our local court environments.  We strive to keep the scorecard complete and updated and we also strive toward constant and consistent improvement.

Click here for the full article.

Case Law Update   Submitted By:   Bradley M. Saxton & C. Andrew Roy Winderweedle Ward Haines and Woodman, P.A.

Eleventh Circuit Cases

In re Monson

 __ Fed. Appx. __, 2016 WL 6833332 (11th Cir. Nov. 21, 2016).

Bankruptcy Court Cases

In re Carbide Industries, LLC 

2016 WL 6803703 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. Nov. 10, 2016) 

(Jennemann, J.).

In re Macquarrie

2016 WL 6647741 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. Nov. 9, 2016)

(Jennemann, J.).

In re Exume

2016 WL 7076982 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. Dec. 5, 2016) (May, J.).

Click here for summaries and the complete update.

Local Bar Associations News and events from your local bar association

* Jacksonville Bankruptcy Bar Association

*Central Florida Bankruptcy Law Association

*Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association

*Southwest Florida Bankruptcy Professionals Association