Judge Brown and Judge Robson Sworn In, Middle District of Florida

 JACKSONVILLE, FL - On November 3, 2021, the Honorable Grace E. Robson and the Honorable Jacob A. Brown were sworn in as the newest bankruptcy judges of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida.

 The November 15, 2021 press release can be found at http://www.flmb.uscourts.gov/announcements/documents/upload/159637625_File_1.pdf

Judge Jerry A. Funk Quasi Retires - Mentors New Judges

After 28 years on the bench, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Jerry A. Funk began quasi-retirement Nov. 2, the first day of a three-year term of reserve status.

That status is how Funk, 76, will stay in touch with his colleagues and help his successor and another new bankruptcy judge transition to the U.S. Middle District of Florida bench.

www.jaxdailyrecord.com/jerry-funk-28-years

Coronavirus Update regarding Meeting of Creditors

 

NEW PROCEDURES FOR MEETING OF CREDITORS (341 Meeting)

In light of the recommendations of the CDC regarding the spread of the COVID-19 virus, effectively immediately and until further notice, the United States Trustee for Region 21 has directed that all Meetings of Creditors under 11 U.S.C. § 341 in all bankruptcy cases, and all Initial Debtor Interviews in Chapter 11 and Subchapter V cases, be conducted by telephone conference.

For cases in which the initial § 341 meeting was postponed (generally, cases in which the initial § 341 meeting was scheduled between March 17, 2020 and April 10, 2020) and until further notice in all newly filed cases, the Court will issue Notices of Case Filing that include information regarding the telephonic § 341 Meeting. The Notices of Case Filing will include the "dial in" telephone number for the appointed trustee or the U.S. Trustee's Office, a participant passcode, and the time of the telephonic meeting. This information will also be provided in notices of the Initial Debtor Interview in Chapter 11 and Subchapter V cases.

The U.S. Trustee's Office requests that all attorneys and their clients cooperate in making this process work as smoothly as possible under these difficult and unprecedented circumstances.

Court News On Government Shutdown as of January 8, 2019

News fron the Court's website.

During the partial shutdown of the federal government, which began Dec. 22, 2018, the Judiciary has continued to operate by using court fee balances and other “no-year” funds. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has revised its original estimate and now is working toward the goal of sustaining paid operations through Jan. 18, 2019.

In an effort to achieve this goal, courts have been asked to delay or defer non-mission critical expenses, such as new hires, non-case related travel, and certain contracts. Judiciary employees are reporting to work and currently are in full-pay status.

If existing funds run out and new appropriated funds do not become available, the Judiciary will operate under the terms of the Anti-Deficiency Act, which allows “essential work” to continue during a lapse in appropriations

Government Shutdown: How is the Bankruptcy Court Effected by the Shutdown?

 

The most prominent item on the top of the news each night is the continued government shutdown. As of the writing of this post, it has been shut down for several hours short of 14 days. 

While this has directly effected many federally funded areas of our country, there are others that are not as immediately impacted, at least, from a public or user perspective.

The Federal Courthouses remain open and doing business, but probably with some impact on internal procedures that will cause some delays. Many, but not all, bankruptcy courthouse websites have a statement regarding the government shutdown. I practice in Florida. The Middle District of Florida and the Northern District of Florida state

“Despite the government shutdown, the federal judiciary will remain open and can continue operations for approximately three weeks, through January 11, 2019.”

However, the Southern District of Florida's website is silent regarding information related to the shutdown.

In the Middle District of Florida, there is also an administrative order (FLMB 2018-4) stating Federal agencies effected by the government shutdown will have have 7 days following the end of the shutdown “to take record action”.  So the court recognizes other Federal Agencies may not have the staff in place to properly give legal responses, or file necessary papers related to individual bankruptcy cases.

Should the government shutdown continue through January 11, 2019, you should look to your court's website to see what effects the shutdown will have on the Court in your district.

Of course, should you have any questions about this, or any other bankruptcy related questions, you should contact a local bankruptcy attorney for advice.

11th Circuit Upholds Use Of Means Test In Converted Cases from Chapter 13 To Chapter 7

The 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals recently decided Stratton C. Pollitzer, vs. Guy G. Gebhardt, which upheld the use of the means test in a converted case from Chapter 13 to Chapter 7 under §707(b).  Although the bankruptcy code does not state the means test is to be used in a converted case, it does not deny its usage, and the 11th Circuit concluded it was congresses intent for it to be used.  

The case can be viewed in its entirety at http://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201611506.pdf

Lee Ann Bennett Appointed To Administrative Office of US Courts

Congratulations to Lee Ann Bennett in her appointment by Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. as the new deputy director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.  Bennett will serve as deputy to AO Director James C. Duff.  On behalf of the bankruptcy attorneys that practice in the Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division, we thank her for a job well done, and wish her much success in her new job.


For more information, see

http://www.uscourts.gov/news/2017/02/23/new-ao-deputy-director-named

New Revised Forms For Bankruptcy Effective December 1, 2015

 

This is a reminder that revised Official Forms went into effect December 1, 2015.





All filers should use the new revised forms on and after December 1, 2015 for all newly filed cases and any initially filed schedules and statements. For additional information, please consult the forms update web page at http://www.flmb.uscourts.gov/forms/december-form-changes/

Florida Uniform Case Numbering System

This actually has nothing to do with Bankruptcy.  This is for Circuits in Florida.  But from time to time, I need to reference a State Case in a bankruptcy, but have trouble finding the state guidelines for numbering.  So I thought it might be helpful if I posted an overview of the numbering system used in the county and circuit courts to hopefully facilitate better understanding of and more universal adoption of this logical system.

The Uniform Case Number is a twenty character sequence that has five components, broken out, it looks as follows: XX-XXXX-XX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX.

For Example, the first felony case filed in Orange County for 2009 would look as follows: 48-2009-CF-000001-OAXXXX

Broken down, the five components are explained as follows:

The first two characters are the county designation code. Florida has 67 counties and the codes are assigned from 01 – 67 in alphabetical order. A listing of each county’s code is provided at the bottom of this post.

The next four characters are the year your case was actually opened in with the clerk of the court, not the year the issue in dispute occurred.

An example would be if you were physically placed under arrest on December 31, 2008, but you were not actually booked into jail until January 1, 2009. As a result the year designation for your case would be 2009. Because this is the year the Clerk actually would open your case, which is because you were not booked into jail and brought to their attention until 2009.

The following two characters are the court case type (or designation). In addition to the brief examples provided here, I have alco provided a complete listing of court case types at the bottom of the post.

Examples are CF = Felony, MM = Misdemeanor, CT = Criminal Traffic.

The following six characters are the case sequence; simply meaning the number assigned to a case as they are opened each year.

The first case of each year in each division is assigned 000001, the second case is 000002, and so on.

The final six numbers are not specifically assigned and are left to the individual counties to use for their own internal management purposes. Two common practices are to use the first of the two digits to assign co-defendant order (usually starting alphabetical by last name) or municipality designation.

For example, Co-Defendant 1 would be assigned A, Co-Defendant 2 would be assigned B, and so forth.
Or, a misdemeanor case initiated by Eatonville Police Department in Orange County, Florida might look as follows: 48-2009-MM-000001-EA. The E indicates an Eatonville PD case and the A indicates Co-Defendant A if there were two people arrested.

In any event, I hope this provides some clarification for the masses out there.
Court Case Type Designation

AP	Appeal from County Court
CA	Circuit Civil
CF	Felony
CJ	Delinquency (Juvenile Crime)
CO	County Ordinance Violation
CP	Probate
CT	Criminal Traffic Citation (But also a Misdemeanor Offense)
DP	Dependency
DR	Domestic Relations
GA	Guardianship
IN	Non-Traffic Infraction
MH	Mental Health
MM	Misdemeanor
MO	Municipal Ordinance Violation
SC	Small Claims
TR	Traffic Infraction

County Code Designations

County	County Code
Alachua	01
Baker	02
Bay	03
Bradford	04
Brevard	05
Broward	06
Calhoun	07
Charlotte	08
Citrus	09
Clay	10
Collier	11
Columbia	12
Dade (Miami)	13
DeSoto	14
Dixie	15
Duval	16
Escambia	17
Flagler	18
Franklin	19
Gadsden	20
Gilchrist	21
Glades	22
Gulf	23
Hamilton	24
Hardee	25
Hendry	26
Hernando	27
Highlands	28
Hillsborough	29
Holmes	30
Indian River	31
Jackson	32
Jefferson	33
Lafayette	34
Lake	35
Lee	36
Leon	37
Levy	38
Liberty	39
Madison	40
Manatee	41
Marion	42
Martin	43
Monroe	44
Nassau	45
Okaloosa	46
Okeechobee	47
Orange	48
Osceola	49
Palm Beach	50
Pasco	51
Pinellas	52
Polk	53
Putnam	54
Santa Rosa	55
Sarasota	56
Saint Johns	57
Saint Lucie	58
Seminole	59
Sumter	60
Suwannee	61
Taylor	62
Union	63
Volusia	64
Wakulla	65
Walton	66
Washington	67

Debtor Bankruptcy Noticing From The Court for Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division

Effective Monday, June 29, 2015, the Court will begin implementation of a new beneficial and free program titled, Debtor Electronic Bankruptcy Noticing, also known as DeBN. Debtor's wishing to receive electronic notification of court generated notices and orders the same day they are entered on the docket, will be able to do so by simply filing out a request form. Attorney's may file the request form electronically for their debtor's.


DeBN is a voluntary service, which does not require the debtor to have a PACER login and does not require an enrollment fee.

Click here for more specific information on the DeBN program, or visit the Court's website at www.flmb.uscourts.gov/DeBN

Click here to review the Debtor Electronic Bankruptcy Noticing Request Form.

Click here for simple steps to docket the request form.

Volusia County Moving To Orlando Division

As of August 1, 2014, Volusia County is being removed from the jurisdiction of Jacksonville Division of the Middle District of Florida, and being reassigned to the Orlando Division. To view all the counties assigned to the various divisions within the Middle District, please review Local Rule 1071-1 as amended.

To view the local rule amendments taking effect on August 1, 2014, Click Here

Government Shutdown: Courts and Clerk Open

From the website of the United States Bankruptcy Court: Middle District of Florida Until further notice, please note that the Bankruptcy Court and Clerk's Office will continue to operate under its normal schedule, including matters set for hearing and public hours, in the event of a government shutdown on October 1, 2013. Section §341 meetings of creditors will also continue, as noticed. Please note, a Google search of the web reveiled many blogs stating the bankruptcy courts would be shut down if the government shut down, as the courthouse workers would be out of work.  Don't believe everything you read on the internet. I you find any new information regarding the government shutdown as it effects the federal courts, please post it here.

Bankruptcy Chief Judge To Have Open Door Hours

Chief Judge Karen S. Jennemann, the chief judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida, has recently announced an initiative to bring all the divisions of the bankruptcy court within the district under the same policies, local rules, and procedures. This is expected to help everyone, including attorneys, pre se parties, and court personnel, to more efficiently operate within the district.

Toward this goal, as of April 23, Raymond Waguespack will be the “project manager over the court committees created to unify the processes and procedures of our divisions.”

Judge Jennemann has also announced “open door” hours for the purpose of allowing anyone to express any concerns regarding the bankruptcy court. Obviously, she will not be able to discuss individual cases, but she is interested in hearing ones thoughts concerning the Court.

The open door office hours are as follows:

ORLANDO DIVISION

Dates: April 16, 2012, July 23, 2012, and October 29, 2012

Time: 2:00—4:00 PM

Place: Fifth Floor Conference Room (room across from Courtroom A)

TAMPA DIVISION

Dates: April 24, 2012, July 17, 2012, and October 24, 2012

Time: 2:00—4:00 PM

Place: 8th Floor Attorney Conference Room , Courtroom 8A

JACKSONVILLE DIVISION

Dates: July 9, 2012, and October 1, 2012

Time: 2:00-4:00 PM

Place: 4^th Floor Conference Room

Court Website Available in Spanish

The court's website for the Middle District of Florida is full of a wealth of information.  It includes links to things that may otherwise be hard to find, like the local rules of the bankruptcy court.  The Court now has the site also available in Spanish at http://www.flmb.uscourts.gov/espanol/.  Hopefully the Latino community  will find it to be a very useful tool.