Current Events

These are the current events in bankruptcy and in our firm released over the last year. You may want to search for topics by keyword.

Legislative News

Firm News & recent Litigation

3/14/10:  Started tampabankruptcy blog at blogspot.

2/22/10:  As of March 1 2010 the Tampa office will be moving a few blocks south to 106 S Armenia  Ave., Tampa, Fl 33609-3308.  This will also be the new mailing address.

2/1/10:  As of February 1 2010 the Dade City office will be moving two doors over in the same building to 38100 Meridian Ave. in Dade City, renting space from from J&J Trucking's offices.

11/13/09:  The firm is now starting to undertake Fair Debt Collection litigation, suing debt collectors for violation of debt collection laws. 

Web Changes

11/13/09: Page on debt collection abuse added.

Legislative News

1 July 2007

      New exemption statute increases personal property exemption from $1,000 to $4,000 for individuals not claiming homestead exemption in Florida.

7 December 2002  In re Giles 271 BR 903 (Bankr. MD Fla., 2002), §77.06 FlaStat.

      Recent state law legislation on garnishment may prevent a bankruptcy from being able to release a garnishment after a bankruptcy case is filed.  If a garnishment is entered before the bankruptcy is filed, there is a better chance of eliminating the garnishment if the bankruptcy is filed within three months of entry of the garnishment.  Therefore it is very important to file the bankruptcy as soon as possible now if someone is suing you.

Housing relief bill:

3/5/09: Washington Post: House passed bill, goes on to Senate where there is substantial opposition.

3/4/09:  House legislators modified the bill to require homeowners to attempt to modify the mortgage with the mortgage company, and to deny relief if they had been offered a modification that lowered their payments to 31% of their income.  Also, homeowners would have to share any profit from the sale of the home with the mortgage company if the court lowers the principal balance of the debt.  The bill could come before the house for a vote tomorrow.

BAPCPA history

Firm News & Recent Litigation

Lakeland and Dade City offices both moved in 2008. 

       17 July 2002 Avoidance of unrecorded Agreement for Deed:  In this case we represent a debtor who was purchasing property through an agreement for deed, we brought suit against the seller to avoid their security interest on the debt, and have the court rule that our client's own the property and just owe an unsecured debt to the seller.   The creditor filed a motion to dismiss on the basis that either the transaction was initially invalid for lack of witnesses; or that the seller still owned the property until all payments had been completed.  The Court rejected both of the creditor's arguments and is moving the case toward trial.  While no final ruling is made in the case, the Court is indicating that the theory of the case may be successful.

       2 October 2001 Preference Suit:  In a case where we represented a creditor in a suit by a chapter 7 trustee, the clients were sued in attempt to force them to refund over $6,000 that they collected less than 90 days before the bankruptcy was filed.  The clients initially attempted to represent themselves, and filed their own answer to the suit.  However, they hired us before the initial hearing.  Upon reviewing the documents, we determined that the answer they filed did not have any chance of success, however because they had a recorded judgment recorded as a lien against real estate that was not the debtor's homestead, in fact they did have a valid defense to the suit.  We filed an amended answer and a motion for summary judgment, and were able to get a ruling in our client's favor without the fees and delay involved with  a full trial. 

       10 July 2001 Agency theory:  After a trial, Judge Williamson ruled in favor of our client that he was not liable on a personal guaranty of a corporate debt where we were able to show that his signature on the guaranty was forged.  The creditor asserted that he was liable under state law theories of apparent authority, or that he ratified the forgery and should still be liable.  Under the apparent authority doctrine, someone may be held liable for acts of his agents, even if the agent exceeded their authority, if the principal (the person being held liable), by his conduct, led others to believe that the agent had authority to so act.  Under the ratification doctrine, the principal may be liable for unauthorized acts of an agent if he becomes aware of such acts and takes action to continue to accrue the benefit of the act without disavowing the conduct.  However, the Court agreed with our arguments that whoever signed it could not be our client's agent because the creditor never contacted our client, and any belief they may have had as to anyone's authority on his behalf could not have been based on our client's conduct.  The Court likewise rejected the apparent authority argument since we showed the client was unaware of the forged guaranty until after the bankruptcy was filed.

       26 June 2001 Hardship discharge:  In what is apparently the first such decision in Tampa, the Chief Bankruptcy Judge granted a hardship discharge to a client that had obtained a chapter 7 discharge too recently to enable him to convert to chapter 7.  Normally, you can only obtain a discharge in chapter 7 if you have not obtained a prior discharge in chapter 7 in case filed within the last 6 years, or obtained a prior discharge in chapter 13 unless you paid at least 70% of the debts.  While you can file a chapter 13 and obtain a normal chapter 13 discharge during this time, chapter 13 requires that you either pay 100% of the allowed unsecured claims or pay all disposable income for three years.  However, chapter 13 also provides an alternative discharge similar to chapter 7 if after the plan is confirmed, something happens that is not your fault that prevents you from completing the plan.  The chapter 13 trustee argued that since the client could not obtain a chapter 7 discharge, he should not be able to obtain a discharge under this section either, but the Chief Judge rejected that reasoning finding that there was no prohibition under the statutes to getting this type of discharge even within the six year period.

       20 June 2001 Mortgages:   The firm continues to find substantial problems in how mortgage companies treat payment during bankruptcy.  In one recent case, the mortgage company waived over $4,700 in fees and costs improperly charged during the bankruptcy.  We may still be the only firm in west central Florida even reviewing these fees after the bankruptcy discharge.  Another motion for sanctions was filed against the US Government for similar violations when it was holding a mortgage in bankruptcy, and the government was ordered to pay my fees incurred in correcting the violation.  

        2 January 2001     Student Loans:   In judgment entered 2 January 2001 Judge Paskay, Chief Judge Emeritus of the Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida ruled that a student loan owed by our client was discharged by her chapter 7 bankruptcy.  While student loans usually are not eliminated by bankruptcy, the laws permit the court to discharge such loans when it would be an undue hardship to require the debtor to continue payments on them.   While these cases usually involve some sort of disability, in our case the client was not disabled, but had made unsuccessful efforts to negotiate repayment terms, her financial condition was such that it would be virtually impossible to repay the loan, and it appeared that such financial conditions would continue for the indefinite future.

Web Changes

This is where we'll announce the most recent additions to our web site. If you've visited us before and want to know what's changed, take a look here first.

10/15/05: Updated website to conform with procedures after BAPCPA.

5/4/05: Added links related to new bankruptcy law.

10/24/04: Updated FAQ.

7/2/04 Updated information to bring to initial appointment.

3/20/04 Updated FAQ re possible problems in chapter7 or chapter 13.

11/4/03  Added budget to forms page; updated new filing fees.

9/30/03 Added forms page, new client sheet, and sample chapter 7 and 13 contracts. 

6/21/02 Updated FAQ re lawsuits, repossessions, and foreclosures.

2/25/02 Updated FAQ re bankruptcy petition preparers, added accountant link

2/14/02 Added a few law firms to links section

4/27/01 Updated FAQ

4/01 added express privacy policy statement

Updated webtools to Microsoft Frontpage 2000, permitting quicker updates and changes to site.  

Added current events page.