On Bankruptcy and Mediation
Comparing and contrasting (photo by Marilyn Swanson) By Donald L. Swanson Pre-bankruptcy planning is an important part of representing an individual debtor in a bankruptcy case. In fact, such planning may be the most-crucial part of the entire bankruptcy process. In pre-bankruptcy planning, the goal is to establish a strategy for the upcoming bankruptcy and an... Continue Reading →
Unlimited access (photo by Marilyn Swanson) By: Donald L Swanson Mediation confidentiality is sacrosanct. Or, so we are all taught in mediation training courses. But in a New Jersey case, from earlier this year, mediation confidentiality is not sacrosanct at all: communications before, during and after mediation sessions are testified to profusely by parties, attorneys and... Continue Reading →
An election system and process (photo by Marilyn Swanson) By: Donald L Swanson Wow—didn’t expect to see an § 1111(b) election opinion under Subchapter V this soon! But here it is: In re Body Transit, Inc. d/b/a/ Rascals Fitness, Bky. No. 20-10014 in Eastern Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Court (decided August 7, 2020, by Hon. Eric. L. Frank,... Continue Reading →
By: Donald L. Swanson “’Early’ (mediation) is good and usually best”; but “Lawyers are not easily persuaded away from the view that they ‘need more info’ before they engage settlement discussions in mediation”; and “in many cases, they may be right.” --Comment by a mediation professional on a discussion board. I agree with this comment—100%—for regular... Continue Reading →
Implied consent (photo by Marilyn Swanson) By: Donald L Swanson “Sharif contends that to the extent litigants may validly consent to adjudication by a bankruptcy court, such consent must be express. We disagree.” --U.S. Supreme Court in Wellness Int’l Network, Ltd. V. Sharif, 575 U.S. 665 (2015). The Supreme Court’s Wellness opinion adds the following: “The... Continue Reading →
Olde England (photo by Marilyn Swanson) By: Donald L Swanson “Be sure your sin will find you out.” (Numbers 32:23 (KJV)) Every now and then, we get a glimpse into human nature and how people work together, for good and for ill. What follows is one such glimpse, into the small cheat in business activities. --... Continue Reading →
The wheels of commerce must continue to turn (photo by Marilyn Swanson) By: Donald L Swanson Under UCC § 9-332, a debtor’s attorney can receive, and keep, pre-petition retainers paid from a lender’s collateral proceeds—absent collusion. That’s the conclusion of a recent Bankruptcy Court opinion in Walters v. Lynch (In re 3P4PL, LLC), Adv. No. 15-1120,... Continue Reading →
New York By: Donald L Swanson As necessity is the mother of invention, so mandatory mediation programs are the progeny of overburdened courts and backlogged dockets. That’s what happened, a couple years ago, in a New York appellate court: this overburdened court, with seriously-backlogged dockets, instituted mandatory mediation as one of a series of steps to... Continue Reading →
“Currently" engaged in flying By: Donald L Swanson In re Blanchard, Case No. 19-12440, Bankr. E.D. La. (Doc. 137, decided 7/16/2020), is a Subchapter V eligibility opinion. The opinion stands for two propositions: Subchapter V exists to help small businesses reorganize; andNothing in Subchapter V, or in the definition of a small business debtor, requires a... Continue Reading →
By: Donald L Swanson Conventional wisdom says that negotiators prefer multiple settlement alternatives, over a single alternative, because they expect to get better deals when they have more than one. However, such conventional wisdom is wrong, according to a study [Fn. 1] that uses five experiments with simulated negotiations. Multiple Alternatives = Disadvantage in Negotiations The... Continue Reading →
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