Justin B. Taylor

Big Law Firms Accused of Hiding Bankruptcy Judge’s Romance (1)

A lawsuit alleging a former Texas bankruptcy judge improperly shielded a romantic relationship has been expanded to target his girlfriend, as well as law firms Kirkland & Ellis and Jackson Walker.

The amended complaint filed Thursday is part of the ongoing fallout of David R. Jones’ relationship with a former attorney at Jackson Walker, a Texas firm that regularly represented clients in Jones’ courtroom before he resigned in October.

Kirkland & Ellis, a behemoth in the restructuring community, and Jackson Walker filed “numerous misleading and dishonest federal court papers without disclosing the Jones-Freeman relationship,” plaintiff Michael Van Deelen alleged in an amended complaint filed Thursday in US District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Jackson Walker, which employed Freeman until December 2022, often served as local counsel to Kirkland & Ellis in large Chapter 11 cases.

The failure to disclose the relationship amounts to bankruptcy fraud, honest services fraud, mail and wire fraud, and obstruction of justice under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, Van Deelen said in the complaint.

“Debtors received favorable treatment and attorneys got rich in a bankruptcy system akin to shipping lettuce by rabbits,” the amended complaint said.

Van Deelen was a shareholder and

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January 14, 2024 by ATTORNEY

What you need to know

What you need to know

Key takeaways

  • To get student loans discharged, you’ll need to prove that they cause you “undue hardship.”

  • Borrowers can choose between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy, but they must file a separate adversary proceeding for student loans.

  • The new processes established by the Department of Justice in 2022 has made it easier for borrowers to discharge student loans through bankruptcy.

Filing for student loan bankruptcy is never ideal, but sometimes, having debt discharged is the only way forward. This is especially true if you’ve been struggling financially and cannot repay your debts while still maintaining a minimal standard of living.

Many people believe it’s impossible to get student loans discharged in bankruptcy. That’s not the case — though you have to prove paying down the loans is causing you “undue hardship,” historically a complicated process.

The U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Education recently announced that the new guidelines for discharging student loans in bankruptcy have led to an increase in borrowers applying for and qualifying for debt relief.

How to file for student loan bankruptcy

Declaring bankruptcy on student loans is not easy. And it will affect more than just your college debt. Here are

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January 11, 2024 by ATTORNEY

Bankruptcy Attorney Advises Not to Borrow from Your Usual Bank

Bankruptcy Attorney Advises Not to Borrow from Your Usual Bank

A bankruptcy lawyer offers advice about the process of dealing with debts, saying that “one of my rules is I will never borrow money from the bank where I bank at.”

The TikTok video, put up on Dec. 29, comes from Adrienne Hines, a bankruptcy attorney with the Sandusky, Ohio-based Kademenos, Wisehart, Hines, Dolyk & Wright Co. LPA firm. The video went up on Hines’ the Lady Like Lawyer (@theladylikelawyer) account, drawing more than 717,200 views since landing on the platform.

She clarifies her position by saying, “I will never borrow money from an institution that has eyes on my actual deposits and my financial activity. Because if I ever default, and I know nobody ever plans to, but sh*t happens, and if you ever can’t pay that bill, the problem with your banking institution is they know everything about you.”

She goes on to explain that they know your deposit history, your average tax returns, and other information that might work against you. “And so when you have a problem financially,” she points out, “the creditors who come after you the quickest are the ones who know the most about you.”

She also says, “The other issue is setoff.

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January 10, 2024 by ATTORNEY

Bankruptcy Trustee for ‘Santa Barbara News-Press’ Attempts to Claw Back Buildings

Bankruptcy Trustee for ‘Santa Barbara News-Press’ Attempts to Claw Back Buildings

At the time of the bankruptcy filing of the Santa Barbara News-Press, many wondered how the company, owned by billionaire Wendy McCaw, could have only $50,000 in assets. Required to do more than wonder are bankruptcy trustee Jerry Namba of Santa Maria and his attorney, Michael D’Alba of Danning Gill in Los Angeles, who filed a lawsuit against McCaw — through her company Ampersand Publishing LLC dba Santa Barbara News-Press — on December 26 alleging she fraudulently transferred ownership of the flagship building on De la Guerra Plaza and its printing plant in Goleta from her publishing company to herself — through two other limited liability companies she owned. The two properties are worth an estimated $26 million. The liabilities in the bankruptcy are said to be approximately $10 million, including a $3.6 million judgment in favor of McCaw’s employees who had formed a union that their boss never negotiated with in good faith.

A number of those employees are also owed back wages, and it’s the taxes on those wages and the judgment that the Complaint argues provide an avenue to claw back the two buildings.

Wendy McCaw, owner, and Arthur von Weisenberger, co-publisher, of the ‘Santa Barbara
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January 6, 2024 by ATTORNEY

Rudy Giuliani files for bankruptcy following $146 million defamation suit judgment

Former New York City mayor and Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani filed for bankruptcy Thursday, according to a court filing. 

Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy less than a week after a jury ordered him to pay $146 million in damages to Fulton County election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who sued him for defamation. He estimates his liabilities are between about $100 million and $500 million. The damage award was originally set at $148 million, but the federal judge presiding over the case later reduced it to $145,969,000.

“This maneuver is unsurprising, and it will not succeed in discharging Mr. Giuliani’s debt to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss,” Michael Gottleib, a lawyer for the two women, said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ordered Giuliani to compensate the pair of election workers immediately, expressing concern that he may have been dishonest about his finances and that he might not comply with the judgment.

Giuliani had falsely claimed in the wake of the 2020 presidential election that the election workers engaged in a fake ballot processing scheme. His attorney recently signaled that his pockets weren’t deep

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January 3, 2024 by ATTORNEY
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