Co-Chairs Chris Hawkins and Michelle Bass thank all committee members for their support and participation this year. Despite the continuing challenges presented by COVID-19, we were able to maintain momentum in 2021 after a very productive 2020.
The committee’s most high-profile achievement was its coordination with Karim Guirguis (ABI Chief Operating Officer), Michelle Burnett (ABI Meeting Planner) and other ABI staff to present the 2021 Consumer Practice Extravaganza Nov. 3-12. Committee leadership first provided recommendations for membership on the Planning Committee, then supplied the muscle, with Karlene Archer (Newsletter Editor), John Bollinger (Education Director), Jeffrey Fraser(Communications Manager), and Heather Giannino and Keith Larson (Special Projects Leaders) all serving on the Planning Committee. Chris Hawkins, Michelle Bass, Karlene Archer and Jeffrey Fraseralso spoke on panels during this two-week event. By all accounts, CPEX21 was a smashing success, and the committee is proud to have played an active role in its planning and presentation.
Keith Larson and Heather Giannino are our Special Project Leaders. In addition to their active involvement with CPEX21, they collaborated with Karlene Archer to present a committee webinar on Sept. 28, “Degrees of Freedom: Proposals for Student Loan Dischargeability.” Karlene, Ray Hendren and Ed Boltz served as panelists, and nearly 100 attended. Plans are in the works for at least one more webinar in the first quarter of 2022.
Karlene Archer serves as our Newsletter Editor. Newsletters were published in February, May, October and, with this issue, December. Topics included “Turnover of Repossessed Property After Fulton: Some Practical Considerations,” “Second Circuit Further Opens the Door to Dischargeability for Private Student Loan Borrowers as Call for Student Loan Reform Heats Up,” “None of Your Beeswax: Violations of the Automatic Stay, Voidness and Standing,” “Mazzara v. Provencher Illustrates Dischargeability in the Era of Social Media,” “The Second Circuit’s Brunner Affirmation: Not a Death Knell for Dischargeability” and “Addressing Judgment Liens Post-Bankruptcy: Three Takeaways for Debtor’s Counsel.”
John Bollinger serves as our Education Director and organized our Winter Leadership Conference panel for this year, “Riding the Wave: Visiting and Re-Visiting the Automatic Stay, Discharge Injunction, and Sanctions in the Wake of the Supreme Court’s rulings in Fulton v. City of Chicago and Taggart v. Lorenzen.” Chris Hawkins moderated the panel, which included Prof. John Pottow from the University of Michigan; Keith Rucinski, a Chapter 13 Trustee in Akron, Ohio; and Karlene Archer. John now is lining up topics and speakers for the committee’s panel with the Legislation Committee at the Annual Spring Meeting in April 2022.
Jeff Fraser serves as our Communications Manager and is very active on the listserv, having stimulated lively discussions with his steady stream of posts highlighting recent developments in consumer bankruptcy law. Just since April, he has posted nine in-depth case summaries to the listserv, which discussed the effect of a chapter 7 discharge on claims in a future chapter 13 case; whether appreciation in the value of assets belongs to the debtor in chapter 13; whether missed mortgage payments can result in denial of a chapter 13 discharge; whether a bad faith debtor can dismiss a chapter 13 when a motion to convert to chapter 7 is pending; whether debtors have standing under the FCRA without concrete harm; whether bifurcated fee arrangements are permissible in chapter 7; key developments related to stay violations under § 362(k); and the interplay of the FDCPA and the Bankruptcy Code.
Hannah Hutman serves as our Membership Relations Director, and she has been instrumental in facilitating continued increases in committee membership this year. Hannah organized the committee’s sponsorship of an ABI Zoom Happy Hour on Oct. 20, which provided fun networking opportunities while also promoting CPEX21. Hannah also planned an informal gathering for committee members at the Winter Leadership Conference.