2016, 2016 Central States Bankruptcy Workshop

Recent changes to the Federal Rules of Evidence and their impact on bankruptcy proceedings, from 2004 examinations to contested matters to adversary proceedings, will be the subject of this discussion, along with the treatment of electronically stored evidence.

This panel will be involved in an advanced discussion of the problems and opportunities that can arise in an individual chapter 11 case. The panel will discuss issues involving post-petition earnings, including voluntary assignments of future wages, and the effect of conversion to a chapter 7 proceeding; the “disposable income test”; §§ 1129(a)(15), 1129(b)(2)(B)(ii) and 1115(b); and the “absolute priority rule,” among other topics.

Our panel was there at the beginning with the National Bankruptcy Review Commission (Brady Williamson Chair) through the drafting of the law, its passage and, of course, the implementation of the final product in 2005. The panel will discuss the history of the process, what might have been intended by the proponents, and what unintended consequences were created in the process. We expect a lively discussion of this seminal law and the implications for future reform.