Income, Expenses and Related Issues under
BAPCPA
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A Roundtable Discussion Featuring
Debtor’s Counsel, the U.S. Trustee, Chapter 13 Trustee and the
Bench
October 22, 2007
ABI’s Deputy Executive Director
Felicia S. Turner moderated a 90-minute roundtable discussion among
a judge, a chapter 13 trustee, a U.S. Trustee representative and a
debtor attorney regarding issues related to §§707(b) and 1325
of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005
(BAPCPA). The panelists discussed specific issues, arguments and
rulings related to income and expense calculations under the means test,
special circumstances to rebut the means test, dismissal and plan
payments when the means test is not applicable or rebutted, and related
issues unique to chapter 13s, such as the meaning of projected
disposable income and whether the applicable commitment period for a
plan is a temporal requirement or based on a multiplier.
Moderator
Felicia S.
Turner became the deputy executive director of the American
Bankruptcy Institute in September 2007. Immediately prior to that,
she was the U.S. Trustee for Regions 20 and 21, managing 12 offices
covering 13 federal judicial districts and four federal circuits in
Georgia, Florida, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Oklahoma,
Kansas and New Mexico. She oversaw the coordination of the U.S. Trustee
offices’ participation in bankruptcy cases under all chapters to
preserve the integrity of the judicial system, including the
development and implementation of policy and ensuring regional and
national consistency in and appropriateness of the federal
government’s legal positions. Prior to her appointment in
2003 as the U.S. Trustee for Region 21, Ms. Turner was a partner in the
Atlanta-based law firm of Troutman Sanders, LLP, where she was a member
of the bankruptcy practice group and the litigation section, mainly
representing creditors and debtors in chapter 11 cases. Before
joining Troutman Sanders in 1999, she practiced with Sullivan,
Mountjoy, Stainback & Miller, PSC, in Owensboro, Ky., where her
work ranged from representing debtors and creditors in consumer cases
to serving as debtor-in-possession counsel for Big Rivers Electric
Corporation. Ms. Turner is a frequent panelist and speaker at ABI
and bar meetings all over the country and served on the ABI’s
Caribbean Insolvency Symposium Advisory Board. During 2005 she
served on the U.S. Trustee Program’s committee for implementation
of the provisions of BAPCPA. Until taking her new
position, she also served on the National Conference of Bankruptcy
Judges’ liaison committee with the U.S. Trustee Program. Ms.
Turner received her law degree from Duke University School of Law in
Durham, N.C., in 1994 and her undergraduate degree in mathematics magna cum laude from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana
in 1991.
Speakers
Hon. Mary
Grace Diehl was appointed to the Bankruptcy Court for the
Northern District of Georgia in February 2004. Previously, she
was a partner in the Litigation Section of Troutman Sanders LLP, where
she chaired the Bankruptcy Practice Group. She received her
undergraduate degree in history summa cum laude from Canisius
College in Buffalo, N.Y., and her law degree cum laude from
Harvard Law School. Ms. Diehl has chaired the Bankruptcy
Sections of both the Atlanta Bar Association and the State Bar of
Georgia. She is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy,
was president of the Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute and chaired
the Women in the Profession Committee of the Atlanta Bar
Association.
Melissa R. Burgess is one
of three Civil Enforcement Unit trial attorneys in the Executive Office
for U.S. Trustees (EOUST) in Washington, D.C. She advises and
consults with the 95 field offices of the U.S. Trustee Program on
issues related to §§707(b) of BAPCPA. Ms. Burgess
joined the EOUST in November 2005 after five years in the Los Angeles,
Houston and Washington, D.C., offices of Dewey Ballantine LLP, where
she primarily represented secured creditors and equity security-holders
in complex chapter 11 cases.
Richard H. Thomson received his law degree from the University of Georgia in 1984 and is
the managing partner of Clark & Washington, P.C., a multi-state law
firm specializing in representing debtors in consumer bankruptcy cases.
Mr. Thomson is the president of the Metro Atlanta Consumer Bankruptcy
Attorney Group (MACBAG), an associate member of the NACTT, and a member
of NACBA and ABI.
Mary Ida Townson has been
a standing chapter 13 trustee in Atlanta since May 2003. Her caseload
is divided between the Atlanta and Rome Divisions. Prior to her
appointment, Ms. Townson represented both debtors and creditors in
consumer cases for several years. In addition, Ms. Townson was a
chapter 7 panel trustee from 1998-2000. Ms. Townson is a member of and
past chair of the Bankruptcy Section of the State Bar of Georgia and is
a member of the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees and ABI.
She is admitted to practice in Georgia and New York. Ms. Townson
graduated from Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., in 1987 and received
her J.D. from the University of Georgia in Athens in 1990.
Materials
Materials for this conference included
an outline written by the ABI’s current resident scholar, as well as
other relevant articles and information.
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