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| vol 19, num 1 | March 2021 |
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| A Note from Your Young and New Members Co-Chairs: A Look Back on 2020 |
| Although COVID-19 forced many in our legal community to adapt to working remotely, the Young and New Members Committee remained incredibly productive this year. Below are some highlights — both past and future — since our update earlier this year.
Quarterly Newsletters
In 2020, the committee published newsletters in March, June and September featuring eight articles, including an article (June 2020) on practical tips for video depositions and court hearings from Bodie B. Colwell, our co-Newsletter Editor. In addition, John T. Baxter, our other co-Newsletter Editor, wrote an article (June 2020) on the treatment of leases and lease litigation in the time of COVID-19. Bodie and John have also put together a four-article newsletter consisting of articles on gym bankruptcies during the COVID-19 pandemic (co-authored by Joe Esmont, our Communications Manager), the future of bankruptcy proceedings in Turkey post-COVID, a primer on car loans in consumer cases, and the use of debtor-in-possession financing to win new business. The newsletter is expected to be published soon, so stay tuned! If you have any interest in writing for the newsletter,
please reach out to Bodie or John. Past committee newsletters can be accessed here by clicking the blue "Newsletters" tab.
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| Affirmative Misrepresentations and Failures to Disclose Are Different Animals |
| On April 10, 2020, a panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously held in Lawson-Ross v. Great Lakes Higher Ed. Corp. that the Higher Education Act’s (HEA) disclosure requirements do not preempt misrepresentation claims furnished by applicable state law. Ultimately, the court’s holding rests on a common-sense conclusion: An affirmative misrepresentation is not the same thing as a failure to disclose.
Background and Procedural History
In Lawson-Ross, the plaintiffs, student loan borrowers, alleged that their student loan servicer, Great Lakes, made affirmative misrepresentations — as opposed to allegations of failures to disclose. Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that Great Lakes representatives “told them they were eligible for forgiveness of their loans through the [Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program], and only later did they discover they were not eligible — after they had already made payments that could not then be counted toward the PSLF Program.”
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| What Constitutes a Debtor Engaged in Commercial or Business Activities? |
| By enacting the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA), Congress sought to provide small businesses the opportunity to avail themselves of the benefits of chapter 11 reorganization under the Bankruptcy Code. As the heart of the SBRA, subchapter V aims to lower the high costs and complexities associated with chapter 11 reorganization and to streamline the confirmation process to enable small businesses to effectively reorganize under the Bankruptcy Code. A mere six months after the introduction of subchapter V, small businesses that filed under subchapter V accounted for approximately 18% of chapter 11 filings. |
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| Register Today for ASM! |
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| ABI is pleased to announce the return of the Annual Spring Meeting April 12-22 — this year in a cutting-edge virtual format. Employing the same innovative platform that made last fall’s Insolvency 2020 event such an astounding success, this conference — always one of the most significant annual gatherings of bankruptcy and insolvency professionals in the country
— will introduce a number of new and improved online networking features.
This year, the Young and New Member Committee will be partnering with the Commercial Fraud Committee to host a panel titled "Fraud Litigation Against Directors and Officers in Bankruptcy."
Speakers for this panel include:
- Leo Oppenheimer (Moderator), Reid Collins & Tsai LLP; Dallas
- Alicia M. Bendana, Lugenbuhl, Wheaton, Peck, Rankin & Hubbard; New Orleans
- Shane G. Ramsey, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP; Nashville, Tenn.
- Vincent E. Lazar, Jenner & Block; Chicago
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| Committee Hosts ABI's Wednesday Night Happy Hour |
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| On March 3, 2021, the Young & New Members Committee hosted ABI’s weekly virtual happy hour; the theme was “Millennials: The Future of the Insolvency Profession.” According to the Pew Research Center, “elder” Millennials begin turning 40 in 2021 as the youngest turn 25. As a result, Millennials now comprise the largest portion of the working population. With that fact in mind, Committee Co-Chairs Brendan Gage (Paul Hastings, LLP; Chicago) and Tara Schellhorn (Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti LLP; Morristown, N.J.) examined what it means to be a Millennial and highlighted the accomplishments of
the Young & New Members Committee over the last year. The happy hour also featured “choose your own adventure”-style breakout rooms to discuss topics ranging from the subchapter V debt limits to favorite podcasts. Special thanks go to the committee’s Special Projects Leader, Jack O’Connor (Sugar Felsenthal Grais & Helsinger LLP; Chicago), for his efforts in planning the happy hour. The committee hopes to host another virtual happy hour later this year. |
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