Bradley’s Bankruptcy Basics: Chapter 13 bankruptcy – consumer bankruptcy with a payment plan

Alex Dugan | Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Alex Dugan regularly represents financial services and mortgage company clients with compliance matters, including risk management and remediation, state investigations, regulatory compliance, and operational implementation of legal guidelines. Alex’s practice focuses on the bankruptcy compliance and regulatory concerns that her clients face. She is also a member of the firm’s Auto Finance and Payment Systems industry teams. With this experience and perspective, Alex provides daily guidance to clients on bankruptcy-related regulatory and compliance matters, supervises large-scale remediation projects, designs and presents bankruptcy training programs, implements changes to business practices that are required as a result of new statutes and regulations, and works through operational matters that arise daily in a client’s bankruptcy department. She works directly with her clients’ internal legal department and business leaders to identify the most efficient and effective measures to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local requirements and mitigate risk. Alex also routinely responds to inquiries from government entities, including the Department of Justice (DOJ), on behalf of her clients.

In addition to her compliance work, Alex represents mortgage companies in litigation matters across the country—including advising clients and local counsel concerning best practices. Alex’s practice also includes representation of debtors and secured creditors in Chapter 11 cases, out-of-court workouts, reorganizations, restructurings and liquidations. Her practice spans a wide range of industries, including bank and non-bank lenders, investors in distressed assets, legal, automotive and commercial real estate.

Elizabeth Brusa | Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Elizabeth Brusa focuses on financial services litigation, bankruptcy compliance and litigation, judgment and arbitration award enforcement, and small dollar and unsecured lending. Elizabeth represents lenders, mortgage servicers, and other financial services businesses in state and federal court litigation, including defending against allegations of violations of various consumer protection statutes, wrongful foreclosures, and debt collection statutes. She further assists financial services clients in prosecuting actions for breach of loan and financing agreements, foreclosure on real and personal property, enforcement of guaranties, and replevin.

Elizabeth also represents financial services clients in various bankruptcy matters, including drafting proofs of claim, attending section 341 meetings, and litigating issues related to use of cash collateral, adequate protection, lifting the automatic stay, section 363 sales, and plan confirmation. Additionally, she represents creditors in defending against allegations of stay, plan, and discharge violations in bankruptcy and state courts. Beyond representations in court, clients often seek her advice regarding bankruptcy compliance. Elizabeth educates financial services clients about the nuanced requirements of working with customers who file for bankruptcy. Additionally, she assists clients with revising their form correspondence, agreements, and other documents, as well as updating their policies and procedures, to ensure compliance with applicable bankruptcy laws.

Prior to joining Bradley, Elizabeth was a trial attorney for the United States Department of Justice’s U.S. Trustee Program, where she prosecuted bankruptcy fraud and abuse in civil cases. Using skills she honed in that practice, Elizabeth vigorously pursues enforcement of judgments and arbitration awards by identifying and tracing assets to secure recoveries for clients. When necessary, she also prosecutes fraudulent transfer actions and veil piercing actions to obtain recoveries. Elizabeth is a Certified Information Privacy Professional for the U.S. Private-Sector (CIPP/US).

I. Bankruptcy overview | 2:00 pm – 2:25 pm
II. Claims process | 2:25 pm – 2:50 pm
III. Plan and confirmation process | 2:50 pm – 3:20 pm

Break | 3:20 pm – 3:30 pm

IV. Contested matters and adversary proceedings | 3:30 pm – 3:55 pm
V. Potential pitfalls and Q&A | 3:55 pm – 4:10 pm