Central District Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney's Association

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Attached is a document received from the EOUST's office concerning best
practices in document production for trustees in consumer cases. This
project grew out of NACBA's Liaison Committee with the EOUST's office
and the two national consumer trustee associations NACTT and NABT. The
process began as a document containing best practices for document
production between NACBA, NACTT, and NABT with the cooperation of the
EOUST's office. The goal was to identify practices of some trustees
that they felt were over reaching, broad and that didn't significantly
affect the distributions to creditors.
Apparently, after they reached a consensus on a set of practices, the
EOUST's office decided to rewrite it. The document attached is the
EOUST's final draft which this week they submitted to the regional UST's
to distribute to panel and standing trustees. My understanding is that
this draft was not approved by the NACBA board (because it was watered
down) but contains a substantial portion of the original document agreed
upon. It is more than we have right now and a step in the right
direction.
The document has several parts that I believe will be helpful for
counsel representing debtors. It states that uniform blanket requests
for information from all debtors is excessive. The request for
documents and information must be tailored to each case's needs.
Trustees are encouraged to weigh the cost of objecting to de minimus
errors that don't harm the ultimate distribution to creditors.
Trustee's asking for additional documents such as six months of bank and
credit card statements need to be able to provide counsel with a
reasonable explanation for their "hunch" or "feeling" that the
information is needed in that case (This is of particular concern as we
have seen an increase in these fishing expeditions lately). Finally,
the document recommends that trustees within a district create uniform
methods of document delivery and suggests email etc.
While this document isn't all that the NACBA Board or the Liaison
Committee hoped for, they wanted much stronger language, it does address
some of the abusive practices of some trustees.
M. Erik Clark

100 N. Barranca Avenue, Suite 250
West Covina, CA 91791
www.blclaw.com
Office: (626) 332-8600
Fax: (626) 332-8644
Board Certified in Consumer Bankruptcy
American Board of Certification

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