Upcoming Public Events for Unjust Debts

More upcoming events open to the public - in person and virtual - for the new book Unjust Debts, including tonight in Washington DC. Join the conversation!

• Monday July 8, 7pm ET: Politics & Prose, with Vicki Shabo, Senior Fellow at New America
• Wednesday, July 17, 3pm ET VIRTUAL: Roosevelt Institute, with think tank director Hannah Kroch-Blegley
• Thursday, July 18, 5:30 PM: Fletcher Free Library, Burlington VT, with Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak
• Sunday, July 21, 10:30 AM: Temple Beth Shalom, Brigantine NJ (contact me for registration information). 
• Friday August 16, 12pm PT/3pm ET VIRTUAL: Berkeley Judicial Institute/Berkeley Civil Justice Research Initiative, with Professor Abbye Atkinson

 

Unjust Debts on the Road

First, thanks to Bob Lawless for his post about my new book. It has been great to engage with people about Unjust Debts so far, and especially appreciated the book making a new Financial Times best books list (links to that and other coverage here). Wanted to note a few upcoming book events for Credit Slips readers:

• June 27 (TONIGHT): Greenlight Bookstore, Brooklyn NY, in conversation with Zephyr Teachout. Information and RSVP here. 
• July 1 (VIRTUAL): Commonwealth Club World Affairs, in conversation with Senator Elizabeth Warren. Information and registration here. 
• July 8: Politics & Prose, Washington DC, in conversation with Vicki Shabo. Information here. 

The Consumer Debt Default Judgments Act

Consumer debt has been a difficult topic for uniform state law movements, but here's one more attempt recently approved by the Uniform Law Commission and the American Bar Association, and introduced in Colorado last week.  You can access the materials here. Meanwhile, here is ULC's summary:

Numerous studies report that default judgments are entered in more than half of all debt collection actions. The purpose of this Act is to provide consumer debtors and courts with the information necessary to evaluate debt collection actions. The Act provides consumer debtors with access to information needed to understand claims being asserted against them and identify available defenses; advises consumers of the adverse effects of failing to raise defenses or seek the voluntary settlement of claims; and makes consumers aware of assistance that may be available from legal aid organizations. The Act also seeks to provide a uniform framework in which courts can fairly, efficiently, and promptly evaluate the merits of requests for default judgments while balancing the interests of all parties and the courts.

Would welcome Credit Slips posters and readers chiming in on this act in the comments, especially if you were involved in the drafting process and/or if will be weighing in on this act with their state legislatures.

And for previous recent coverage of other uniform acts being urged on state legislatures, see here and here.

A Uniform Law Project of Note: Special Deposits Act

Last week, bolstered by a continuing legal education program offered by the American Law Institute, I started studying a new uniform law that will be recommended to your state legislature in the coming days and months. It is called the Special Deposits Act. As of today it has not yet been enacted by a state legislature. But trust me when I predict that you want to study it too - especially because the choice of law rules will work differently for this uniform law than for, say, the digital assets amendments to the Uniform Commercial Code. In other words, if one of the green states in the map below adopts the law, parties can contract for that state to govern the special deposit as well as to be the forum for disputes, even if there's no other relationship with that state.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A special deposit is payable on the occurrence of a contingency and the identity of the party entitled to the funds is uncertain until the contingency happens. Right now, the law governing special deposits is nonuniform and the details can be uncertain, including the rights of creditors against those funds. One big impact of this uniform Special Deposits Act is this: in broadest terms, if a bank and depositor agree that a deposit account is a special deposit, and it meets the requirements for permissible purpose under the law, this law says that the funds in that account are not property of the depositor, including if the depositor files for bankruptcy, and cannot be reached by the depositors' creditors. (Fraudulent transfer law still applies and the drafters say there are other anti-fraud measures in place). The bankruptcy world may be interested in this law for an additional reason: possible use of special deposits in a bankruptcy case to pay professionals, or for large numbers of claimants, etc.

I also find this law interesting because of its implications for loans secured by deposit accounts under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code. Even if a bank has a security interest in all deposit accounts of a debtor held by a bank, and is automatically perfected by control, the bank's enforcement rights are far more limited against the special deposit than against a typical bank account. In general, the bank cannot exercise rights of setoff or recoupment against a special deposit.

Again, as of today no state has enacted the Special Deposits Act. But given how the law is drafted, it will take just one state to adopt it, and for lawyers to encourage banks and depositors to opt in to that state's law, to have a much broader effect. Check out the materials here.

Catching Up on the Digital Asset Amendments to the Uniform Commercial Code

It has been a while since I last posted resources on amendments to the Uniform Commercial Code that would govern transactions in digital assets, including security interests. The take-up of these amendments, including a new Article 12, has not been as swift and sweeping as some might have hoped. To put it mildly, some in the cryptocurrency world have lobbied hard against enactment based on what seems to be a misinterpretation (to help set things straight, I recommend reading and listening to professors Juliet Moringiello and Carla Reyes). Currently, 11 states have enacted the amendments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thorny choice of law issues flowing from non-uniform enactment inevitably will land in bankruptcy courthouses, as so many legal quandaries do. For example, choice of law will affect whether or not a lender has a perfected security interest in the debtor's interest in cryptocurrency, an issue that can arise in a wide variety of bankruptcies. Here is a collection of Uniform Law Commission resources in case you need them.

Rapoport on Judicial and Legal Ethics

Just wanted to make sure Credit Slips readers are aware of Professor Nancy Rapoport's new paper forthcoming in the Emory Bankruptcy Developments Jounrnal, accessible here. The abstract:

In late 2023, news stories picked up stories about a lawsuit alleging that Bankruptcy Judge David Jones of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas had been hearing cases in which his live-in romantic partner was appearing as counsel. The Fifth Circuit began disciplinary proceedings, and Judge Jones resigned from the bench. The scandal has affected more than just these two people: it implicates law firms, and potentially implicates other lawyers or judges who might have known more than they were saying. This article explores who had a duty to disclose this particular “connection,” and under what authority.

Again, paper available here:

Judges as Mediators

With rising interest in the topic of judges as mediators, I am recirculatating the article published last year on this topic. The article reviews prominent accountability measures for judges and how these systems may not operate effectively when judges serve as mediators, especially when lawyers and parties have strong disincentives to object as needed. Given the objective of maintaining the legitimacy of the court system to the public, the appearance of impropriety is a major basis of concern throughout judicial ethics, whether or not there is evidence of actual inpropriety. Again, here is the article.