Sam Turco

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Since February 5, 2018  debtors filing bankruptcy in Nebraska have been allowed to sign their petitions and other court documents using digital signatures pursuant to  General Order 18-01.  So what have we learned about the use of  digital signatures in bankruptcy since then?

I recently had the pleasure of speaking to an official at the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts who was seeking some feedback on how digital signatures were affecting the bankruptcy practice. (Nebraska is the only bankruptcy court the nation that allows debtors to sign documents digitally.)  Here are some of my observations:

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Beatrice6

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has turned away an appeal of a $28.1 million dollar judgment awarded to 6 plaintiffs (commonly referred to as the Beatrice Six) for damages imposed by a federal jury for a reckless investigation and manufacturing false evidence orchestrated  by the Gage County Sheriff’s department. The plaintiffs spent two decades…

Money is a complicated topic. It is often very obvious what a person must do to improve their financial situation, but getting someone to change their financial habits and attitudes is hard. Good financial advice seems to go in one ear and out the other as clients continue to repeat the same destructive patterns over…

Nebraska becomes the first bankruptcy court in the nation to allow debtors to sign bankruptcy petitions digitally.

An amendment to Nebraska Rule of Bankruptcy Procedulre 9011-1 became effective February 5 allowing attorney to use services like DocuSign and SignEasy to obtain client signatures on official court pleadings.

The immediate reaction? One central Nebraska attorney emailed…

I meet lots of people who desperately need to file bankruptcy, but they lack the money to file. A typical Chapter 7 case costs $1,300, and paying the fee is probably the biggest stumbling block to filing a case.

A company called BK Billing provides an answer: borrow the money.  Under the BK Billing model,…

Bankruptcy courts across the country have embraced the electronic filing of court pleadings since 2001. This system, known as Electronic Case Files or “ECF”, allows attorneys to sign and file documents with an electronic signature instead of using “wet ink” signatures on paper. The system is a great improvement over the older paper file…

Most collection lawsuits result in judgments obtained by default. A Default Judgment is awarded when the defendant fails to file a written response to the lawsuit within the required time period, typically 30 days.  Over 90% of collection lawsuits filed in Nebraska result in a default judgment.

The concept of allowing default judgments seems fair…