Successful Voluntary Dismissal of a Chapter 7 Asset Case

Shout out to my Associate Attorney Maryam Behrouzi!  Maryam  prepared a Motion to Voluntarily Dismiss Chapter 7 Bankruptcy that was opposed by the Chapter 7 Trustee Elissa Miller and the law firm SulmeyerKupetz,  both of which stood to make tens of thousands of dollars in additional administrative fees if the case was not dismissed. Debtor’s secured creditor Hanmi Bank also opposed our motion.  Maryam lined up crucial support from creditor Chevron, and worked with an investor to arrange additional financing for the debtor to enable him to pay his legitimate creditors and exit bankruptcy before he lost his livelihood and his life savings.  Our client, Fawaz Elmasri, is the owner of a gas station which the Trustee and her professionals closed and wanted to sell for the benefit of his creditors and for the benefit of themselves. This Chapter 7, Case No. 2:14-bk-30906-BR was filed by debtor’s prior counsel Kenneth W Szalonek without thinking things through. I represented our client at a dramatic, hotly contested hearing on our Motion to Dismiss on February 3 and won.  Maryam appeared at a follow up hearing on Friday, February 6 at which the Trustee and her counsel again unsuccessfully tried to block dismissal due to our not agreeing to her administrative fee demands.  Maryam and I saved our client.  We got his case dismissed. Tomorrow he will take back ownership of his gas station and his employees will get their jobs back. Thank you to United States Bankruptcy Court Judge Barry Russell, the longest serving Bankruptcy Court Judge in the country, for coming to this fair result.