Getting Priority (and Other Headaches) at the 341(a) Meetings Downtown

Information from one of the chapter 7 trustee administrators:

The OUST informed us that a trustee should not grant or give priority requests to an attorney, unless the requesting attorney has a good reason.  For example, having hearings in multiple rooms, having to go to Roybal for another matter, client with young child(ren), etc.  Reasons such as “I want to finish early” or “I parked at the meter and my time is finishing” should not be given priority.  And yes, some attorneys have actually requested priority for those reasons.

There is a new rule in place where LA trustees need to stop conducting the 341 meetings at 12pm (even if they are not done with the 11am calendar) and resume at 1:30pm.  Based on this, some attorneys have been requesting priority at the 11am hour so they do not get stuck coming back in the afternoon.  The 12pm cutoff time has something to do with labor laws relating to lunch breaks for the security guard.

Also, the OUST has instructed trustees to use the interpreter service, even if someone from the audience volunteers to interpret.  If the debtor hires and pays an interpreter to attend the 341 with him/her, then that is acceptable. But no “volunteers”.

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