In North Carolina, when you attend your creditors’ meeting you will see a number of different types of “court” officials. The creditors’ meeting isn’t really a court hearing but it is somewhat similar to court. The main types of representatives at the creditors meeting are the Debtor and Debtor’s attorney, any potential creditors, the Trustee and the Bankruptcy Administrator or someone from the Bankruptcy Administrator’s office.
The Debtor is the person who owes money, the creditors are the people who money is owed to and the role of the Trustee has already been discussed. According to the Federal Courts, the Bankruptcy Administrator or their designated representatives’ job in North Carolina is to, “oversee the administration of bankruptcy cases, maintain a panel of private trustees, and monitor the transactions and conduct of parties in bankruptcy.”
In other words, the role of the Bankruptcy Administrator is to ensure creditors’ meetings run smoothly and any potential conflict between the Trustee (representing the creditors) and the Debtor and the Debtor’s attorney is kept to a minimum. This usually isn’t a problem since the creditors’ meetings tend to be non-adversarial meetings.
Also, the Bankruptcy Administrator has the ability to ask questions at the creditors’ meeting. Generally speaking, the Bankruptcy Administrator’s office will ask questions if your case is being converted from one type of bankruptcy to another or if they believe the Debtor(s) do not fall below the Means Test.
The Bottom Line: The Bankruptcy Administrator’s office handles administrative matters throughout the bankruptcy process.
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A lot of people are concerned with who will find out about their bankruptcy if they choose to file bankruptcy. That is a legitimate and understandable concern. Once a bankruptcy petition has been filed with the court it becomes public record. If a person is determined enough, the information can be obtained. However, to find out if someone has filed for bankruptcy the person would need to sign up for an account on PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) and could be required to pay money to view the necessary information. For the most part, the only people that will be notified of the bankruptcy are the people that you are in debt with and/or owe money too.
Understandably, the main concern for people is family and friends finding out about their bankruptcy. The only way that they will be notified of your bankruptcy is if you owe money to them. They will have to be notified under federal law as creditor. Also, if you are paying child support and/or alimony the recipient will have to be notified of your bankruptcy. The reason for this is if you were to fall behind on a payment with child support and/or alimony then that could affect the outcome of your bankruptcy.
Another concern that clients have is if their employer will be notified. They payroll department of your employer will likely be notified in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy because at least a portion of your monthly payment will be deducted from your paycheck. In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy there is no reason the employer would find out about the bankruptcy unless they pulled your credit report.
Again, it is rare that people would be able to find out if you have filed bankruptcy. Unless you choose to tell people about your bankruptcy, most people will never find out.
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When a baby is injured at birth those injuries can often times lead to a life long injuries. A birth injury occurs when a newborn is injured during the labor process. There are several types of birth injuries, some minor and easily remedied and some more serious. Many birth injuries can be prevented by proper medical care and adhering to the appropriate medical standards. There are many birth injuries, most of them minor, which can occur without any malpractice from the attending doctor. Others are more serious and are caused by negligence or fault of the doctor, for these reasons it is important to consult an attorney on the specific facts of your case.
Many birth injuries affect the head and shoulders of the baby, since these are the parts of the baby’s body most affected during labor and the actual birth. One minor birth injury is bruising on the baby’s head that can occur naturally from either the birth canal or the mother’s pelvic bones. It is also common for a baby to have bruising if forceps or a vacuum are used to extract the baby during delivery. These are tools commonly used during a delivery and rarely cause serious injury. In rare situations, the forceps may actually fracture the skull of the infant and surgery may be needed to correct the injury. Another common birth injury caused by a vacuum extraction is caput succedaneum, or a severe swelling of the child’s scalp; this usually disappears in a few days. Another typical head injury is cephalohematoma, or a bleeding between the bone and it’s fibrous covering. This will typically heal within a few weeks to a couple of months.
Sometimes during childbirth, the baby’s shoulder can become impaired and cause nerve damage in the area that controls the movement of the arms and hands. This is known as Erb’s Palsy, an injury to the brachial plexus nerves in the neck and shoulder. Normally, the injury will heal within a few months but occasionally there will be permanent damage and surgery will be needed. The severe cases of brachial plexus nerve injury are most often reviewed as possible medical malpractice by the obstetrician or midwife, since the potential for injury should often be identified during the labor process.
Some more serious birth injuries include brain damage from a lack of oxygen that can be caused by an umbilical cord or blood loss. This type of injury can cause cerebral palsy, seizure disorders or mental impairment. These injuries can often be avoided with proper monitoring during the labor process.
Birth injuries are more common in larger babies (over 9 pounds) and in premature babies. A long or difficult childbirth also correlates with more birth injuries. If a woman has had a difficult birth in the past, it is important to alert the doctor of this history as soon as the mother becomes pregnant. In these cases, the mother and child should be closely monitored throughout the pregnancy. Often the doctor may recommend a Cesarean section rather than a vaginal birth to avoid possible injury in difficult pregnancies. A doctor not taking appropriate action either in anticipation of the likelihood of a difficult birth or after birth injuries have been detected is when medical malpractice becomes an issue.
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Cerebral palsy is an injury to the brain either by natural causes or by the mistake of a physician.
Cerebral palsy usually develops during the fetal development of a child, during the birth of a child, or shortly after the birth of a child. The injury is usually caused by lack of oxygen to the brain, or some type of trauma to the brain of the child. Cerebral palsy is a permanent condition that does not improve; however, with advanced treatment and therapy, many children may live productive lives.
Sadly, some children that develop cerebral palsy must receive 24-hour care for the rest of their lives and may not live to a “normal age” due to other medical problems as a result of the cerebral palsy.
Many times the brain injury of the child is caused by the medical negligence of a physician before, during, or immediately after the birthing process of the child. If you believe your child’s physician committed medical malpractice in the care and birth of your child, and this caused the cerebral palsy birth injury, you should contact an attorney who deals with medical malpractice and birth injuries to further explore your options.
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Unfortunately, there are times when a trusted doctor makes a mistake that causes serious or irreversible harm to a patient. If you or a loved one have been injured by a doctor or medical facility, you may be considering hiring a lawyer to file a lawsuit against your doctor so that others will not suffer similar injuries and so that you can be compensated for your injury. However, it is important to keep in mind the legal deadlines that limit when you are able to file a lawsuit against a doctor.
The legal deadlines are called the “Statute of Limitations,” which are generally certain time frames within which a lawsuit can be filed against a doctor after an injury has occurred. The Statute of Limitations for injuries caused by doctors varies from state to state. In North Carolina, the Statute of Limitations for a medical malpractice lawsuit is three years from either: 1) the date the injury or wrongdoing occurred, or 2) the date the injury was or should have been discovered, but not more than four years from the date the injury or wrongdoing occurred.
If you have been injured by what you consider to be a doctor’s mistake or negligence, you do not want to wait until the last minute to contact an attorney. A medical malpractice attorney in North Carolina usually needs at least 6 to 8 weeks to review your medical records to determine whether or not you have a potential claim against your doctor. Using a hypothetical situation, pretend you suffered an injury due to a doctor’s negligence from a surgery that occurred on January 1, 2005, and that you discovered the injury on the same day as the surgery. Now pretend that you do not contact a lawyer until December 31, 2007.
You are only one day away from the end of the three-year Statute of Limitations. It is highly likely that you are going to have a difficult time finding a lawyer to represent you because the lawyer will have only one day to decide whether or not you have a good case and to actually file the lawsuit.
Now let’s pretend that instead of contacting a lawyer on December 31, 2007, you contact a lawyer on January 2, 2008. This would be one day after the three year Statute of Limitations, and even if you had a multi-million dollar lawsuit, you would have no opportunity to pursue the lawsuit because the legal timeframe has passed.
The bottom line is that it is vital to your case to remember exact dates regarding the injury you suffered, and to contact a lawyer as soon as you realize you have been injured, so that you are not barred from filing a lawsuit simply because you let too much time lapse.
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The timeline for resolving a medical malpractice case against a doctor will vary from a year to several years with the average case taking approximately two years. Why the variation? Each case is unique. There are several factors that impact the timeline in a case.
Were there several doctors or healthcare providers involved in the care? In other words, are there multiple healthcare providers that could be at fault in the medical malpractice case. It is rare that a case is clear-cut against a doctor. Usually there are multiple doctors, a hospital or nursing home, physical therapy, occupational therapy, home health and other providers of care involved in a case. As a result, the case must be thoroughly reviewed to determine who is believed to be at fault for the adverse result. Often, it is more than one healthcare provider.
What experts do you need in a case? In North Carolina, you are required to obtain expert witnesses that are willing to testify to the doctor’s negligence or malpractice prior to a lawsuit being filed with the Court. First, you must find a doctor within the same subspecialty. In other words, if you believe an orthopedist committed malpractice, you must find another orthopedist to testify against the doctor. In addition, the expert physician must be willing to testify that the doctor accused of medical malpractice deviated from the standard of care. This is the medical and legal professions way of saying the doctor accused of malpractice acted in a way that was different from the way other physicians within the same subspecialty would have acted. If there are several doctors or healthcare providers involved in the medical malpractice case, you must find experts in each field of practice.
Am I re questions must I answer and how much information am I required to provide? Filing the lawsuit does not usually take that long. However, the process of interrogatories or questions and production of documents can take some time. In other words, you and your attorney must respond to questions and a list of information requested by the defense attorney. In addition, you and your attorney will submit interrogatories and production of documents to the defense. The process of submitting and reviewing these documents may take some time. And often, the responses lead to additional questions and requests for documents.
How long does it take for questioning and information before the trial? Prior to the trial, the defense attorney will usually question or depose you about the case. They will usually depose any family or friends that were with you at the time along with the experts you have hired in your case. In addition, your attorney will depose the doctor accused of malpractice, the experts the doctor has hired and others involved in your case. This process is time consuming since you must coordinate with multiple parties which often requires travel to other areas of the state or country.
How long will the trial take? If your case goes to trial, you must first seat a jury. This often takes two or three days. The trial itself is usually one and one half to four weeks depending on the complexity of the case. Obviously it can take longer if there are multiple defendants or there is an extraordinary amount of testimony required in the case. The jury will often deliberate for a few days in the case.
As a result of these factors, you can understand why it takes so long to sue a doctor and get to trial in a medical malpractice case.
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There isn’t really a straight answer to that question. Generally speaking, yes, payday loans can be wiped out by filing bankruptcy.
A payday loan will be viewed very similarly to credit card debt. Therefore, it can be wiped out through a Chapter 7 bankruptcy or mostly wiped out in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The key thing to look at is when the payday loan was received.
Like credit card debt, or any other debt, if you received the loan within the last 90 days there will be a presumption of abuse, or fraud, by the courts. If a debt is incurred and viewed as fraudulent then the debtor is required to pay back that debt in full. Therefore, it is important to wait at least 90 days before filing a bankruptcy after receiving a payday loan. You may need to wait even longer depending upon the amount of the payday loan.
A common tactic that payday loan companies will use is to have the person seeking the loan write a post-dated check for a certain amount. They do this so that if a person doesn’t pay the loan back they can attempt to cash the check and there will be non-sufficient funds available. The payday loan company can then try to argue that you wrote them a bad check and they could attempt to press criminal charges against you. However, it is rare they will actually attempt to do that. One of the major reasons is because a check is only considered “bad” if the person writing the check gives the impression suitable funds are in the bank to cover the check. The fact that you are post dating a check and doing so to a payday loan company makes it pretty clear you aren’t communicating that you have sufficient funds.
Once the bankruptcy is filed an automatic stay is in place that protects the payday loan companies from trying to collect on any money owed to them. However, they could attempt to press criminal charges for writing bad checks. As explained above, the chances of that are slim to none but you will want to make sure to consult with your bankruptcy attorney.
The bottom line is, payday loans may be wiped out or lessened by filing for bankruptcy but consult with a Charlotte, NC bankruptcy attorney or Greensboro, NC bankruptcy attorney to make sure you file the bankruptcy at the right time.
