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UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

FORT LAUDERDALE DIVISION

IN RE: 

Samuel Fitzgerald Worrell, CASE NO. 21-20622-PDR

Chapter 13

Debtor.

______________________________/

AMENDED ORDER SETTING REQUIREMENTS FOR EVIDENTIARY 

HEARING 

AND ESTABLISHING RELATED DEADLINES

THIS MATTER came before the Court on February 7, 2022 upon the 

Secured Creditor’s Objection to Confirmation (ECF 20), Secured Creditor’s 

Motion For Prospective In-Rem Relief From Automatic Stay For A Period Of Two 

Years (ECF 26) and the Secured Creditor’s Response to Objection to Claim of 

NewRez LLC d/b/a Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing (ECF 36) (the “Motions”) and 

Peter D. Russin, Judge

United States Bankruptcy Court

_____________________________________________________________________________

ORDERED in the Southern District of Florida on February 17, 2022.

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related Response (ECF #30) filed by Debtor Samuel Fitzgerald. The Court 

heard the arguments of the Parties and, Accordingly, the Court ORDERS as 

follows: 

1. EVIDENTIARY HEARING; SERVICE. The Court will hold an

evidentiary hearing on the Motions on February 25, 2022 at 10:00

a.m. before the Honorable Peter D. Russin. The Court has 

reserved two (2) hours for this matter. The Movant shall serve a 

copy of this order on all appropriate parties and file a certificate of 

service thereof as required by this Court’s local rules. 

The hearing will be held remotely using the services of Zoom Video 

Communications,Inc.(“Zoom”) which permits remote participation 

by video or by telephone. To participate in the hearing remotely 

via Zoom (whether by video or by telephone), you must register in 

advance no later than 4:00 p.m., one business day before the 

date of the hearing. To register, click the link below or manually 

enter the link in a browser: 

https://www.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/JItcOqurD4qHUbwAimENeAkZ7QUKGhcZ7k

Zoom will provide a password-protected link for the 

appropriate video conference to those who register to participate 

and who have been approved by the Court. 

All participants (whether attending in person or remotely) must 

observe the formalities of the courtroom, exercise civility, 

and otherwise conduct themselves in a manner consistent 

with the dignity of the Court. This includes appropriate courtroom 

attire for those participants appearing in person or by video. 

2. PUBLIC ACCESS. The evidentiary hearing scheduled by this order

is a public matter. Although usually the public may only attend a

live hearing, because the number of persons in the courtroom

continues to be limited, the general public is invited to listen to the

hearing by telephone. Any person wishing to listen to the hearing by

telephone may register using the Zoom link and mark “listen only”

on the registration page.

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3. RECORDING PROHIBITED; OFFICIAL RECORD. No person may

record the proceedings from any location by any means. The audio

recording created and maintained by the Court shall be the sole

basis for creation of a transcript that constitutes the official record

of the evidentiary hearing.

4. MEDIATION. Pursuant to Local Rule 9019-2, the Court may order

the assignment of this contested matter to mediation or judicial

settlement conference at any time, upon the request of a party or

sua sponte.

5. DISCOVERY. All discovery must be completed not later than seven

days before the evidentiary hearing. The Court will allow discovery

after that date only upon a showing of good cause. All expert reports

shall be exchanged no later than the conclusion of discovery, unless

the parties agree otherwise. The time for responding to

interrogatories, requests for admission or requests for production is

shortened to fourteen (14) days from service of the discovery.

6. WITNESS LISTS. No later than 4:00 p.m. four business days

before the evidentiary hearing before the evidentiary hearing, all

parties must exchange and file with the Court witness lists

identifying all fact and expert witnesses each party intends to call at

the evidentiary hearing (other than rebuttal or impeachment

witnesses).

7. SUBMISSION AND EXCHANGE OF EXHIBITS. No later than 4:00

p.m. four business days before the evidentiary hearing, the

parties must submit and exchange all exhibits pursuant to the

requirements of Local Rule 9070-1, which requires all parties to

upload exhibits through CM/ECF, with some exceptions where

any party is not represented by counsel.

If any party intends to offer in evidence at the evidentiary hearing a 

summary, chart or calculation to prove content as permitted by 

Federal Rule of Evidence 1006, that party must provide to the other 

parties a notice of the location(s) of the books, records, and the like, 

from which each summary has been made, and the reasonable times 

when they may be inspected and copied by adverse parties. More 

voluminous documents may require earlier notice of intent to 

use a summary.

8. OBJECTIONS TO EXHIBITS. All objections to exhibits must comply

with Local Rule 9070-1 and must be filed and served, so as to be

received no later than 4:00 p.m. two business days before the

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evidentiary hearing. The parties must meet and confer (by 

telephone or video conference) to resolve, to the extent possible, any 

objections to exhibits. Any unresolved objections (other than 

objections to relevancy) will be addressed at the beginning of the 

evidentiary hearing.

9. JOINT STIPULATION WHERE ALL PARTIES REPRESENTED BY

COUNSEL. (If any party is not represented by counsel in this

proceeding as of the date of entry of this Order, this paragraph will

not apply.) All parties to this proceeding must meet and confer (in

person, if geographically feasible, and otherwise by video conference

or by telephone) not later than seven days prior to the hearing and

prepare a written stipulation substantially in the form of Local Form

63C setting forth the following: (a) undisputed facts; (b) disputed

facts to be litigated; and (c) issues of law to be litigated. The

stipulation must be signed by the attorneys for all parties. The fully

executed joint stipulation must be filed no later than 4:00 p.m. one

business day before the evidentiary hearing. The Court will not

accept unilateral statements and will sua sponte strike any such

submission. Should any of the parties fail to cooperate in the

preparation of the joint stipulation, any other party may file a motion

requesting an order to show cause why such party or parties (and/or

their counsel) should not be held in contempt and sanctioned for

failure to comply with this order.

10. REMOTE WITNESS TESTIMONY. In accordance with Federal Rule

of Civil Procedure 43(a) (made applicable by Federal Rule of

Bankruptcy Procedure 9017), for good cause and in compelling

circumstances a witness may be permitted to testify by

contemporaneous transmission from a location other than the

courtroom. If a party wishing to present witness testimony seeks to

have the witness appear remotely, the party must file a motion

pursuant to Fed. R. Bank. P. 9017 no later than 21 days prior to

the evidentiary hearing. The motion must include the following:

A. The particular reason why the witness must appear remotely.

B. Her or his name and title (if applicable).

C. Matter(s) on which the remote witness will provide testimony.

D. The city, state, and country where the remote witness will be

located while testifying.

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E. The type of place from which the remote witness will testify,

such as a home or an office. No addresses are required.

F. Whether anyone will be in the room with the remote witness

during the testimony and, if so, for each such person, the

person’s name, title, relationship to the remote witness, and

purpose for being present with the witness.

G. Whether the remote witness will have access to any

documents other than exhibits that have been provided to the

Court and the parties and, if so, identifying each such

document.

If the remote witness cannot testify from the office of someone who 

can administer the oath, the Court will administer the oath to each 

remote witness during the video conference and witness testimony 

will have the same effect and be binding upon each remote witness 

in the same manner as if such remote witness was sworn in by the 

Court in person in open court.

11. RESPONSIBILITY FOR REMOTE WITNESSES. The party

sponsoring each remote witness shall be responsible for ensuring

that the remote witness has registered for the video conference, has

obtained all exhibits prior to the hearing, has registered with Zoom,

and has equipment and internet service sufficient to permit

participation in the evidentiary hearing.

12. DIRECT TESTIMONY BY DECLARATION. At each party’s option,

except in a contested matter where a party is self-represented, the

direct testimony of any witness, except an adverse, hostile, or

rebuttal witness, may be presented by sworn declaration consisting

of a succinct written statement of the direct testimony that the

witness would be prepared to give if questions were propounded in

the usual fashion at the hearing. If a party offers a sworn declaration

in lieu of direct testimony:

A. The statement shall substantially conform to Local Form 63B

and shall be signed by the declarant under penalty of perjury;

B. Each statement of fact shall be separate, shall be sequentially

numbered, and shall contain only facts that are relevant and

material to the contested issue before the Court, avoiding

redundancies, hearsay, and other obviously objectionable

statements;

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C. The statement may be referenced as the witness’ “sworn

declaration of fact”;

D. The original sworn declaration of fact shall be marked as a

proposed exhibit and filed and delivered as otherwise required

by this Order;

E. Objections to any portion of a sworn declaration of fact may

be raised at the time the sworn declaration of fact is offered to

the Court. The witness shall then be sworn in and asked if the

sworn declaration of fact correctly reflects the testimony that

would be given if the witness was asked the appropriate

questions. Opposing counsel may then cross-examine the

witness. At the conclusion of cross-examination, the party

whose witness is on the stand may conduct redirect

examination in the usual manner; and

F. The Court may require that direct testimony be provided in

the usual manner during the hearing even if a sworn

declaration of fact is offered.

13. CONDUCT DURING EVIDENTIARY HEARING. Other than the

attorneys questioning a witness on direct examination or crossexamination, no person shall communicate with a witness during

his or her testimony unless specifically authorized by the Court.

14. FINAL ARGUMENT. At the conclusion of the evidentiary hearing,

in lieu of final argument, the Court may request that each party file

with the Court (a) a written closing statement with supporting legal

argument or (b) a proposed memorandum opinion with findings of

fact and conclusions of law with a separate proposed final judgment.

Each submission must contain individually numbered paragraphs

and follow the formatting requirements set forth in Part Two of the

Court’s Guidelines for Preparing, Submitting, and Serving Orders.

Each proposed finding of fact must be supported by a citation to the

record, or it will be disregarded. Each proposed conclusion of law

must be supported by a citation to applicable law, or it will be

disregarded. Absent prior permission of the Court, submissions may

not exceed a total of twenty pages. If specifically requested, the

Court may also direct the parties to submit a copy of the proposed

memorandum opinion with findings of fact and conclusions of law,

along with a copy of the separate proposed final judgment, in word

processing format to an electronic mailbox designated by the Court.

The filer must include in the “subject” line of the email the case

name and number and the date of the relevant hearing.

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15. SETTLEMENT. If the contested matter is settled, the parties shall

submit to the Court a stipulation approved by all parties and a

motion for approval of the same prior to the date of the evidentiary

hearing. If a stipulation and motion are not submitted to the Court,

all parties shall be prepared to proceed with the evidentiary hearing.

If the contested matter is removed from the calendar based upon the

announcement of a settlement, the contested matter will not be reset

for hearing if the parties fail to consummate the settlement. In such

event, the Court will consider only a motion to enforce the

settlement, unless the sole reason the settlement is not

consummated is that the Court did not approve the settlement, in

which case the matter will be reset for hearing at a later date.

16. SANCTIONS. Failure to appear at the evidentiary hearing or to

comply with any provision of this order may result in appropriate

sanctions, including the award of attorney’s fees, striking of papers,

exclusion of exhibits or witnesses, or the granting or denial of the

Motion.

17. CONTINUANCES. Continuances of the evidentiary hearing or any

deadlines set forth in this order must be requested by written

motion. Any request for continuance or amendment to this order

must set forth the status of discovery, including exchange of

disclosures required under this order, must state the reasons why

the party or parties seek a continuance, and must state whether the

client and other parties consent to a continuance. The stipulation of

all parties is not sufficient grounds, standing alone, for a

continuance.

###

Copy to: 

April Harriott, Esq.

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