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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.

______________________________/

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 16, 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 22, 2022 at

10:00 a.m. before the Honorable Peter D. Russin at the United

States Bankruptcy Court, 299 E. Broward Blvd., Courtroom: 301,

Chambers: Room 301. 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.

Although the Court will conduct the hearing in person, any 

interested party who is not participating in the presentation of 

evidence (except by unopposed proffer) may choose to attend the 

hearing 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/vJItcOqurD4qHUbwAimENeAkZ7QUKGhcZ7k

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

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by telephone may register using the Zoom link and mark “listen 

only” on the registration page. 

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.

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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 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.

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

located while testifying. 

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 

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Court, avoiding redundancies, hearsay, and other obviously 

objectionable statements;

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 

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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. 

 

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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