Opinion ID: 1509751
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Zeppatella Case

Text: There is evidence in the record that, and Judge Stepler found that, on October 17, 1994, respondent filed a petition for bankruptcy protection on behalf of Ferdinando Zeppatella. Respondent filed a request to convert Mr. Zeppatella's case from a Chapter 13 to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy action on March 13, 1998. The clerk's office filed a deficiency notice because respondent had not included a $15.00 fee with the request. After the deficiency was cured, Judge Keir signed an order converting the case to Chapter 7. On March 30, 1998, a Trustee was appointed in the Chapter 7 proceeding to take possession of all non-exempt assets and liquidate those assets and further distribute the proceeds to creditors after approval by the court. On October 21, 1998, Mr. Zeppatella sent a letter to Judge Clifford White requesting the court to convert his bankruptcy case back to a Chapter 13 from a Chapter 7. In his letter, Mr. Zeppatella wrote that, [a] decision of my lawyer to switch my case from [C]hapter 13 to [C]hapter 7, without the logical explanations, has resulted in a financial disaster for me, with the loss (confiscation) of all my savings, which originate from my pension fund. The court treated this letter as a Motion to Re-Convert Case and a hearing was set for November 12, 1998. At the hearing, Merrill Cohen, Trustee, argued that Mr. Zeppatella's assets were not exempt as retirement benefits and the court agreed. After the hearing, Judge Keir sent a letter, dated November 13, 1998, to John Reburn, Bar Counsel Investigator. In the letter, Judge Keir expressed concern about respondent's representation of Mr. Zeppatella, specifically, that respondent failed to list any exemptions on Schedule C of Mr. Zeppatella's original Chapter 13 petition and on Mr. Zeppatella's motion to convert from Chapter 13 to Chapter 7. When the case was converted to Chapter 7, the Trustee was able to exhaust all assets, leaving Mr. Zeppatella with nothing as a result of there being no exemptions listed on Schedule C. These assets included a $30,000.00 bank account and additional assets on Schedule B in the amount of $56,850.00. Respondent failed to amend Mr. Zeppatella's Schedule C for over three years. Even while making an amendment to schedule assets to unsecured claims on March 30, 1999, respondent failed to amend Schedule C, thereby depriving Mr. Zeppatella of the minimal amount of exempt property guaranteed to all debtors under federal law. It even took respondent over six months to amend the Schedule C after his knowledge of the proceedings brought against him by Bar Counsel.