University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

Harry Dixon Jr. (1944-2006), a lawyer from Nebraska, wanted to form an organization with the dual purpose of providing Congress with expert and unbiased views on legislation and creating an institution that could keep the bankruptcy community aware of legislative activities affecting them. In February 1982, Dixon incorporated under Nebraska law this new organization which was to be called the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI). The records of the American Bankruptcy Institute document two main areas of the organization: the history and operating activities of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the organization's professional activities, publications, and research on bankruptcy related issues. The materials date from 1982-2013, with the bulk from 1985-1996. Materials are largely in paper format, comprising correspondence, memos, facsimiles, resumes/c.v., financial records, by-laws, articles of incorporation, certificates, lease agreement, newsletters, marketing materials, clippings, press releases, scripts, white papers, meeting files which typically include agendas, minutes, and sign-in sheets, committee files, conference and seminar material, Library of Congress reports, information bulletins, Congressional reports, records, and bills, court records, briefs, procedures, Congressional hearing testimonies and remarks, publications, monographs, and other related printed matter. The records also include audiovisual materials such as photographs, VHS tapes, audio cassette tapes, DVDs, and CDs. The strengths of the American Bankruptcy Institute records are the documentation of the Board of Directors files; ABI conference and seminar files; ABI's effort to expand membership; Committee files; and the organization's analysis of bankruptcy legislation from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. Extensive areas of analysis by ABI include the U.S. Trustee Program which include numerous oversight hearings; Chapter 7 Substantial Abuse; Chapter 12 Family Farmer Bankruptcy; additional bankruptcy judgeships; the Bankruptcy Amendments and Federal Judgeship Act of 1984 (BAFJA) including the Bankruptcy Survey Project conducted by the ABI after the law (BAFJA) went into effect; judicial salaries; leveraged buyouts (LBO); pension plans and retirement benefits; proposed amendments to bankruptcy rules and forms; significant Supreme Court cases; S. 1985 National Bankruptcy Review Commission Act, S. 1559 Bankruptcy Technical Corrections Act, and testimonies before various Congressional committees from 1989-1996.

George Treister (b. 1923) was a founding partner of Stutman, Treister, and Glatt. A graduate of Yale University Law School in 1949, Treister was a member of the Judicial Conference's Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules and the National Bankruptcy Conference, where he served as Vice Chairman from 1971 to 1984. He is the author of a number of bankruptcy volumes, including "Recent Bankruptcy Decisions," a compendium of judicial decisions regarding bankruptcy legislation, used as educational material by nearly all major bankruptcy seminars. The collection comprises volumes of George Treister's "Recent Bankruptcy Decisions" from 1981 to 1990 and from 1992 to 1998.

David Lionel Bazelon (1909-1993) graduated from Northwestern University Law School in 1932. In 1936, Bazelon joined the United States Attorney's Office in Chicago, where he specialized in tax cases. In 1949, President Harry S. Truman appointed Bazelon to the newly-created United States Court of Appeals for the District Columbia, making Bazelon, at forty years old, one of the youngest people ever appointed to a federal judgeship. He served on the court from 1949 to 1984, acting as Chief Judge from 1962 to 1978. During this time the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia was often considered the nation's second highest court. In his years on the court Bazelon was involved in decisions on matters ranging from the use of DDT to the definition of insanity. In the mid-1980s Bazelon stopped hearing cases and finally retired from the bench. He died on February 19, 1993, of Alzheimer's disease. The collection, 1941-1993 and undated, includes case files related to Bazelon's activities as judge on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, including case and subject files. The collection also includes papers related to Bazelon's organizational affiliations, speeches, lectures, and writings. The largest part of the collection comprises subject files related to Bazelon's legal and social advocacy activities, including issues related to mental health law. The collection also includes a series of personal and career files, as well as a selection of audiovisual materials.

George C. Paine II was born on October 31, 1945 in Nashville, Tenn. He graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1973. In 1981, Paine was appointed a bankruptcy judge for the Middle District of Tennessee. He has served as Chief Bankruptcy Judge of that district since 1986. In 1984, George Paine was one of four judges who filed suit against the Administrative Office of the United States Courts ("Administrative Office"). The Administrative Office's director, William Foley, had refused to pay bankruptcy judges, arguing that parts of the Bankruptcy Amendments and Federal Judge Act of 1984 were unconstitutional. The case was later rendered moot when Foley rescinded his order and agreed to pay the judges. However, when Foley issued his first memorandum, a number of defendants in bankruptcy cases filed motions to overturn the bankruptcy courts' rulings, citing Foley's assertion that the judges had not been lawfully appointed at the time of the court proceedings. Paine and the other judges who filed suit against Foley intervened in the proceedings of these cases to argue for the constitutionality of the bankruptcy judge system. In one such case, known as In re Benny, George and Alexandra Benny were the defendants. Shortly after Foley's original memorandum in July 1984, the Bennys filed a motion to overturn the local bankruptcy court's ruling in their case. The motion was denied in November 1984. The collection includes two bound volumes of photocopies of court records of the In re Benny proceedings. Paine assembled the volumes. The first volume, called "Intervention," deals primarily with the bankruptcy judges' attempts to intervene in the motion by the Bennys to declare the Bankruptcy Amendments and Federal Judgeship Act of 1984 unconstitutional. The second volume, called "Constitutionality," contains records reflecting the entire proceedings surrounding the motion filed by the Bennys. The records were collected and photocopied for Paine from July to December 1984.

Henry J. Sommer is one of the leading figures in bankruptcy, consumer law, and civil rights. Born in 1949 in Rochester, New York, Sommer received his JD cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1974. After graduating from Harvard, he worked for Community Legal Services in Philadelphia as Project Head of its Consumer Law Project until 1996. In addition to his role with Community Legal Services, Sommer has lectured at University of Pennsylvania Law School and worked as editor-in-chief of Collier on Bankruptcy. The Henry J. Sommer Papers, 1975-2005, include National Bankruptcy Conference papers, materials from Continuing Legal Education seminars and other meetings at which Sommer lectured, copies of published manuscripts and articles written by Sommer, videotapes of Sommer and colleagues holding seminars that educated practitioners about the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, and related materials.

On March 9, 1989, Eastern Airlines, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 reorganization under the United States Bankruptcy Code. The In re Eastern Airlines Case Documents, 1989-1990, include court documents related to Eastern Airlines' corporate reorganization case, including an Examiner's Report.

Johns-Manville was an American corporation that made insulation and roofing materials. In the 1980s, the company faced a number of class-action lawsuits based on asbestos-related injuries from its asbestos insulation. As a result, in 1982 Johns-Manville file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. At the time, the company was the largest to ever file for Chapter 11, also known as corporate known as corporate reorganization. The bankruptcy court of the Southern District of New York heard the case, rendering its decision in 1990. The collection, 1982-1990, includes pleadings and other records filed over the course of the case.

On July 11, 1984, William Foley, Legislative Affairs Officer of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts ("Administrative Office"), issued a memorandum stating that the Administrative Office would not pay bankruptcy judges because, in its opinion, Congress had acted unlawfully by awarding retroactive terms of office to the normally presidentially-appointed bankruptcy judges. In response, on July 13, 1984, four bankruptcy judges sued Foley and the Administrative Office for abuse of power. The case became commonly known as Lundin v. Foley. The law firm of Kronish, Lieb, Shainswit, Weiner and Hellman (later, Kronish, Lieb, Weiner and Hellman) represented the bankruptcy judges. Richard Lieb served as the primary attorney on the case. In 1988 the court issued a summary judgment on the grounds that the explicit reason for the suit (i.e. the refusal of Foley to pay the judges) had been resolved. However, when Foley issued his original memorandum, parties with an interest in other bankruptcy cases called for a dismissal of their cases or rulings on the grounds that the judges were not lawfully appointed. The bankruptcy judges in the original suit intervened in these cases on behalf of the presiding bankruptcy judges and, more importantly, the constituionality of the bankruptcy judge system as a whole. In each case, all of the motions were denied, thereby securing the bankruptcy judges a clear, unqualified victory. Following the court's decision, the judges sought reimbursement for its attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, which allows for plaintiffs who win a case against the government to be compensated for court costs. The Administrative Office refused to reimburse the judges, arguing that the Equal Access to Justice Act only covers suits against the Executive Branch, an argument which was upheld by the courts in the original ruling. The judges appealed and in 1992, the court ruled in favor of them for Lundin v. Foley. However, the judges were denied their request to recover fees for the related cases. The collection, 1984-1994, includes correspondence, clippings, photocopies of cases compiled in the course of research, notes, court documents, and other materials regarding the cases for which Kronish, Lieb represented bankruptcy judges in their lawsuit against the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.

On July 17, 1986, the LTV Corporation filed for Chapter 11 debt relief due to underfunded pension plans. The court case resulted in a reorganization plan that involved LTV selling one of its subsidiary companies, Aerospace, in 1991. The collection, 1986-1991, include pleadings and other records filed over the course of the case.