Please Help Katrina Victims with Bankruptcy Law Amendment

[madame defarge]

The Houston Chronicle published this article in their business section last night about the impact of the Bankruptcy law on the Katrina vicitms. Please read it and take action. Contact your representatives & senators today...ask them to support Houston's Sheila Jackson Lee who will introduce legislation when Congress reconvenes next week to delay or waive the more onerous provisions of the new law for victims of natural disasters...

You might also want to contact your local newspaper and ask them to publish this article... And of course, pass it around to other blogs. Thanks.


Sept. 8, 2005, 8:30PM
Law to deal second blow to victims of hurricane
By LOREN STEFFY
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle


A bad law just keeps getting worse.

The devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is exposing more shortcomings in the federal bankruptcy law that's scheduled to take effect Oct. 17.

The so-called Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act is the love letter that Congress wrote to the credit card industry this spring. It's been widely decried by corporate and personal bankruptcy attorneys alike for making the process more convoluted, expensive and difficult for consumers, companies and even creditors.

Now it may bog down the Katrina recovery effort as well.

"The victims of Hurricane Katrina may face a cruel second blow when they take steps to try to put their lives back together," says Brad Botes, a bankruptcy attorney with the firm Bond & Botes, which has offices in the southeastern U.S., including some of the regions affected by the storm.

With jobs lost, lives uprooted and homes and businesses destroyed, bankruptcies are certain to rise in the coming months.

"The things that force people to file bankruptcy are usually some sort of catastrophic event," says Susan Matthews, a bankruptcy attorney with the Houston office of Adams and Reese. "Having their home wiped out and losing their job would force people to seek bankruptcy protection."

Read more: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3345871

[mikeiddy]

1. Why limit the amendment to natural disasters?

The original amendments were a POS - they should be rolled back to where they were before. Its not just natural disasters that place people at risk under the new BR rules.