UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
PUBLIC NOTICE
Entry of Standing Order No. 20-5 Temporarily Suspending Section 341 Meetings in All Divisions of the Eastern District of Virginia
In light of the need to mitigate COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) community spread, the Court has entered Standing Order No. 20-5, which, effective March 16, 2020, among other actions, as set forth in the Order, states that, “All meetings of creditors convened pursuant to 11
U.S.C. § 341 scheduled in all Divisions of this Court through March 31, 2020, are hereby CONTINUED.” The order provides other important information of interest. The order is attached and can be viewed on the Court’s internet web site’s home page, under Virginia Eastern News, and is accessible at https://www.vaeb.uscourts.gov/. The public notice and standing order also
are being physically posted at each division of the Court.
William C. Redden Date: March 13, 2020 Clerk of Court
Attachment
- UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT EASTERN DISTRJCT OF VIRGINIA
In re: )
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Section 341 Meetings of Creditors )
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Standing Order No. 20-5
ORDER TEMPORARJL Y SUSPENDING SECTION 341 MEETINGS IN ALL DIVISIONS
This Order is being issued in response to the recent outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization characterized the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. On March 13, 2020, the President of the United States declared a national emergency as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. The situation continues to evolve by the day.
The Court has reviewed the developing guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”). The CDC’s guidance includes the implementation of scalable mitigation strategies designed to slow the transmission of COVID-19 and protect individuals at increased risk. Among these strategies is limiting large gatherings.
Given the risk to the public posed by the continued spread of COVID-19, and given that Section 341 meetings require high numbers of debtors and attorneys to congregate, it is hereby ORDERED that effective March 16, 2020:
- All meetings of creditors convened pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 341 scheduled in all Divisions of this Court through March 31, 2020, are hereby CONTINUED. The Acting United States Trustee for Region Four will provide a list of rescheduled dates for these Section 341 meetings to the Clerk of this Court who will direct his Deputy Clerks to issue notices of rescheduled Section 341 meeting in all affected cases.
- All deadlines that run from the date of the original date of the Section 341 meeting will instead run from the date of the continued Section 341 meeting.
- Any Judge of this Court may modify this Order by separate order entered in specific bankruptcy cases if the Judge determines that modification is justified based upon the facts and circumstances of a particular case.
Because the public health emergency continues to evolve, this Order may be modified as necessary based upon future developments.