M-543; Procedures for All Hearings Before Judge Beckerman Being Held by Zoom Video

=== M-543 ===

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK --------------------------------------------------------------X : In re: : : CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19 PANDEMIC, COURT OPERATIONS UNDER THE EXIGENT : : CIRCUMSTANCES CREATED BY COVID-19 : --------------------------------------------------------------X General Order M-543 In order to protect public health, and in recognition of the national emergency that was declared by the President of the United States on March 13, 2020, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (“Bankruptcy Court”) hereby issues the following order: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, effective immediately and until further notice, that: 1. Hearings and Conferences. All hearings and conferences scheduled to be held in courthouses comprising the Manhattan Division, White Plains Division, and Poughkeepsie Division of the Bankruptcy Court will be conducted telephonically pending further Order of the Bankruptcy Judge assigned to the matter (“Bankruptcy Judge”). Any party wishing to appear in person at a hearing or conference shall file or submit an appropriate motion or request, which will be considered by the Bankruptcy Judge. Any party may request an adjournment of a hearing or conference by filing or submitting an appropriate motion or request setting forth the basis for the adjournment in conformity with the Bankruptcy Judge’s procedures for requesting adjournments. All attorneys, witnesses and parties wishing to appear at, or attend, a telephonic hearing or conference must refer to the Bankruptcy Judge’s guidelines for telephonic appearances and make arrangements with Court Solutions LLC. Pro se parties, Chapter 7 Trustees and Ch 13 Trustee may participate telephonically in hearings free of charge using Court Solutions. The instructions for registering with Court Solutions are attached hereto. 2. Evidentiary Hearings and Trials. Parties should contact the Bankruptcy Judge’s courtroom deputy or law clerk assigned to the case to inquire about whether an upcoming evidentiary hearing or trial will proceed as scheduled and be prepared to discuss procedures and technology for conducting the evidentiary hearing remotely. 3. Official Record. In order to assist the Bankruptcy Court in creating and maintaining the official record of proceedings before it, and to facilitate the availability of official transcripts of the proceedings, Bankruptcy Court personnel are permitted to utilize tools made available through Court Solutions to record telephonic hearings, conferences and trials. Such recordings shall be the official record. Transcripts can be ordered and corrected in the same way as before the issuance of this Order. 4. Clerk’s Office and Pro Se Filings. Until further notice, the three Divisions of the Bankruptcy Court will remain open for all other business. Clerk’s Office personnel are available by telephone, mail will be received, and the intake desks will remain open to receive pro se filings. Pro se filers can also continue to utilize the drop boxes located in the lobbies of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007 or the Honorable Charles L. Brieant Jr. Federal Building and Courthouse, 300 Quarropas Street, White Plains, NY 10601 for delivery of documents after 5:00 pm. Any documents submitted for filing in a drop box must be time-stamped, sealed in an envelope addressed to the Clerk of Court of the Bankruptcy Court, and must include the filer’s contact information. Dated: March 20, 2020 New York, New York /s/ Cecelia G. Morris Cecelia G. Morris United States Bankruptcy Chief Judge Instructions to register for CourtSolutions. 1. Create a CourtSolutions account online. Logon to https://www.court-solutions.com/ to “Signup” for an account and to register a telephonic appointment for an upcoming hearing. Registration for a hearing must occur no later than 12:00 noon on the business day prior to the hearing date. 2. Register for a hearing with CourtSolutions. After creating and signing into their CourtSolutions account at https://www.court-solutions.com/, a party must register for a hearing. a. Enter the last name of the Judge to appear before and then select the appropriate name from the list. b. Enter the time and date of the hearing. c. Select participation status: Live or Listen Only. d. Enter the case name, case number, and, if applicable, the name of client. e. There is a box to click to agree to terms/conditions, and then press “Register”. f. CourtSolutions will send an email confirmation of the participation request. g. The court staff will first confirm that a granted motion to appear telephonically is on the docket. If there exists a granted motion, the court staff will approve the reservation. h. CourtSolutions will then send another email confirmation. Note that the reservation received for a registered hearing may NOT be transferred to another person. If someone dials in with someone else’s registration information, the caller information presented to the court will not match the correct person. 3. Charges. For lawyers and participants, registration and reservations are free. Once a party dials into a call, the cost is a flat fee of $70, per reservation, per judge, per day. If the hearing is adjourned for a break and the party rejoins the call later that day, there is no additional charge to rejoin the call. If the hearing is continued to another day, lawyers and participants will need to re-register and the flat fee will apply again when dialing in. If a party does not timely join a call, no fee is charged. The Judge will have the party listed as having made a reservation, but the party is not charged. However, the hearing may proceed in their absence, and they may face sanctions from the Court. Additionally, a party may notice that there is a charge on their card after making a reservation. When making a reservation, CourtSolutions places an authorization hold on the card. If the party does not join the call, the pending hold will be removed automatically several days later, and there will be no charge. Any issues with billing shall be directed to the vendor. The Court is not responsible for the billing or collection of the fees incurred with CourtSolutions. 4. Order of Proceeding. CourtSolutions does not place a call to counsel on the day of the hearing. It is counsel's responsibility to dial into the call not later than 10 minutes prior to the scheduled hearing. Logging into the CourtSolutions website for the hearing is not required but is helpful to unmute your line if the Court mutes it or to raise your hand to be recognized during the hearing. Upon connecting to the call and at the time of the hearing, a party may hear the activity in the courtroom. Unless a joining party mutes their line, he/she joins the call as an active participant and can be heard. Failure to act appropriately on the line may result with the party being disconnected by Court. When the judge is ready to hear the case, appearances will be called. Each time a telephonic party speaks, he/she should identify them self for the record. The court's teleconferencing system allows more than one speaker to be heard, so the judge can interrupt a speaker to ask a question or redirect the discussion. When the judge informs the participants that the hearing is completed, the telephonic participant may disconnect, and the next case will be called. 5. Failure to appear. If a party does not timely call and connect to the scheduled hearing, the hearing may proceed in their absence, and they may face sanctions from the Court for their failure to appear. 6. Other/Miscellaneous. Telephonic appearances by multiple participants are only possible when there is compliance with every procedural requirement. Sanctions may be imposed when there is any deviation from the required procedures or the Court determines that a person's conduct makes telephonic appearances inappropriate. Sanctions may include denying the matter for failure to prosecute, continuing the hearing, proceeding in the absence of a party who fails to appear, or a monetary sanction.

=== Procedures for All Hearings Before Judge Beckerman Being Held by Zoom Video ===

PROCEDURES FOR ALL HEARINGS BEFORE JUDGE BECKERMAN BEING HELD BY ZOOM VIDEO The Zoom video hearing (the “Hearing”) held in connection with this notice will be conducted in accordance with the procedures contained herein. With respect to Hearings that are evidentiary hearings or trials, the procedures contained herein are subject to, and do not limit, the terms of any pre-trial order, scheduling order, or other order regarding the Hearings. These procedures have been modified to comply with the revised policy, effective September 22, 2023, of the Judicial Conference of the United States concerning the public’s remote access to civil and bankruptcy proceedings (the “Revised Policy”). Under the Revised Policy, the press and other public attendees (“Public Attendees”) may only receive audio access to non-evidentiary Hearings when appearing remotely. For evidentiary hearings and trials, Public Attendees may not attend via remote means and should attend in-person in the courtroom. The Revised Policy does not affect the ability of case participants (e.g., parties-in-interest and their attorneys, witnesses, and interpreters) (“Case Participants”) from attending Zoom Hearings using the platform’s videoconferencing features. All Case Participants and Public Attendees that wish to attend a Zoom Hearing (whether attending remotely or in-person) must register for the Hearing through the Electronic Appearance Portal (“eCourt Appearance Tool”) located on the Court's website (https://ecf.nysb.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/nysbAppearances.pl) by the deadlines set forth in Sections 2 and 3 below. PROCEDURES Audio and Videoconferencing Solutions. The Hearing shall occur virtually using both 1. audio and videoconferencing solutions as set forth herein. The Court shall utilize Zoom for Government (for audio and video purposes). The Court shall provide the Zoom link to the list of persons registered as Case Participants pursuant to the instructions set forth in Section 2 below and a Zoom dial-in number to Public Attendees who provide notice of their attendance to the Court pursuant to the instructions set forth in Section 3 below. 2. Hearing Attendance by Case Participants. All Case Participants must register for the Hearing through the eCourt Appearance Tool by no later than 4:00 p.m. (ET) one business day before the Hearing. Failure to register by the specified deadline will result in the Case Participant not being admitted to the Hearing. The Court will email the Zoom link to registered Case Participants after 4:00 p.m. (ET) one business day before the Hearing. Parties are strictly forbidden from circulating or sharing the Zoom link. 3. Hearing Attendance by Public Attendees. All Public Attendees who wish to dial-in to a Hearing where testimony is not expected must register for the Hearing through the eCourt 1 Appearance Tool by no later than 4:00 p.m. (ET) one business day before the Hearing. Failure to register by the specified deadline will result in the Public Attendee not being admitted to the Hearing. The Court will email the Zoom dial-in information to registered Public Attendees prior to the Hearing. Registered Public Attendees are strictly forbidden from circulating or sharing the Zoom dial-in information. Because Public Attendees cannot dial in to a Hearing where testimony is expected, Public Attendees may attend such a Hearing in person in the courtroom. 4. Courtroom Formalities. Although being conducted using audio and videoconferencing on Zoom, the Hearing constitutes a court proceeding, and any recording other than the official court version is prohibited. No participant or attendee of the Hearing may record images or sounds of the Hearing from any location. All parties appearing before the Court must situate themselves in such a manner as to be able to view the video screen and be seen by the Court. For purposes of this Hearing, the parties must observe the formalities of a courtroom. 5. Submission of Exhibits and Demonstratives to Court. If any of the parties intend to offer any exhibits at the Hearing or use any demonstratives at the Hearing, such party shall provide the Court (and file on ECF) a copy of the exhibits or demonstratives it will seek to use during the Hearing (either by offering it in evidence or using it for demonstrative purposes) no later than the deadline set forth in Judge Beckerman’s Chambers Rules or the applicable scheduling or pre-trial order but in any event at least 24 hours before the Hearing. Checking in for Hearing. Because of the Court’s security requirements for participating 6. in a Zoom for Government audio and video hearing, all persons seeking to attend the Hearing must connect to the Hearing beginning half an hour before the scheduled start of the Hearing and no later than ten minutes before the Hearing start time. Failure to connect to the Hearing at the indicated time may result in significant delays to the start of the Hearing. When signing into Zoom for Government, participants must type in the first and last name that will be used to identify them at the hearing, and the party they represent (i.e., Jane Doe, Debtor’s Counsel). Participants who type only their first name, a nickname, or initials will not be admitted into the hearing. When seeking to connect for video participation in a Zoom for Government hearing, participants will first enter a waiting room in the order in which the participants seek to connect. Court personnel will admit each person to the Hearing from the waiting room after confirming the person’s name (and telephone number, if a telephone is used to connect) provided to the Court in accordance with Sections 2 and 3 above. You may experience a delay in the waiting room before you are admitted to the Hearing. Once admitted, please turn off your video and mute the microphone on Zoom until the Court calls your matter. Retention of Jurisdiction. The Court retains jurisdiction with respect to all matters 7. arising from or related to these procedures. 2