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1 Elizabeth C. Wiggins, Assessing the Judicial Workload Associated with Mega Chapter 11 Cases in the Southern District of New York 1 (1996)

handle is hein.congcourts/aswomec0001 and id is 1 raw text is: ASSESSING THE JUDICIAL WORKLOAD ASSOCIATED WITH MEGA CHAPTER 11 CASES IN THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK Elizabeth C. Wiggins Federal Judicial Center December 16, 1996 The Bankruptcy Committee considers information in addition to a district's weighted caseload when evaluating a judgeship request, including information about mega chapter 11 cases, when appropriate. At its June 1996 meeting, the Bankruptcy Committee adopted the protocol set out in the Appendix for obtaining and evaluating the judicial workload associated with mega chapter 11 cases. The protocol describes information to be obtained prior to and during a survey trip to a court with a relatively high number ofvery large chapter 11 cases, and provides some guidance for its interpretation. Below we adjust the weighted caseload for the Southern District of New York in accordance with the protocol. 1. DEFINITION OF MEGA CASES The Southern District of New York uses multiple criteria for identifying mega cases for internal management purposes, but follows a definition developed by the Administrative Office in counting the number of mega cases for assessing the resources needed in the clerk's office. According to the Administrative Office, a mega case is a single case or a set of jointly administered or consolidated cases that involve one hundred million dollars or more, and 1000 or more creditors. For internal management purposes in the Southern District of New York, a mega case is a single case or a set of jointly administered or consolidated cases that meets some or all of the following criteria: * 100 million dollars or more in assets; * 1000 or more entities that must be noticed; * the type of entities to be noticed imposes burdens on the clerk's office and judges; and * high degree of public interest in the case. The last two criteria are related to a host of others, e.g., sophistication of the creditors, type and reputation of debtor, amount and type of pre-filing litigation, and presence of non-bankruptcy issues such as environmental and employment issues. According to the court, the level of assets, although certainly a relevant factor, should not be determinative in the effort to differentiate mega cases from regular chapter 11 cases. Cases in the $50 million to $99 million range often involve thousands of creditors and sometimes media attention, two factors that can converge to greatly expand the judicial time necessary to administer the case. Moreover, transnational cases, which may or may not meet the Administrative Office's definition of mega, may consume high amounts ofjudicial time because of the need for cross-border cooperation, or if there is none, the jurisdictional battles that ensue. Cases identified by the court as mega for internal management purposes are generally handled by a special staff in the court's mega case room and are docketed using a separate

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