Judge Jay Cristol Tells Congress that the U.S. Trustee Leadership is Like a Pack of Pit Bulls

On October 2, 2007, Judge Jay Cristol, Chief Judge Emeritus for the United States Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Georgia testified in Congress before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative and Commercial Law. The topic of Judge Cristol’s testimony was about the United States Trustee Program. Judge Cristol’s question - is the U.S. Trustee a watchdog or an attack dog? You can read Judge Cristol’s testimony by clicking on the link.

Judge Cristol concludes that the U.S. Trustee program has turned into a “pack of dogs” and its leadership “appears to view all debtors with suspicion through prosecutorial eyes as dishonest crooks trying to beat the system and perceive debtor’s lawyers as disreputable and untrustworthy.”

He proceeds to decry the BAPCPA changes to the Bankruptcy Code as “draconian” and “mean spirited” and the U.S. Trustee’s office as “aggressive[ly] anti-consumer.” He concludes that “it appears that the U.S. Trustee sees its mission to deny people relief through bankruptcy. They file dismissal motions for minor defects, which makes things especially difficult for pro se debtors. The U.S. Trustee should be helping not hindering these people. Dismissal motions filed for things like credit counseling a few days early, or one or two missing pay stubs, when it is obvious that such omissions are of no significance.”

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