Judge Philip Bentley

Staff Information

One Bowling Green
New York, NY 10004-1408
Chambers: (212) 668-2301
Courtroom: 601
Chamber’s email: pb.chambers@nysb.uscourts.gov

Courtroom Deputy: Greg White
(212) 284-4029

Courtroom Deputy (for Chapter 13 matters): Vanessa Ashmeade
(845) 451-6367

Law Clerk: Mira Haqqani
(212) 284-4032

Law Clerk: Brian McElroy
(212) 284-4036

Judge Tabs

Chambers' Rules

Unless otherwise ordered, matters before Judge Bentley shall be conducted in accordance with any Case Management Order entered in the case and, to the extent not inconsistent, the following practices:

Scheduling

Pursuant to Local Rule 5070-1, a moving party or applicant must contact Chambers to obtain a hearing date prior to filing and serving a motion, cross-motion, application or any other request for relief requiring a hearing. All scheduling requests should be directed by telephone or email to Courtroom Deputy Greg White at pb.chambers@nysb.uscourts.gov.
Requests for relief requiring a hearing that are filed without first obtaining a hearing date will not be scheduled for hearing on the Court's calendar absent leave of Court.
Parties may not grant extensions of time on briefing without prior consent from Chambers, except that parties may agree to modify deadlines without leave of Court so long as the reply deadline is not affected, no party in interest is prejudiced, and any existing orders are adhered to. Extensions requiring Court approval should be sought at least 24 hours before the affected deadline.
Adjournments require advance Chambers approval, which normally will be granted if agreed to by all parties seeking and opposing the relief in question. To seek an adjournment, the requesting party must email a request for adjournment to Chambers that, if the request is not on consent of all interested parties, must state the basis for the request. The email request must be copied to all interested parties known to the requesting party.
Requests for adjournment should be made no later than 12 noon on the business day before the scheduled hearing; requests made after that time will be granted only where good cause exists for the untimely request.
All adjournments that have been approved by Chambers prior to the original hearing date must be noticed on the docket with a “Notice of Adjournment” filed as promptly as possible, and prior to the original hearing date. The Notice of Adjournment must identify any deadlines that have been changed in conjunction with the adjournment. A hearing will not be officially adjourned until the Notice of Adjournment is filed on the Electronic Case Filing (ECF) System.

Orders to Show Cause

Parties must contact Chambers prior to filing an order to show cause. (See Local Rule 9077-1(a)). Counsel should be prepared to submit the following documents for the Court's review: a copy of the underlying motion, a proposed order to show cause (in Word format only), and a supporting affidavit.
If the request for an order to show cause is granted, the papers must be filed on the Electronic Case Filing (ECF) system. The Court will contact the movant regarding the disposition of the requested order to show cause.

Notices of Presentment

Parties wishing to move by notice of presentment should consult Local Rule 9074-1 to determine what matters may be handled on presentment. The rule also describes the notice and filing requirements when presenting a motion or application by presentment.
Motions for relief from stay will not be considered on presentment.
Parties do not need to contact Chambers to schedule a date and time for presentment but must contact the Courtroom Deputy for a hearing date if there is an objection.
After the applicable objection deadline has passed, the underlying motion, a certificate of service, and an electronic version of the proposed order in Word format should be submitted to Chambers prior to the scheduled date and time for presentment. The transmittal communication must represent that (i) the movant sought relief by notice of presentment, (ii) the objection period has passed, and (iii) no objections were filed.

Submission of Orders

Proposed orders must be filed as an exhibit to moving papers. If practicable and if, prior to a hearing on a motion, the moving party anticipates seeking approval of a modified version of its original proposed order, it should file a redlined version to ensure that interested parties and the Court have notice of the modified proposed order that the movant wishes to have approved.
If no timely objection is filed, the movant must file a Certificate of No Objection as promptly as practicable consistent with Local Rule 9075-2, and when possible no later than 72 hours before the scheduled hearing. If such a certificate is filed, the Court will determine whether the hearing needs to go forward. If the Court determines that no hearing is required, it will enter an order resolving the motion and/or cancelling the scheduled hearing.
Unless otherwise provided by the Court, proposed orders must be submitted by email in Word format, with any exhibits or attachments in PDF format, to pb.chambers@nysb.uscourts.gov after (i) any hearing on the matter, (ii) the passage of a presentment date with no objections filed, or (iii) any cancellation of a scheduled hearing as to a motion to which no objections were filed. When submitting a proposed order to Chambers for entry when there has not been a hearing, the underlying motion with all exhibits, a certificate of service and a certificate of no objection should be attached to the email in addition to the proposed order. In all cases, if the proposed order differs from the proposed order that was initially submitted with the motion, the submitting party must provide a separate redlined version showing differences between the originally proposed order and the final version.
Do not email any proposed order to individual members of Chambers or the Clerk's Office, unless you are instructed to do so.
All proposed orders submitted to the Court by email should be accompanied by a cover email that contains the following information:
1. The name, telephone number and email address of the person submitting the order;
2. The case name and docket number and the ECF document numbers of the relevant motion papers; and
3. If the relief was granted by the Court, a representation that the relief was granted and the date on which it was granted.

2004 Orders

Requests for 2004 orders may be submitted ex parte, and the Court in its discretion may require notice and/or a hearing. An acceptable form of Rule 2004 order is located under the "Forms" tab on Judge Bentley's home page.

Sealing Orders

Requests for filing and maintaining information under seal may be submitted ex parte and must indicate the grounds for sealing and (if applicable) for proceeding ex parte. The requesting party must provide to Chambers:
- a Word version of the motion to seal and the proposed order by email;
- a Word version of the relevant document in proposed redacted form for filing on the docket by email; and
- an unredacted physical copy (not to be emailed) of the same document labeled “confidential” and with each proposed redacted portion highlighted. Redactions should be kept to the minimum necessary to protect truly confidential information.
Every proposed order requesting sealing must provide (i) that the unredacted version of the sealed document shall not be made available to any party without the consent of the party that submitted the document; (ii) for the appropriate disposition of the sealed document at the conclusion of the matter; (iii) that it is without prejudice to the rights of any party in interest, or the United States Trustee, to seek to unseal the document or any part thereof; and (iv) that the movant shall submit, in accordance with Local Rule 9018-1, an unredacted copy of each sealed document to the Clerk of this Court under seal in an envelope, marked to indicate that the same has been filed under seal by order of this Court, unless at the time of the motion the Court has adopted different procedures for the submission of sealed documents to the Clerk of this Court (in which case the proposed order should reference those procedures).

Cash Collateral

Proposed interim or final orders authorizing a debtor to use cash collateral shall be submitted to chambers in word format and filed on the docket no later than two business days prior to any hearing on a motion for entry of such order, unless the motion is set for a "first day" hearing or otherwise set on an emergency basis, in which case the proposed order should be filed on the docket and submitted to chambers in word format as soon as reasonably practicable prior to the hearing.

Conferences

Requests for conferences should ordinarily be made by letter emailed to pb.chambers@nysb.uscourts.gov, together with a follow-up call to Greg White, Courtroom Deputy. The letter requesting the conference should ordinarily be filed on the Electronic Case Filing (ECF) System. The letter must be no longer than two pages in length and should explain (i) the reason for the conference request, (ii) whether a video or telephonic conference is sought, and (iii) whether the requesting party believes the conference should be on the record.
If a telephonic conference is granted and will be conducted without a formal record, the requesting party should submit a conference call-in number and passcode to Chambers. If the conference will be on the record, it will be conducted using either Zoom or Court Solutions.

Form and Content of Briefs

Unless ordered otherwise, briefs and motions with embedded argument and citations shall be submitted in text searchable format and include a table of contents, headings, and a table of authorities.
Except as otherwise permitted by the Court, moving and responsive briefs shall be no more than 25 pages in length and reply briefs shall be no more than 10 pages, in each case exclusive of the cover and tables of contents and authorities. All memoranda shall be double-spaced and in 12-point font. Memoranda of 10 pages or more shall contain a table of contents and a table of authorities.

Time for Service and Filing of Motion Papers

The times provided by Local Rule 9006-1 for the service and filing of motions and answering papers shall apply, except that when a hearing on the motion has been scheduled, reply papers are subject to the following deadlines (unless the Court orders otherwise or a case management order provides otherwise): Reply papers shall be filed and served so as to ensure actual receipt not later than 4:00 p.m. three calendar days before the hearing date, except that, for hearings scheduled on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, reply papers shall be filed and served so as to ensure actual receipt not later than 4:00 p.m. the Friday prior to the hearing. Untimely papers may be rejected.

Copies of Pleadings

Parties must provide an electronic copy of every pleading, with exhibits, to Chambers at the time of filing and service, by email to pb.chambers@nysb.uscourts.gov. Pleadings that are not emailed to Chambers in timely fashion may be rejected. Hard copies of pleadings need not be provided to Chambers unless the documents are voluminous or the Court requests hard copies. In that instance, the moving party shall supply two binders with hard copies of the moving papers (including exhibits) and responses thereto — printed two-sided — to Chambers no later than three days before the hearing. Parties are encouraged to contact Chambers if they are unsure whether documents are sufficiently voluminous that hard copies should be provided.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, parties should not email an unredacted copy of a document that is the subject of a motion to seal. Parties should refer to the Sealing Orders section of these Chambers Rules for instructions on how to submit documents relating to a motion to seal.

"First Day" Motions

Parties wishing to schedule hearings on "first day" motions in Chapter 11 cases should contact Chambers on the date of filing to discuss scheduling of the hearing. Two copies of “first day” motions should be provided to Chambers in advance of the hearing.
Due to the exigencies often associated with first day hearings in chapter 11 cases, unless the Court orders otherwise, such hearings will be conducted from Judge Bentley's courtroom in a hybrid format that will permit either in-person attendance or remote participation via Zoom for Government. The courtroom will be open to all parties and to the public for unrestricted access to the proceeding, including all testimony and/or argument that is presented either remotely or in person. Any person wishing to attend the first day hearing remotely must register their appearance using the eCourt Appearance tool, which is available here, when possible by 4:00 p.m. the day before the hearing, and no later than one hour before the scheduled hearing time. Pursuant to the Judicial Conference's remote access policy, public attendees, including members of the media, who choose not to attend in person may receive remote audio (but not video) access to those portions of the first day hearing that do not involve live witness testimony. However, public attendees are not permitted to remotely access any portions of the first day hearing that involve live witness testimony.
It is expected that Debtor's counsel will have consulted with the United States Trustee in advance regarding all relief to be requested at the "first day" hearing.

Evidentiary Hearings and Trials

Sworn written direct examinations or proffers should generally be used for trials and other evidentiary hearings, but upon a party's request, the Court will usually permit live direct testimony. Where written direct examinations or proffers are used, the witness must be available for cross-examination and redirect. Such sworn written statements shall be exchanged by the parties and submitted to Chambers no later than three business days before the hearing or trial.
Contested Matters. The following rules apply to contested matters under FED. R. BANKR. P. 9014: Unless otherwise provided by the Court, the parties shall exchange pre-marked exhibits (other than those intended to be used for rebuttal or impeachment) no less than five days before an evidentiary hearing on any contested matter, and shall provide two indexed sets of exhibits to Chambers at least three days before the evidentiary hearing. Reasonable requests to modify the date for exchange of pre-marked exhibits generally will be granted if the parties agree or if the matter’s litigation schedule makes the five-day requirement impracticable. Parties are strongly encouraged to confer regarding the admissibility of exhibits prior to the hearing.
Adversary Proceedings. The following rules apply to adversary proceedings: Unless the Court orders otherwise, parties in adversary proceedings should submit to the Court (i) a joint scheduling order at least two days before the first pretrial conference and (ii) a joint pretrial order at least two business days before the final pretrial conference, or if no such conference is scheduled, at least seven days before any scheduled trial date. Judge Bentley’s forms of scheduling order and joint pretrial order can be found on Judge Bentley's home page under "Forms."
Parties are strongly encouraged to file motions in limine with respect to proposed evidence whose exclusion will materially affect the conduct of the trial. Such motions must be filed at least ten days before trial, with responses due at least five days before trial.

Discovery Disputes

Pursuant to Local Rule 7007-1(b), discovery motions may not be filed until the parties have (i) conferred to attempt to resolve the dispute and (ii) participated in a conference with the Court. Parties should contact Chambers to request a discovery conference, which may be telephonic.
Before any request for a conference on a discovery issue, the party requesting the conference is required to make a good faith effort to resolve the dispute with opposing counsel consistent with Local Rule 7007-1(a).
Parties may contact Chambers by telephone regarding disputes that arise during depositions or in other situations requiring immediate judicial attention. Parties should attempt to avoid the need for such applications and must make a good faith effort to resolve a dispute before contacting Chambers.

Remote Appearances

Remote Access to Hearings. In accordance with the policy adopted by the Judicial Conference of the United States, effective September 22, 2023, concerning the public's remote access to civil and bankruptcy proceedings, hearings before Judge Bentley will be conducted as set forth below. Information about the Judicial Conference's remote access policy can be found here. For Judge Bentley's rules concerning remote testimony, see the "Remote Testimony" section of these chambers rules.
- Evidentiary Proceedings. Trials and other evidentiary hearings that are expected to include live testimony (as distinct from hearings at which all direct testimony is by declaration and no cross-examination is expected) will be held in-person in Judge Bentley's courtroom unless the Court orders otherwise. Parties in interest, and their attorneys, representatives, interpreters and witnesses, may attend either in person or by Zoom for Government. Pursuant to the Judicial Conference's remote access policy, public attendees, including members of the media, generally may not access evidentiary hearings via remote means but instead should attend in-person in Judge Bentley's courtroom.
- Non-Evidentiary Proceedings. Hearings that are not expected to include live testimony, as well as conferences and other routine matters, will be conducted remotely via Zoom for Government unless the Court orders otherwise. Any person--whether a party or a member of the public--wishing to attend the remote hearing must register their appearance using the eCourt Appearance tool, which is available here, by 4:00 p.m. the business day before the hearing or conference. Applicable Zoom hearing procedures are available here. Pursuant to the Judicial Conference's remote access policy, public attendees, including members of the media, may only receive remote audio access to the hearing. Upon prior request by any person, the Court will consider conducting the proceeding in a hybrid format that will permit unrestricted in-person observation of the proceeding in Judge Bentley's courtroom.
- In the event live testimony is needed at a hearing for which live testimony was not expected, public attendees will be excluded from the Zoom feed during the portion of the hearing involving live testimony and will be readmitted to the Zoom feed thereafter.
Outlook invitations to persons who registered for remote access will be sent after 4:00 p.m. the business day before the hearing. Please do not contact Chambers before the 4:00 p.m. deadline to ask whether you have successfully registered. Once you have registered you will see a screen that states "Thank you for registering your appearance in [Case number/name]." This is confirmation that you have successfully registered.
Remote Testimony. Witnesses may be permitted to testify by Zoom or other contemporaneous transmission from a location other than the courtroom only upon an application demonstrating "good cause in compelling circumstances and with appropriate safeguards," as required by Rule 43(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, made applicable by Rule 9017 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure. When time permits, such an application should be made in advance of the hearing by filing and serving a motion on notice of presentment. A form of order authorizing remote testimony can be found on Judge Bentley's home page under "Forms." In exigent circumstances, or if the need for the testimony first arises at the hearing, an application to allow remote testimony may be made orally at the hearing.
- In determining whether good cause in compelling circumstances has been shown, the Court will consider, among other things, whether all parties to the proceeding consent to the remote testimony.
- Appropriate safeguards for remote witness testimony include the following requirements, which should be included in any proposed order:
  - During the testimony of the remote witness, no other person may be present in the room from which the remote witness is testifying;
  - The witness may not have in the room any documents except his or her declaration in lieu of direct testimony and all parties' exhibits submitted to the Court, with no notes or other annotations added to any such documents; and
  - From the beginning to the end of any remote witness's testimony, including during any breaks in the testimony, the remote witness shall not communicate with counsel or anyone else about his or her testimony, including by email or text, unless authorized to do so by the Court.
- All remote witnesses shall be sworn in over Zoom, and such testimony will have the same effect as if such remote witness was sworn in person in open court at the courthouse. In the event of an error or malfunction with Zoom, the remote witness may be sworn in and testify via the dial-in number included in the Zoom invitation. The party offering a remote witness shall be responsible for ensuring that the Zoom link and all parties' exhibits are supplied to the remote witness prior to the hearing or, in the case of impeachment exhibits, at the hearing. Fact witnesses testifying via Zoom shall utilize the Zoom link only during the time they are testifying. Upon the conclusion of his or her testimony, the witness shall disconnect from the Zoom link.

Case Management Orders

Parties are expected to check the docket to ascertain whether a Case Management Order has been entered or amended, and to comply with the requirements of any such order. In the event of any conflict between these Chambers Rules and the requirements of any Case Management Order, the Case Management Order will control.

Chapter 13

Please see the ‘Chapter 13’ tab above for additional Chapter 13 rules, procedures, and available hearing dates.

Miscellaneous

Judge Bentley aspires to promptly resolve all matters before him and typically acts within three or fewer business days on conference requests and on orders submitted following presentment, a certificate of no objection or an oral ruling. If any party is concerned that the Court may be overlooking any proposed order or other request, the party may so inform Chambers by emailing pb.chambers@nysb.uscourts.gov, copying all counsel and pro se parties who have appeared in the case, and referencing the case name and docket number, the motion or application about which the party is inquiring, and the date of the last relevant submission or argument. Parties also may notify Chambers if forty-five days have passed following the later of a hearing or the last date of supplemental briefing on a motion or contested matter on which Judge Bentley has reserved decision.

Questions for Chambers should be directed to Greg White, Courtroom Deputy, or if necessary, to the law clerk assigned to the case. However, counsel are urged to limit all communications with Chambers to matters that cannot be resolved without such direct communication.
Attorneys seeking to participate must be admitted to the Court or admitted pro hac vice. See Local Rule 2090-1.
Where relatively junior attorneys are familiar with a matter under consideration but have less in-court experience than a colleague, Judge Bentley welcomes the junior lawyer’s active participation and is amenable to allowing more than one attorney to speak during the proceeding. The ultimate decision of who speaks on behalf of a client rests with counsel, not the Court.

Electronic or other visual presentations (e.g., PowerPoint) that parties wish to use at oral argument must be emailed to Chambers and filed prior to the hearing. Absent alternative arrangements approved by the Court, all such presentations must be emailed to Chambers and filed (a) by 5:00 p.m. the day before a morning hearing and (b) by 10:00 a.m. the day of an afternoon hearing. Presentations that are not emailed to Chambers and filed in timely fashion may be rejected.

Forms

Scheduling Order for Adversary Proceedings

Rule 2004 Order

Joint Pretrial Order

Order for Leave to Appear Virtually

Chapter 13 Forms

Chapter 13 Plan (Fillable PDF)

Chapter 13 Confirmation Order (PDF)

Loss Mitigation Order (MS Word | PDF)

Order Approving Loan Modification (MS Word | PDF)

Order Approving Trial Loan Modification (MS Word | PDF)

Calendars

Court Calendar

Opinions

Judge Bentley Opinions

Zoom Hearings

Our Zoom Video Hearing Guide is a complete reference for information about how to connect to Zoom®

eCourt Appearances

Participants are required to register their appearance by 4:00 PM one business day before any scheduled Zoom® or in person hearing with our new eCourt Appearances tool.

Chapter 13

Available Hearing Dates
Adjournments
Loss Mitigation
Chapter 13 Plan (Fillable PDF)
Chapter 13 Confirmation Order (PDF)
Guidelines for Submission of Electronic Orders (PDF)

Profile

Philip Bentley was sworn in as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York on September 7, 2022. He received his B.A. degree cum laude in 1981 from Yale College and his J.D. degree cum laude in 1984 from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar.

Prior to joining the Court, Judge Bentley was a partner in the bankruptcy and restructuring department of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP. His practice focused on complex litigation in bankruptcy courts, as well as other federal and state courts. In addition to occasionally representing debtors, trustees and examiners, he represented official committees and other creditor groups in some of most challenging bankruptcies of recent decades, including Purdue Pharma, Puerto Rico, Residential Capital, Madoff Investment Securities, General Motors, W.R. Grace, Adelphia Communications, WorldCom and Dow Corning.

Judge Bentley is a regular speaker on bankruptcy issues. He is a member of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and the Federal Bar Council’s Bankruptcy Litigation Committee, and he has served as a court-appointed mediator in several chapter 11 cases, including Celsius Network. Prior to his appointment, he was a member of the advisory board for the American Bankruptcy Institute’s annual New York City Bankruptcy Conference, as well as a longstanding member of the Policy Committee of Human Rights Watch.

United States Bankruptcy Court

Southern District of New York

Honorable Martin Glenn, Chief Judge • Vito Genna, Clerk of Court

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Judge Philip Bentley

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Chapter 13 Forms