United States Bankruptcy Court
One Bowling Green New York, NY 10004-1408 Chambers: (212) 668-5660 Courtroom: 523 Courtroom Deputy: Helene Blum (212) 284-4034 Law Clerk: Elizabeth Downing (212) 284-4035 Law Clerk: Priya Merrill (212) 284-4036
Unless otherwise ordered, matters before Judge Gerber shall be conducted in accordance with any Case Management Order entered in the case and to the extent not inconsistent, the following practices:
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 to Helene Blum, Courtroom Deputy.
Requests for relief requiring a hearing that are filed without first obtaining a hearing date will not be acted on.
Parties may not grant extensions of time on briefing without prior consent from Chambers.
Adjournments, other than those requested at the hearing, will be granted only if agreed to by all parties seeking or opposing the relief in question or, after consent is sought and denied, as granted by the Court after a request to Chambers, copied to the other side, and stating the basis for the request. The moving party must contact the Courtroom Deputy to obtain the adjournment.
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 must be noticed with the filing and service of a “Notice of Adjournment” prior to the original hearing date. A hearing will not be officially adjourned until the Notice of Adjournment is filed on the Electronic Case Filing (ECF) System.
Parties must contact Chambers prior to seeking 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, proposed order to show cause (in Word or WordPerfect format only) and one or more supporting affidavits, including an affidavit showing why an order to show cause is necessary.
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.
Parties wishing to move by notice of presentment should consult Local Bankruptcy Rules 9074-1 and 2002-2 to determine what matters may be handled on presentment. These rules also describe the notice and filing requirements when presenting a motion or application by presentment. If you have a question regarding whether a matter may be heard on presentment, please contact Chambers.
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 do need to contact the Courtroom Deputy for a hearing date in the event there is an objection.
After the applicable objection period has passed, the underlying motion and an electronic version of the proposed order in Word or WordPerfect format should be submitted to Chambers prior to the scheduled date and time for presentment. The cover must contain a representation that (i) the movant sought relief by notice of presentment and (ii) the objection period has passed and no objections were filed.
Proposed orders must be submitted with the moving papers in Word or WordPerfect format.
Proposed orders may be submitted either by mail or by email; however submission by email is preferred.
Orders submitted by mail should contain a hard copy of the order, accompanied by a CD Rom or flash drive containing an electronic copy of the order in Word or WordPerfect format.
Orders submitted by email should be sent to gerber.chambers@nysb.uscourts.gov in Word or WordPerfect format only.
Proposed orders should not be emailed to individual members of Chambers or the Clerk’s Office, unless you are instructed to do so.
In addition to the requirement above, any proposed orders submitted after the court has ruled must be submitted by email to gerber.chambers@nysb.uscourts.gov, and contain the following information:
(a) The name, telephone number and email address of the person submitting the order.
(b) The case name and the ECF document numbers of the relevant motion papers.
(c) If the relief was granted by the Court, the cover must contain a representation that the relief was granted and the date on which it was granted.
Requests for conferences should ordinarily be made by letter emailed to gerber.chambers@nysb.uscourts.gov, together with a follow-up call to Helene Blum, Courtroom Deputy. The letter requesting the conference should be filed on the Electronic Case Filing (ECF) System. The letter should include the reason for the conference request and must be no longer than two pages in length.
If a telephonic conference is granted, parties should submit a conference call-in number and passcode to Chambers.
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 permitted by the Court, moving and responsive briefs and motions shall be no more than 40 pages in length. Reply briefs shall be no more than 20 pages exclusive of the Table of Contents and Table of Authorities.
Parties must provide a hard copy of every brief and pleading, with exhibits, to Chambers at the time of service.
Parties wishing to schedule first day hearings in chapter 11 cases must 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.
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.
Parties in adversary proceedings should be prepared at the first pretrial conference to submit a joint pretrial scheduling order. A form pretrial scheduling order may be found here: Case Management_Scheduling Order Template.
Written direct examinations or proffers may be used for evidentiary hearings and trials at the direction of the Court, or at the request of the parties unless the Court orders otherwise.
Unless otherwise provided by the Court, the parties shall exchange pre-marked exhibits no less than fourteen days before trial.
Parties are required to submit to the Court a joint pretrial order at least seven days before the trial date unless the Court orders otherwise. A form joint pretrial order may be found here: Joint Pretrial Conference Order_Template.
Motions in limine must be filed at least fourteen days before trial, with responses due seven days before trial.
Pursuant to Local Rule 7007-1(b), discovery motions may not be filed until the parties have (a) conferred among themselves to resolve the dispute and (b) participated in a conference with the Court. Parties should contact Chambers to schedule a conference.
Prior to 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).
Unless the Court provides otherwise, parties wishing to participate in a hearing telephonically must register with CourtCall. Attorneys seeking to participate must be admitted to the Court or admitted pro hac vice. (See Local Rule 2090-1).
Information on how to register with CourtCall can be found here
Parties that wish to “listen in” on a hearing are not required to receive consent from Chambers prior to registering with CourtCall, nor to be admitted to the court or to be admitted pro hac vice.
Parties that wish to make a “live” telephonic appearance in order to speak or make argument are required to receive permission from Chambers prior to registering with CourtCall. Parties seeking permission to participate telephonically must call Chambers at least two business days prior to the hearing, and should be prepared to provide the following information: Name of party that the attorney is representing, the motion on which the attorney intends to argue, and the reason that a telephonic appearance is desired.
Counsel and pro se parties are not permitted to participate telephonically for any hearings of an evidentiary nature, including the examination of witnesses or the submission of evidence.
Case Management Orders will normally be entered in every case in which significant Court activity is forseeable. Parties are expected to check the docket to ascertain whether a Case Management Order has been entered (or amended), and to comply with Case Management Order requirements. In the event of any conflict between theses Chambers Rules and the requirements of any Case Management Order, the Case Management Order will control.
Questions on all other issues should be directed to Chambers, either to Helene Blum, Courtroom Deputy or the law clerk assigned to the case.
Court Calendar
Judge Gerber's Opinions
Robert E. Gerber is a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York. When appointed to the bench in 2000, he was a partner in the New York City law firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, where, with an interruption for service in the U.S. Air Force in 1971 and 1972, he practiced for 30 years, specializing in securities and commercial litigation and, thereafter, bankruptcy litigation and counseling. He practiced very nearly entirely in the bankruptcy area over his last 11 years of private practice, representing debtors and creditors in about equal numbers, principally in large chapter 11 cases.
Judge Gerber received a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Rutgers University, from which he graduated, with high honors, in 1967, and a J.D. degree from Columbia University, from which he graduated, magna cum laude, in 1970, and where, among other things, he was a James Kent Scholar.
He is a contributing author to Collier on Bankruptcy and is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy.
