Judge Sean H. Lane

Staff Information

One Bowling Green
New York, NY 10004-1408
Chambers: (212) 668-5637
Courtroom: 701

Courtroom Deputy: Liza Ebanks
(212) 284-4045

Law Clerk: Christine Azzaro
(212) 284-4047

Law Clerk: Cassandra Aquart
(212) 284-4046

Law Clerk: Shawn Dixon
(212) 284-4048

Law Clerk: Jacob Oksman

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Chambers' Rules

Unless otherwise ordered, matters before Judge Lane 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 to Courtroom Deputy Liza Ebanks, with the exception of Chapter 13 scheduling requests which should be directed to Tracey Mercado, Chapter 13 Specialist.

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 until the movant contacts Chambers for a hearing date.

Parties may not grant extensions of time on briefing without prior consent from Chambers.

Adjournments normally will be granted if agreed to by all parties seeking or opposing the relief in question. If an adjournment is not consented to by both parties, a request for adjournment should be submitted to Chambers stating the basis for the request, copied to the other side.

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 must be noticed on the docket with 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.

Orders to Show Cause

Parties must contact Chambers prior to filing an order to show cause or motion to shorten time. (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 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.

Injunctive relief will not, except in a demonstrated emergency, be granted without the party against whom relief is sought being given an opportunity to be heard.

Notices of Presentment

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 must contact the Courtroom Deputy for a hearing date if there is an objection.

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.

Submission of Orders

Proposed orders in all cases other than Chapter 13 must be submitted with the moving papers in Word or WordPerfect format. Exhibits to an order may be submitted as “.PDF” documents.

Proposed orders in all cases other than Chapter 13 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. Exhibits to an order may be submitted as “.PDF” documents.
- Orders submitted by email in all cases other than Chapter 13 should be sent to shl.orders@nysb.uscourts.gov in Word or WordPerfect format only. Exhibits to an order may be submitted as “.PDF” documents.
- Proposed orders should not be emailed to individual members of Chambers or the Clerk’s Office, unless you are instructed to do so.

Proposed orders in Chapter 13 cases shall be submitted only after the Court has ruled on the underling motion and shall only be submitted to the Chapter 13 Specialist, Tracey Mercado, by email to nyc13orders@nysb.uscourts.gov, with a hard copy to Ms. Mercado. All proposed orders in Chapter 13 cases must be submitted in Word or WordPerfect format.

All proposed orders (including Chapter 7, 11, 13 and 15 cases) submitted to the Court by email should be accompanied by a cover email that contains the following information:

The name, telephone number and email address of the person submitting the order.

The case name and the ECF document numbers of the relevant motion papers.

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.

2004 Orders

Requests for 2004 orders may be submitted ex parte but the Court in its discretion may require notice and a hearing.

Sealing Orders

Requests for filing and maintaining information under seal may be submitted ex parte and must indicate the grounds for sealing. A party requesting sealing must submit to Chambers both a copy of (a) the relevant pleading in proposed redacted form for filing on the docket and (b) the unredacted form. Every proposed order requesting sealing must provide (1) for the movant to unseal or dispose of the confidential information at the conclusion of the matter, and (2) that it is without prejudice to the rights of any party in interest, or the UST, to seek to unseal the document or any part of it. After the sealing order has been entered, the requesting party must provide to the Office of the Clerk of Court the signed sealing order, together with one hard copy and one soft copy (on CD or flash drive) of the unredacted document(s) to be sealed, which document(s) will be placed in the Court’s vault.

Conferences

Requests for conferences should ordinarily be made by letter emailed to shl.orders@nysb.uscourts.gov, together with a follow-up call to Liza Ebanks, Courtroom Deputy. The letter requesting the conference should ordinarily 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.

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 40 pages in length. Reply briefs shall be no more than 20 pages exclusive of the table of contents and table of authorities.

Copies of Pleadings

Parties must provide a hard copy of every pleading, with exhibits, to chambers at the time of service.

"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. The Court will not ordinarily schedule a hearing on “first day” motions until the second day of a case.

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

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. Where such written direct examinations or proffers are used, the witness should be available for cross-examination and redirect.

Unless otherwise provided by the Court, the parties shall exchange pre-marked exhibits no less than fourteen days before trial of any matter.

Parties in adversary proceedings should be prepared at the first pretrial conference to submit a joint pretrial scheduling order. Judge Lane’s form of pretrial scheduling order can be found here.

Parties in adversary proceedings are required to submit to the Court a joint pretrial order at least seven days before the trial date unless the Court orders otherwise. Judge Lane’s form of joint pretrial order can be found here.

Motions in limine with respect to proposed evidence whose exclusion will materially affect the conduct of the trial must be filed at least five days before trial, with responses due at least two days before trial.

Discovery Disputes

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 discovery conference, which may be conducted by telephone in most cases.
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).

Telephonic Appearances

Unless the Court provides otherwise, parties wishing to participate in or listen in on 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 are required to receive permission from Chambers prior to registering with CourtCall. Such “live” telephonic appearances are normally discouraged where counsel intends to make substantive argument. 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 necessary.

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.

Chapter 13

All questions regarding Chapter 13 cases should be directed to the Chapter 13 Specialist, Tracey Mercado at (212) 284-4077. All orders must be submitted to Ms. Mercado’s attention.

Case Management Orders

Case Management Orders are often entered in cases where 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 these Chambers Rules and the requirements of any Case Management Order, the Case Management Order will control.

Miscellaneous

Questions on all other issues should be directed to Chambers, either to Liza Ebanks, Courtroom Deputy or the law clerk assigned to the case.

Calendars

Court Calendar

Chapter 13 Schedule

Opinions

Judge Lane's Opinions

Profile

Sean H. Lane was sworn in as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York on September 7, 2010.

Judge Lane earned his B.A. from New York University College of Arts & Science in 1987 and his J.D. degree from New York University School of Law in 1991. He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Edmund V. Ludwig, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, from 1991-92. Judge Lane also clerked for the Honorable Charles R. Richey, United States District Judge for the District of Columbia, from 1992-93. From 1993 through 1997, he practiced with the law firm of Baker Hostetler in Washington, D.C., and thereafter he served as a Trial Attorney in the Department of Justice, Civil Division, National Courts Section, until 2000. From 2000 until he was appointed to the bench, Judge Lane served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, including serving as the Chief of the Tax & Bankruptcy Unit of that Office. During his time in the US Attorney's Office, he was awarded the Attorney General's Distinguished Service Award in 2005 and the Henry L. Stimson Medal by the New York City Bar Association in 2008.

Judge Lane is a member of the Federal Bar Council. He has served as an Adjunct Professor at both New York University School of Law and Fordham Law School.

Southern District of New York

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Judge Sean H. Lane

Staff Information

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