More Reasons Not to File Bankruptcy By Yourself

No one likes being the butt of a joke.  This week on a national bankruptcy email list, an order from 2006 was being circulated for the 2nd or 3rd time since it’s original writing 7 years ago.  The Order is an order rejecting the request of a seemingly well meaning, but woefully incompetent pro se debtor.

The judge styled the order as an Order Denying Motion for Incomprehensibility, and the hits just kept coming.  The judge went on to state that he could not “determine the substance, if any, of the Defendant’s legal argument, nor can the court even ascertain the relief that the Defendant is requesting.  The Defendant’s Motion is accordingly denied for being incomprehensible.”

As if that were not enough, the judge decided to expand on his thoughts about the absurdity of the motion before him:

“Or, in the words of the competition judge to Adam Sandler’s title character in the movie, “Billy Madison,” after Billy Madison had responded to a question with an answer that sounded superficially reasonable but lacked any substance,

Mr. Madison, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I’ve ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response was there anything that could even be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Deciphering motions like the one presented here wastes valuable chamber staff time, and invites this sort of footnote.”

A little too harsh?  I thought so, so I decided I had to go see the motion of which the judge was so critical.  So, the judge was a bit harsh, but I see where he was coming from.  Ladies and gentlemen, this thing was bad.  Have you ever heard of buzzword bingo?  Well, that’s what this gibberish motion was.  It was someone training themselves for litigation by watching episodes of The Practice and reading superficial legal blogs without the foundation to understand.  The Defendant used an impressive list of impressive sounding legalese, but the Judge was absolutely correct.  It was pure, incomprehensible gibberish.

And now, 7 years later, this man who decided he didn’t need a bankruptcy attorney, is still the butt of jokes.

If you need a lawyer and think you can’t afford one, I would still encourage you to give us a call or send us an email.  The Grafton Firm is a family oriented firm of Maryland Bankruptcy Attorneys, Litigation Attorneys, and Estate Attorneys.  We work with our clients to provide the solutions they need in a manner that they can afford.  Let us see how we can help you too.

About the Author:  William Grafton is a Maryland Bankruptcy Lawyer and Co-Owner of the Grafton Firm, LLC.  He has written, lectured, and educated on credit related topics for nearly 10 years and is happy to be bringing his expertise to the Baltimore Metro area.