Trial Leads to Denial of Discharge for Attorney-Debtor

After five years of litigation and three days of trial, this office secured a ruling denying a discharge in bankruptcy to an attorney who filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy attempting to escape litigation debts. See Phillips v. Gilman (In re Gilman), 2016 WL 8115713 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. 2016). The ruling represents the latest in an unbroken chain of victories at trial over litigants represented by so-called "Super Lawyers." The debtor was represented by Sacramento attorney Mark Ellis of the Ellis Law Group, LLP. Ellis represented the debtor in the underlying state court where, after trial, the debtor was held to have knowingly engaged in unfair debt collection practices.