BREAKING: Bankruptcy Blues--Another federal judge takes sua sponte action regarding blogger Douglas Handshoe

It didn't take long for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court sitting in Gulfport, Mississippi to set a date for a motion to convert or dismiss Slabbed New Media's bankruptcy--Judge Katharine Samson acted on

her own within a matter of hours after the U.S. Trustee filed to dismiss the case. 

Mississippi blogger Douglas Handshoe put his sole-proprietor shell company Slabbed New Media, LLC into voluntary bankruptcy in June, 2015, immediately after Louisiana's 5th Circuit Court of Appeal turned down his request to reconsider its decision denying Handshoe's anti-SLAPP motion in the defamation lawsuit against him by process server Chris Yount. SLAPP stands for "strategic lawsuit against public participation." Bankruptcy judge Samson just this week sua sponte set a hearing on the U.S. Trustee's motion to convert the preposterous Slabbed bankruptcy into an involuntary, Chapter 7 bankruptcy, or to dismiss the case altogether. Neither option looks good for Handshoe.

Within the past few months, Judge Halil Ozerden and Judge Keith Starrett have also sua sponte taken action in Handshoe lawsuits, a sign that perhaps the patience for the litigious Handshoe in the Southern District of Mississippi is wearing thin. Judge Starrett dismissed Handshoe's case in its entirety. Judge Ozerden is considering two motions to dismiss filed by the National Geographic Society and the parent company of the Toronto Star newspaper--two of the many media outlets Handshoe has sued for "conspiracy" against him. Blogger Handshoe is suing the press for "conspiring" with a Canadian wilderness lodge to take away his "free speech rights"-- hypocrisy anyone? What happened to journalistic freedom, Doug? Freedom for you but no one else . . .

Judge Samson should have good reason to scrutinize what Handshoe is attempting to do using her court. As the U.S. Trustee poins out in its motion:

This small business case has been pending for almost nine months. On January 11, 2016, the Court entered its Order extending the time for the Debtor to file a disclosure statement and plan. DKT. #58. The January 11, 2016, Order provided the Debtor an additional sixty days, or until March 11, 2016, to file a disclosure statement and plan. Id. But as of the filing of this motion, the Debtor has not filed a disclosure statement or a confirmable plan of reorganization.

So Handshoe missed the deadline ordered by Judge Samson, even after she was nice enough to give him an extra 60 days to get his "reorganization" of Slabbed together. Perhaps the $11,000 Handshoe "loaned" to Slabbed to pay to bankruptcy lawyer Craig Geno has run out? Now why would you loan money to your bankrupt company that earns a few hundred dollars every few months?

In any event, though Handshoe did not appear on the initial listing of purported creditors, in October, 2015, Handshoe filed papers saying Slabbed owed him $500,000! Huh?!?!

"There appears to be no assets for the Debtor to protect through this bankruptcy proceeding," says the U.S. Trustee in its March 14, 2016, filing. The Trustee's motion has detailed exactly what kind of "business" Handshoe is running:

According to the Debtor’s most recently-filed monthly operating report (“MOR”) for December 2015, the Debtor reported $165 in total income and $136 in total expenses for December 2015. DKT. #60. According to the Debtor’s November 2015 MOR, the Debtor reported $100 in total income and $506 in total expenses for November 2015. DKT. #57.
According to the Debtor’s October 2015 MOR, the Debtor reported $115 in total income and $137 in total expenses for October 2015. DKT. #53.

Wow! How many tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars do you think is being spent on this "bankruptcy" of his little LLC put in motion by Mr. Handshoe? And for what purpose? Abuse of the court's process????

One thing Handshoe got out of filing for Chapter 11 protection is that Chris Yount's lawsuit against him and Slabbed is, at least for the time being, automatically stayed. Sound like bad faith?

So, Judge Samson will have a lot to think about for that hearing she set for April 28 . . . Should be a good show. It's scheduled for 1:30 pm and everyone should attend. Will Craig Geno be there?