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Ilyse Homer is the Team Manager of Berger Singerman’s Business Reorganization Team.  She concentrates her practice in bankruptcy, insolvency, creditors’ rights, commercial litigation, bankruptcy appeals in District Court and before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, and assignments for benefit of creditors which are state court liquidation proceedings pursuant to Florida Statutes.

Representative Experience

  • Debtor’s counsel to largest independent minority owned distributor of medical supplies in United States
  • Counsel to ad hoc committee of homeowners in chapter 7 debtor case
  • Counsel to chapter 7 trustee in case where debtor transferred in excess of $7 million to offshore asset protection trust
  • Counsel to trustee of Piper Aircraft Irrevocable Trust
  • Counsel to assignees and assignors
  • Reported decisions include the following appellate matters:
    • Leslie S. Osbourne v. Denise J. Dumoulin, 55 So. 3d 577 (Fla. 2011)
      • Holding that, for the purpose of the statutory personal property exemption in Fla. Stat. section 222.25(4), a debtor in bankruptcy does not receive the benefits of Florida's constitutional homestead exemption where the debtor owns homestead property but does not claim the exemption in bankruptcy and the trustee's administration of the property is not otherwise impeded by the existence of the exemption.
    • In re Piccadilly Cafeterias, Inc., 2007 WL 1138867 (11th Cir. 2007)
      • Holding that Bankruptcy Code section 1146(a)’s stamp tax exemption applies to transactions necessary to consummation of a confirmed chapter 11 plan. This ruling was reversed by the United States Supreme Court which sided with other circuit courts of appeal which have that the exemption contemplated by section 1146(a) only applies to transfers under a chapter 11 plan.
    • Chames v. De Mayo, 972 So. 2d 850 (Fla. 2007)
      • Holding that there can be no waiver of the homestead protection provided for in Florida’s constitution in respect of an unsecured claim as distinguished from a secured (mortgage) claim.
    • In re Westwood Community Two Ass’n, Inc., 2006 WL 940647 (11th Cir. April 12, 2006)
      • Affirming order denying fees and ordering fees received by trustee’s counsel disgorged because counsel had no right to be paid from funds derived from an improper assessment against non-debtor homeowners where such funds were not estate property and because counsel ran the risk of nonpayment and disgorgement if the estate turned out to be insolvent. 
    • Cowan Liebowitz & Latman, P.C. v. Kaplan, 2005 WL 610162 (Fla. Mar. 17, 2005)
      • Holding that parties may assign claims for legal malpractice committed in preparing private placement memoranda, and receding from dicta in prior caselaw purporting to prohibit the assignment of all legal malpractice claims.
    • In re Piper Aircraft Corp., 362 F.3d 736 (11th Cir. 2004)
      • Affirming denial of post-confirmation motion to compel the trustee for the Piper Aircraft Irrevocable Trust to furnish certain records that the trustee supplied to actuaries in connection with a re-computation process directed by the Trust where movant had received all documents required by the Trust and it failed to negotiate a provision requiring the trustee to provide further documentation.
    • In re World Wide Web Systems, Inc., 328 F.3d 1291 (11th Cir. 2003)
      • Affirming denial of defendants/appellants’ motion to vacate default judgment in avoidance action where they failed to establish “excusable neglect,” that is, a meritorious defense that might have affected the outcome; granting the motion would not result in prejudice to the non-defaulting party, and (3) a good reason existed for failing to reply to the complaint.
    • In re Westwood, 293 F.3d 1332 (11th Cir. 2002)
      • Reversing district court and holding that unofficial committee of homeowners had standing as an aggrieved party to appeal from bankruptcy court orders which denied reconsideration of allowed claims against debtor homeowner association for punitive damages and fees.
    • In re Lawrence, 235 B.R. 498 (S.D. Fla. 1999)
      • Holding that the debtor’s pension plan was not “ERISA-qualified” under the Supreme Court’s Patterson v. Shumate decision, and that the debtor’s interest in a plan could not be excluded from property of the estate and did not qualify for special state law exemption.
    • In re Piper, 58 F.3d 1573 (11th Cir. 1995)
      • Affirming that district court properly applied the prepetition relationship test, rather than the conduct test in determining whether future claimants had preconfimation claims and adopting modified prepetition relationship test termed “Piper test” for determining whether party has pre-confirmation claim against debtor.  Under Piper test, debtor’s prepetition conduct gives rise to claim to be administered in case only if there is a relationship established before confirmation between identifiable claimant or group of claimants and that prepetition conduct. 

Professional & Community Involvement

  • Member of the Bankruptcy Bar Association, the Business Law Section of The Florida Bar, and the American Bar Association

Articles & Presentations

Articles

  • Co-author for the National Law Journal regarding future claims in bankruptcy as it related to the Piper Aircraft Corporation, which was pending in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida and which was successfully confirmed in June 1995 (In re: Piper Aircraft Corporation, Case No. 91-31884-BKC-RAM, November 27, 1995)
  • The Record, a quarterly publication of the Appellate Section of The Florida Bar entitled Standards of Review Applicable in the Eleventh Circuit, Spring, 2003
  • The Record, Standing in Bankruptcy Appeals Refined, Fall, 2002
  • The Record, The Collateral Order Doctrine, Spring, 2002
  • The Record, Judge Rosemary Barkett: 2001 Recipient of James C. Adkins Award, Fall, 2001
  • The Record, Practicing in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals: Avoiding Common Pitfalls, Fall, 2000

Prior Affiliations

  • Stroock & Stroock & Lavan