From: Kent, Washington

March Member of the Month Jay Jump is well known to the NACBA membership. NACBA’s State Chair for the state of Washington and a frequent panelist at NACBA’s educational programs (including a panel at next month’s Annual Convention entitled “Drowning in a Sea of Paper? Technology Can Save You from BAPCPA!”), Jay is the owner of the Jump Law Group (www.jumplawgroup.com), a solo practice dedicated to bankruptcy, consumer protection, and aviation law. The Jump Law Group serves the Western District of Washington for consumer and bankruptcy law and is a nationwide aviation law firm.

When asked about his most significant work, Jay cited his work in taking creditors to task for their negligence and cavalier attitude towards debtors. He takes special pride in obtaining rulings requiring creditors to comply with their own rules and laws and particularly enjoys using the consumer protection statutes and the creditors’ own contracts against them! NACBA members are familiar with Jay’s case, In Re Henry, 311 B.R. 813 (Bankr. W.D. Wash. 2004), which set forth the requirements for an acceptable POC (rather than just a statement that ‘X’ amount was owed) and caused a nationwide stir in POCs being filed. Jay notes that although the law set forth in Henry has been whittled away, he has quietly found ways to keep it alive and has chosen other avenues of attack to continue to force creditors to comply with the law. Most recently, Jay has turned his efforts to battling foreclosure scam artists and taking on mortgage brokers for predatory lending.

Jay graduated from the University of Arizona (B.A. Communications, B.A. Political Science) in 1995 and Gonzaga School of Law in 1998. He attributes his decision to go to law school to “not being readily employable and not yet ready to give up the easy-going college lifestyle.” He began his practice as a public defender for the City of Spokane and got into bankruptcy law only by accident after becoming a contract attorney for a Seattle firm that was opening a practice in Spokane. He attended the firm’s 341 meetings and eventually partnered with them to form a state-wide practice .The Jump Law Group was born when Jay’s partner left to pursue non-lawyerly interests.

From the “chalk it up to experience” files: “My most infamous case was a Chapter 11 that I had no business being in. I took on a case that involved some land deals that had gone sour. There was an issue of an unlawful foreclosure which we won and the Court ordered a $45,000.00 damages award. However, my client then turned this issue into a multi-million dollar case (which was not based in any law or fact). He had attorneys working in Los Angeles, Washington, and Colorado. It was a terrible situation where the client was running his attorneys instead of the other way around. After six weeks I asked the court to let me withdraw but my request was denied. Finally, 10 months later, the Judge was convinced and he let me out. My replacement ended up getting disbarred because he filed the pleadings I had feared would lead to Rule 11 sanctions and was hit with about $30,000.00 in sanctions by the LA District Bankruptcy Court. Of course, my former client ended up suing me for nineteen million dollars which I defeated on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion. Since I was a creditor in the estate for attorneys fees and costs (over $100,000), I was able to eventually foreclose on his properties for my attorney fees. My client is presently in jail and will remain there until he discloses what he did with all the money derived from the bankruptcy estate. I still have nightmares from the case, but at the end of the day, I realized Chapter 7s and 13s are easy. Chapter 11s – not so much. Anyone who buys me several rounds of drinks is welcome to hear all the sordid details.”

Jay joined NACBA in 2004 and attended his first convention in Boston. “NACBA has been a great source of information. I have been honored to be able to speak at each of the NACBA Conventions on office technology and claims objections since I joined and it feels so good to give something back for the benefit I have received. I have met many people through NACBA and my knowledge has gone up exponentially since joining.”

In addition to his bankruptcy law expertise, Jay also practices aviation law and is a frequent national speaker (via his own plane!) on the topics of aviation law and FAA enforcement. Jay is also a Captain in the Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary of the United States Air Force. The CAP spends a lot of time educating people about aerospace and its various related fields as well as conducting search and rescue flights and assisting the Air National Guard.

Jay has some words of advice for his fellow NACBA members: “Do not despair if business is not what it used to be. Congress didn’t cure the problem of too much debt and it doesn’t look like they are going to anytime soon. Now is the time to retool your offices in this slow period and get ready for the onslaught that is coming. The numbers will come back and be as strong as ever. It is regrettably inevitable. In the meantime, go take some creditors to task.”