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FEBRUARY 2023
Growing Together with You
A Wave of Attorneys are Flooding into Southwest Florida SURVIVING IAN’S THIRD SURGE
Consider this story a “Survival Guide for Southwest Floridians.” It’s a story about homeowners and business owners in our community who did everything they were supposed to do to protect themselves and their property and still got duped. They prepared for a hurricane. They bought insurance to protect their homes and businesses. Then, when a devastating hurricane hit, they learned firsthand that things weren’t what they thought. They are learning new terms like “wind-driven rain” and “not covered” and “depreciation.” Let’s go back to Sept. 28, 2022. Hurricane Ian’s storm surge came to town and devastated everything in its path. That was the first wave of destruction, and despite its devastation, we continued doing what we knew we should and began to rebuild, all while navigating (for many) the unknown waters of insurance claims. The second wave was the contractors and the public adjusters that flocked into town to help before the floodwaters receded. That wave promised to help our residents restore their properties to how they were before the storm and to make the insurance companies pay every nickel owed under their insurance policy. “Just sign here and we will make the insurance
company pay for everything,” and people signed, trusting that they would be helped.
are just going to run to the first attorney that is shouting the loudest, even though they are coming from as far away as Texas. Ask yourself, “Should a homeowner hire a local law firm, one from another part of the state, or worse, one from out of state? How did hiring an out-of-state contractor or public adjuster work out for those who did so? Should the homeowner hire a lawyer that they know, like, and trust, or should they hire the unknown lawyer from Jacksonville with the television commercial?” Doesn’t this sound a lot like the contractors and public adjusters that flooded Southwest Florida immediately after Ian left the area? The state of Florida has 90,000 licensed attorneys. Many are ready, willing, and able to help you with your insurance claim. However, is that the right attorney for you? Do you know the attorney? Do you like the attorney? Do you trust the attorney? These are important questions that you should be able to answer easily. When the calls started coming into our office regarding these types of cases, we let our clients know that every department in our office operates with the same level of communication and respect for our clients, and they don’t need to worry about hiring us for their Hurricane Ian claims. They know who we are and how we operate. Whether they are existing personal injury clients, bankruptcy clients, or we prepared their wills or estate plans, they will still experience the Dellutri Difference.
We now know that the insurance companies learned a lot from Hurricane Irma (Sept. 10, 2017) about how not to pay legitimate claims. Our community is feeling the effects of these insurance companies not wanting to pay what everyone believed were legitimate claims. The contractors haven’t been paid. The public adjusters haven’t been paid. The homeowners are left with either a denial letter or a much smaller check than they thought they would receive, and they are mad. Rightfully so! So, what’s a homeowner to do when the public adjuster is quoting $125,000 in damage to their home and the insurance company sends the homeowner a letter offering $10,000 on top of the deductible. The homeowner becomes enraged and starts looking for an attorney to sue the insurance company. Does all this sound familiar? In comes the third surge from the hurricane, the lawyers who will start filing lawsuits against the insurance companies. “Hire me, and I will sue your insurance company!” It’s like they believe that homeowners and business owners
Happy with our service? We’d love to hear from you! We are always honored when our clients and associates refer their friends, family, and colleagues our way — or simply say kind things about our firm. If there is anything we can do for you, please let us know. We’re here to help! Reach us any time at 888-889-8899 or DellutriLawGroup.com If you’d like to leave us a review, feel free to scan the QR code. We appreciate every word!
–Carmen Dellutri
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Can You Protect Your Homestead from Bankruptcy?
What If You Are Behind on Your Payments?
We know! The price of anything in the grocery store these days seems to stretch the budget, but what’s with eggs!? It’s not just grocery prices though. We are getting so many phone calls from people who just can’t make ends meet with the rising cost of it all. People are calling us because insurance prices are doubling (sometimes even tripling!), property insurance is up, hurricanes caused us to lose much-needed work hours, the list goes on. It’s like Floridians can’t catch a break. One of the biggest questions we get are from people concerned about what bankruptcy will do to their homesteads. So, we are here to provide answers to questions you never realized you’d have. Will filing for bankruptcy protect your homestead if you are behind on your payments? In Florida, the answer is usually yes. Now, that is not an all-encompassing yes. It is a qualified yes. If you plan on keeping the home, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy could afford you an opportunity to do so if you are behind on the payments. Likewise, if you are current on the payments and filing Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, the bankruptcy code allows you a way to continue making payments on your homestead. If you were concerned about equity in your homestead when you file bankruptcy, the answer is usually yes, it will be protected. That is, it will be protected if you want to keep the home, are willing to continue making the regular monthly payment, and intend to catch up on all missed payments over the life of your Chapter 13 plan. Unlimited Homestead Equity Protection There are only a few states that allow homeowners to have unlimited homestead equity protection. Florida is one of those states. For example, a creditor cannot go to court, win a judgment,
and put a lien on your homestead even if you own a $1 million house with no mortgage.
The creditor’s judgment will simply become a piece of paper that needs to be enforced another way. They cannot put a lien on your homestead provided there are no shenanigans with regard to your homestead. You will be able to sell your homestead free and clear of that creditor’s judgment lien, and you can keep the proceeds protected while you look for another home. Now, if you don’t reinvest all $1 million of those proceeds from the sale of your homestead, the creditor can possibly go after the remaining funds, but that’s a discussion for another time. Florida Law Favors the Homestead There may be times when your homestead equity could be subject to the bankruptcy court’s jurisdiction and your creditors’ claims, but those times are very few and far between. Again, if you and your family are behind on a few mortgage payments but are able to catch up, a Chapter 13 reorganization may be just what you need to save your home and all of the equity in that home. The state of Florida, its constitution, and case law interpreting homestead laws overwhelmingly favor protecting the home for Florida families. As a rule of thumb, the longer you own your home, the better off you are. But, even if you just purchased your home, you should be able to exempt the equity in your homestead without a problem. As always, it’s in your best interest to check with an experienced bankruptcy attorney before filing for personal bankruptcy and having a discussion with them about your homestead equity. A referral is the greatest gift we can receive from a client or fellow business! Last month we had ... • 25 referrals from friends, family, or previous clients • 37 returning clients for a new matter • 20 referrals from other attorneys • 5 referrals from doctors and other professionals • We sent out 97 referrals to our trusted referral partners. A Huge Thank-You to Our Referral Partners!
Testimonial Our Clients Say It Best
“Best of the best! They helped me in my time of need when I had no clue how to get out from underneath all my debt! Always responds quickly and made everything that should’ve been stressful so easy. Explained all my options, and once I made my mind up, they did all the heavy lifting from there. Great communication and professionalism! I will always be grateful of their wonderful services!” –T.F. GOOGLE REVIEW — DECEMBER 2022
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Not All Heroes Wear Capes This One Rents Bounce Houses!
Curried Steak With Scallion Rice and Peas Inspired by MarthaStewart.com
Brittany Slack is one of the most amazing people we’ve ever met. Two months ago, she witnessed a terrible car crash — and instead of gawking from the sidelines, she took action! “Just after it happened, everyone was just standing there,” she remembers. “I left my car parked in the middle of the road and jumped out. I didn’t even think about it.” Brittany ran for the crushed vehicle. An older woman was slumped behind the wheel, so Brittany wrenched the door open and immediately started CPR. It worked! When the paramedics arrived, Brittany helped them pull the woman from the car. In our book, Brittany is a hero! When she isn’t doing her best to save lives in her invisible cape, she’s working hard as an entrepreneur, wife, and mom! Brittany and her husband, JC Poroj, co-own Family First Events and Rentals here in Fort Myers. They make events special with their bounce houses, water slides, tent rentals, balloon decor, concession machines, tables and chairs, generators, and more. We’ve seen them tackle birthday parties, weddings, and everything in between. “I love getting an idea and just being able to run with it, envision it, and make somebody’s thoughts and dreams come true,” Brittany says, adding that Family First is totally full-service. Not only will Brittany save your wedding cake if it falls (true story!), but she and JC will also find any other vendors you need to make the day happen. And unlike some other rental companies in town, they always deliver their equipment sparkling clean and looking new. Want to hear the cutest part? Brittany’s 4-year-old, Leo, names every bounce house at Family First. Talk about a family business! To learn more about Family First, visit FamilyFirstEventsAndRentals.com or call Brittany at 239-284-0843.
INGREDIENTS
• 1 lb flank steak, room temperature • Kosher salt and ground pepper • 3 tbsp massaman curry paste, divided • 1 1/4 cups white rice • 2 1/2 cups water, divided
• 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided • 1 bunch scallions, thinly
sliced, white and light- green parts separated from dark-green tops 8 oz sugar snap peas, trimmed and halved on the bias
•
DIRECTIONS
What’s the Good News ? “The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you … and you will be changed into a different person.” 1 SAMUEL 10:6 1. Season steak with salt and pepper. Brush with 1 tbsp curry paste, and let stand 10 minutes. 2. In a saucepan, combine rice, 1 3/4 cups water, 1 tbsp oil, and 3/4 tsp salt. Bring to a boil, then stir, cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer about 15 minutes before adding white and light-green scallions. Cover to steam. 3. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Swirl in 1 tbsp oil. Add the steak, flipping once; cook this for 7–9 minutes, then transfer to a carving board. 4. Reduce the skillet to medium heat, then add 1 tbsp oil and the remaining 2 tbsp curry paste. Cook this for 1 minute. Add 3/4 cup water and cook until reduced, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a bowl and cover. 5. Wipe skillet clean, then add remaining 1 tbsp oil. While stirring, add snap peas. Season with salt and cook this until crisp-tender, about 2–3 minutes. 6. Fluff rice before stirring in scallion tops. Slice steak against the grain, then serve with rice, peas, and curry sauce.
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Inside This Issue
1 Are You Ready for Ian’s Third Surge? 2 Protecting Your Homestead From Bankruptcy 2 Testimonial 3 Meet Hometown Hero Brittany Slack 3 Curried Steak With Scallion Rice and Peas 4 Celebrate With Us!
Dellutri Law Group is turning 25 years old! Carmen doesn’t know it yet, but the team plans to celebrate the firm’s age all month long with lavish parties, all the food, the best cham ... okay, we are kidding. We aren’t doing any of that. We are celebrating though, and there will definitely be cake! If you stop in to see us on any Friday of this month (in our Fort Myers location), we’ll send you home with a birthday cupcake. In the meantime, check out some of these terribly awesome throwbacks from over the many, many years. For lawyer stories and DLG news and updates, be sure to follow us on social media! HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY!
@DellutriLaw
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Calling All Bankruptcy Attorneys! Our Tools Will Help You Be a Hero!
If you handle bankruptcy cases but don’t deal with bankruptcy violations, we have good news: Our firm can be your secret weapon. Bankruptcy is a uniquely demanding practice area that requires attorneys to devote an exceptional amount of care and attention to each case. More so than other fields of practice, case law constantly adds subtle but important nuances to debtor and creditor rights in bankruptcy, necessitating the utmost diligence from counselors. Our clients count on us to pull them out of their financial despair and get them back on track toward normal, fiscally-sound lives. Frequently, we share in their trepidation, and their stress becomes ours. When they receive a discharge and breathe a deep sigh of relief, we do the same — just in time to move on to the next challenging case. You simply can’t afford to bask in the satisfaction of a job well done, as many more clients are in need of your particular skill and knowledge. That’s why it’s so frustrating for both you and your clients when the discharge is intentionally violated. Both of you have moved on, but a creditor, for whatever reason, has not. Most of the time it comes out of the blue, months — sometimes even years — after entry of the discharge. Often these creditors falsely tell your clients that this debt they’re trying to collect wasn’t discharged in bankruptcy at all. The result is that your previously satisfied client storms your office with a head full of misinformation and a mouth full of expletives, ready to chew you out for not doing your job. Even worse, some clients are simply scared, feeling that they went through all that bankruptcy anxiety for nothing, and you find them sitting in your office terrified and in tears over a lie told by an unscrupulous debt collector. After you are done bringing them back to reality, their stress now becomes yours. The difference is, post-discharge, most consumer bankruptcy attorneys simply don’t have the time or resources to do anything about this illegal behavior. So, the general response you offer is, “This was discharged, don’t worry about it.” Well, that’s little solace to the debtor who went through the bankruptcy process to avoid this situation. What if, next time this happens, you could provide them an opportunity to “sue the bastards” and put a little coin in your pocket at the same time? That’s where we come in. With our consumer litigation department, one of the most frequent violations of consumer protection law we see on a daily basis involves creditors
and debt collectors attempting to collect debt that is either stayed pending bankruptcy or has been discharged entirely. While these actions violate the respective provisions of the Bankruptcy Code, they frequently also violate a wide range of other consumer protection statutes, both state and federal. When our bankruptcy clients face these violations, we are able to help them by filing lawsuits against these offenders — and we can help you and your clients too. As you might imagine — and as the Robinson decision reinforces — consumer litigation is just as nuanced as bankruptcy law. While the two frequently overlap, attorneys practicing each area need distinctly different skills. In a post-Taggart world, where certain conduct no longer qualifies as a discharge violation, it’s particularly important to know what claims can still be pursued under a different consumer protection statute. We are in a uniquely advantageous position in that regard; as a bankruptcy law firm, with more than 25 years in practice and three board certified bankruptcy attorneys on our team, The Dellutri Law Group, is primed for these types of cases. This allows us to utilize both the Bankruptcy Code and non-bankruptcy consumer protection statutes to the maximum benefit of our clients. Many consumer statute violations go unenforced every day, for a variety of reasons. Some debtors don’t know what to do or where to go. Some debtors bury their heads in the sand, hoping the problem will resolve itself, or not believing it to be a real issue. Many are worried about the expense associated with taking further legal action. Worst of all, many times debtors address post-discharge violations with their bankruptcy attorneys, who are unwilling or unable to take any action to enforce consumer law, allowing creditors and debt collectors to continue their immoral and illegal behavior, rampant and unchecked. If you find yourself in a position where a creditor is attempting to collect discharged debt from one of your clients, please don’t tell them to ignore it, or that it’s “not a big deal.” In fact, it is quite a big deal — but nobody ever makes a big deal out of it, and as a result creditors get away with violating the law. Instead, tell your clients that you have someone who may be able to assist them. We will be happy to enforce the discharge, and any other consumer law, on behalf of your clients. You can tell them that you will still be their attorney and will be working on the case
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with us. You can tell them that it won’t cost them anything to litigate the case. You can tell them that you will force the creditor to pay attorneys’ fees and costs incurred by both of us. Ask them: “Do you have a problem with me suing your creditor and charging them $425 an hour to do it?” I doubt they’ll object — and then you’ll be the hero of the story, not us. You may be asking yourself why we would reach out to you about this. It’s quite simple really: Very few bankruptcy firms are able to offer these services to their clients, and we always believe in fighting for the little guy. Moreover, we know that the debt collectors don’t pick on The Dellutri Law Group clients exclusively. You have clients right now who are being harassed by debt collectors about discharged debt. They probably don’t know that they can do anything about it. They ignore the harassment. They don’t want to bother you. What if they knew that you had someone who could help them deal with debt collectors? What if you referred them to us, and we were able to successfully resolve their issue, and at the end of the case, you also got a check from our firm? We deal with some attorneys who like to go over the closing statement with the client and hand their client the settlement check personally. They’re your client too; we can’t steal them from you, and it wouldn’t be a good business decision to do so. That is why we are telling you. You may have a client in need of our services right now. We are ready, willing, and able to assist your clients in these and other situations. We don’t let creditors bully our clients, and we won’t let them bully yours either. We take eligible consumer litigation cases on a contingency basis, so your clients will not have to pay us out of pocket to enforce their statutory rights. More importantly, we pay referral fees to attorneys who send these clients to us, as permitted by the Florida Bar. This means
you can easily create an additional income stream for yourself simply by referring these cases to us and staying involved to the minimal extent required under the Florida Bar rules. I want to emphasize that it is neither our goal nor intent to poach your clients. By sending your bankruptcy clients to us for help with harassing creditors, you are not relinquishing them to us for any and all legal assistance they may need. We are interested only in handling those consumer law violations that you are either reluctant or unable to handle yourself, due to the intricacies of the statutes involved and the time commitment required to adequately litigate such cases. Rest assured that we will make sure your clients know that you are the hero for sending them to the right person to help with their issues. Should your clients need further bankruptcy advice, or a referral to another attorney, we send them right back to you. You will always be their counselor as far as we’re concerned. Creditors and debt collectors regularly violate the Bankruptcy Code and other consumer protection statutes as a “business decision.” Together, we can uphold the sanctity of those laws, protect your clients, and show creditors that their unscrupulous “business decisions” will not go unchecked. If you have any questions about how we conduct the referral or the split of fees at the end of the case, please do not hesitate to ask. If you would like to learn more about us, we would be happy to take you out for lunch or coffee. We are buying — or, should we say, a debt collector is buying!
Call our hero hotline at 888-889-8899.
We’d love to partner with you to help you save the day!
Request copies of our book, “How to Find, Interview, and Hire the Best Bankruptcy Attorney in Town,” by emailing CarmenDellutri@ DellutriLawGroup.com and we will drop some in the mail to you the same day so you can share them with your clients in need! They’ll learn … • The best questions to ask a potential attorney • How to speak “bankruptcy lingo” and see past the B.S. to the truth • Common lawyer-picking mistakes and how to avoid them • Plus, more expert insights from our very own founder, Carmen Dellutri!
Not a Bankruptcy Attorney, But Need to Help a Client Find One? We’ve Got You.
Become a hero for your clients with one email!
You can also download an electronic version by scanning the QR code or visiting DellutriLawGroup.com/resources/ ebooks-guides/how-to-find-interview-and- hire-the-best-bankrupt to download our FREE book today!
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