JUDY BAMBERGER CALTON (1952) is a bankruptcy lawyer at the law firm of Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP in Detroit, Michigan.
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Calton was born in 1952 in St. Louis, Missouri. Her parents were George Washington Bamberger (1915–2008), an advertising executive with Tatham Laird & Kudner and William Gardner Associates in Chicago and Shirley Glatt Bamberger (1923–2007), an economist and homemaker. Calton had two sisters, Sandy Rochlis (1945–1999), and Elizabeth Betsy Newmark (1956), and one brother, Bruce Alan Bamberger (1949).
Calton graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois in 1970. She graduated from the University of Illinois as a James Scholar with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Pre-Law Studies in 1973, with High Honors. She graduated from Wayne State University Law School with her juris doctor in December 1985 magna cum laude, and Order of the Coif. She has been a member of the Michigan State Bar since 1986. Calton married David Warren Calton on June 11, 1972, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. They have three children, William (Bill) Jacob Calton (1973), Kesha Margaret Calton (1977) and David Andrew Calton (1978). They have two granddaughters, Bill’s daughter, Kelsey Marie Calton (1999), and Kesha’s daughter, Grace Calton (2010).
Calton has spent her legal career at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, where she is an equity partner in the Commercial Law, Bankruptcy and Reorganization practice in the Detroit, Michigan office. She has represented business debtors in Chapter 11, counseled secured lenders in workouts, and represented original equipment manufacturers and suppliers, and creditors generally. She has a particular expertise in insolvency related litigation. She represented the Chapter 7 trustee of DeLorean Motor Company in the estate’s litigation. She was able to establish the Barton doctrine on a modern basis in In re DeLorean Motor Company, 991 F. 2d 1236 (6th Cir. l993). Under the Barton doctrine, a party suing a nonoperating trustee must obtain leave of the appointing court to sue the trustee other than in the appointing court. Also, under the Barton doctrine, the trustee’s attorneys stand in the shoes of the trustee for purposes of his derived judicial immunity.
She is an expert in preference avoidance actions. Although most preference actions are and should be settled, she has tried five preference actions. She defended a $3.8 million preference action in a nine day trial, obtaining a judgment of dismissal on partial findings. In re Connolly North America, 398 B.R. 564 (Bankr. E.D. Mich. 2008).
She is experienced in forming and leading joint national defense groups for multiple preference actions in Michigan, New York and Delaware bankruptcy courts. These defense groups provide balance to the power concentrated in plaintiff’s counsel and create economic efficiencies for the defendants. Her results include convincing a litigation trustee at the preference demand stage without payment to not file claims against a group of 27 defendants she represented jointly, and in another case settled preference claims totaling over $4 million against several defendants for $25,000 in the aggregate.
She is particularly knowledgeable on rules of procedure, testifying twice before the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules, Civil Rules and Evidence Rules, writing commentary on proposed rules, and serving as reporter for several rounds of amendments to local bankruptcy court rules.
She is trained in the Best Practices in Local Government Fiscal Management Training Program at Michigan State University Extension, April 2011. She is a frequent author and speaker on bankruptcy law.
Calton founded and is chair of the Board and President of Pro Se Bankruptcy Assistance Project, Inc. d/b/a Access to Bankruptcy Court (“ABC”). ABC is a nonprofit dedicated to providing individual pro se Chapter 7 debtors with representation, both by funding attorneys at reduced rates and working with Michigan law schools to establish legal aid clinics. ABC is an eligible Michigan State Bar Foundation Access to Justice Fund and the recipient of a grant from the American College of Bankruptcy Foundation. Calton is co-chair of the Detroit Debtor/Creditor Rights Committee of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan and a member of the Business Law Council. She is on the Advisory Committee to the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
• The Best Lawyers in America, 2010 and 2011
• Dbusiness, Top Lawyers, 2010 and 2011
• Michigan Super Lawyers, 2007–2010
• Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated
http://www.honigman.com/judy-b-calton/
http://www.michbar.org/business/debtor-creditor.cfm