Overview
Patricia Scott helps creditors and trustees enforce their rights and protect their interests in all aspects of individual and commercial bankruptcy proceedings, as well as out-of-court workouts and restructurings. Patricia helps individuals and businesses collect money that is rightfully due in both judicial and non-judicial settings. She also represents small and mid-sized businesses to large corporations in multi-faceted litigation matters in state and federal court. Her work with financial institutions includes collections, loan workouts, foreclosures, receiverships and various complex banking and finance issues.
Patricia concentrates her practice in the following areas:
- Bankruptcy: Represents creditors and trustees in connection with complex bankruptcy issues in Chapter 7, 11, 12 and 13 cases. By way of example, her experience includes negotiation of and objections to plans, nondischargeability actions, motions for relief from stay, objections to exemptions, reaffirmation agreements, avoidance of security interests, asset administration, and preference and fraudulent transfer actions.
- Banking & Finance: Represents banks, credit unions, secured creditors, and other types of financial institutions in loan workouts, foreclosures, collections, and various complex banking and finance issues.
- Collections: Represents banks, credit unions, creditors, individuals, and other types of businesses in negotiations, litigation, appointment of receivers, and post-judgment activities to collect on judgments, delinquent accounts, and contractual obligations.
- Real Estate: Represents banks, credit unions, businesses and individuals in simple and complex real estate matters, including judicial foreclosures, quiet title actions, foreclosures of construction liens, receiverships, and issues surrounding breach of Michigan Builder's Trust Fund Act. As a former real estate agent, Patricia is familiar with the sale of residential and commercial real estate and represents both buyers and sellers.
- Commercial Litigation: Represents small and mid-sized businesses to large corporations in multi-claim litigation, including receiverships, business dissolution and separations, and other contentious matters in state and federal court.
Prior to joining the firm Patricia excelled in both academic and applied pursuits. She graduated with a perfect 4.0 from Saginaw Valley State University, earned a full scholarship to Thomas M. Cooley Law School where she earned nine certificates of merit (highest grade in the class), served as the Managing Associate Editor of Thomas M. Cooley Law Review, and graduated second in her class with magna cum laude honors.
Honors & Recognitions
Michigan Super Lawyers "Rising Star," 2016-2017
Marquis Who's Who® in America
Featured Alumna at The Board of Fellows Meeting, Saginaw Valley State University, January, 2010
The Sol Siegel Award Recipient, Thomas M. Cooley Law School 2009
Affiliations
Memberships & Affiliations
Legal Affiliations:
- State Bar of Michigan
- Ingham County Bar Association
- Bankruptcy Section, Co-Chair
- American Bar Association
Industry & Professional Associations:
- American Bankruptcy Institute
Community Involvement
- Big Brothers Big Sisters
- Board of Directors, 2017
- Junior League of Lansing
- Board of Directors, Treasurer 2014-2015
- Endowment Board of Directors, Treasurer 2015-2016
- Small Talk Children's Assessment Center
- Board of Directors, 2015-Present
- Vice-President, 2017
Experience
Representative Matters
- Settled out-of-court on a case where a client was sued for over $300,000 and 42 cows on claim and delivery and conversion claims for $13,000 and one cow.
- Represents financial institutions and bond trustees in receivership actions, including liquidation of corporations and schools.
- Regularly represents bankruptcy trustees in all matters concerning the administration of the estate, and successfully recovers assets for the bankruptcy estate.
- Represents financial institutions and business creditors in enforcement of debt obligations, including settlement negotiations, litigation matters, foreclosure actions, appointment of receivers and recovery against personal guarantors.
- Counsel business and financial institution clients in collection methods, including best practice measures and how to minimize outstanding accounts receivable.
- Assisted in representation of numerous defendants in a multi-claim state fraudulent conveyance action for several million dollars that resulted in a favorable settlement for the clients.
- Assisted in representation of a large corporation sued in bankruptcy court in a one million dollar preference action that resulted in a successful settlement for approximately one-tenth the amount pursued.
- Assisted in having debt owed the client declared nondischargeable by motion for summary judgment in a bankruptcy case of a debtor who had been operating a Ponzi scheme.
Communications
Recent Blog Posts
Michigan Bankruptcy Blog
- Bankruptcy Court Denies Creditors Request for Relief from Automatic Stay to Arbitrate its Claims and Progress Setoff and Recoupment Rights
- Supreme Court Rules that Debt Collector’s Attempt to Collect Time Barred Claim in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Case Does not Violate Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
- Reserve it or Lose it: Sixth Circuit BAP Reverses Bankruptcy Court on Issue of Whether Trustee Abandoned Asset in Chapter 7 Case
- Sixth Circuit Affirms Decision to Deny Chapter 7 Debtor’s Proposed Exemption Because She Lacked Equity in Property After a Sale
- District Court Affirms that Civil Fraud Penalties are Nondischargeable in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Cases
- Chapter 7 Debtor’s Case Dismissed After Court Finds that She is Judicially Estopped from Arguing that Student Loan Debts are Non-Consumer in Nature
- Fraudulently Obtained Unemployment Benefits are not Dischargeable in Bankruptcy
- Chapter 13 Trustee Must Return Funds to Debtor Following Dismissal of Case
- The Provisional Nature of Discharge: Trustee's Knowledge of Fraud May Not Be Imputed to United States Trustee
- Supreme Court Adopts a Broad Reading of “Actual Fraud” Under the Bankruptcy Code
Publications
- Bankruptcy Court Denies Creditor’s Request for Relief from Automatic Stay to Arbitrate Its Claims, The Michigan Dispute Resolution Journal, September 2017
- Supreme Court Holds that a Debt Buyer is not the Same Thing as a Debt Collector under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Foster Swift Finance, Real Estate & Bankruptcy News, July 6, 2017
- Michigan Court of Appeals Grapples with Definition of “Surplus” Following a Foreclosure Sale, Foster Swift Finance, Real Estate & Bankruptcy News, February 7, 2017
- Michigan Court of Appeals Analyzes Foreclosure Rights in Two Recent Opinions, Foster Swift Finance, Real Estate & Bankruptcy News, August 18, 2016
- A Systematic Plan for Debt Collection, Foster Swift Finance, Real Estate & Bankruptcy, March 31, 2016
- A Systematic Plan for Debt Collection by Agribusinesses, Foster Swift Agricultural Law News, January 29, 2016
News & Events
News
- 30 Foster Swift Attorneys Selected to 2017 Michigan Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Lists, September 8, 2017
- Foster Swift Elects Seven New Shareholders, January 18, 2017
- 29 Foster Swift Attorneys Selected to 2016 Michigan Super Lawyers and Michigan Rising Stars Lists, September 2, 2016
Speaking Engagements
- Civil Litigation Presentation for CP Crash Course, Great Lakes Paralegal Association, March 17, 2017
- Professionalism in Action, Thomas M. Cooley Law School, January 4, 2017
- Civil Litigation Presentation for CP Crash Course, Great Lakes Paralegal Association, May 20, 2016
- Business Court Session, Ingham County Bar Association Bench-Bar Conference, February 2016
- Bankruptcy: An Overview, Michigan Township Association Treasurers' Retreat, September 30, 2015
- What Every Treasurer Should Know About Bankruptcy, Wayne County Treasurers Association, September 17, 2015
Practice Areas
Education
Thomas M. Cooley Law School, J.D., 2009, magna cum laude
Saginaw Valley State University, B.A., 2006, summa cum laude
Bar and Court Admissions
Michigan
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan
U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Michigan
U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Western District of Michigan