Proofs of Claim

(Based on CM/ECF Version 2.2 and Netscape Version 4.7)

GENERAL INFO.	When a Proof of Claim is filed in CM/ECF, the claim must be attached to a creditor record of the claimant. The filer must first locate the creditor record by searching the creditor records table of the case and then attaching the Proof of Claim information. If a creditor is filing its own claim, usually the creditor record will already exist in the creditor database for the case. If a creditor record with a matching name and address does not exist, a new creditor record can be added during the claim entry process.
WHAT IS IN THE CREDITOR RECORDS TABLE FOR A CASE?	The “Creditor Record” table for a case contains the names and addresses of all the creditors listed in the schedules of that debtor(s) bankruptcy petition. The information is added to the table by uploading the bankruptcy case or by uploading the creditor matrix immediately after case opening. So, for example, if “Sears” was listed on the matrix of 5,000 active bankruptcy cases, “Sears” will be in the creditor record tables 5,000 times (even if the name and address is identical for each bankruptcy). This is because the court has a legal obligation to notify every creditor that the debtor lists in their schedules (exactly as they are listed in the schedules) of the bankruptcy filing. Court personnel may also add new names and addresses later during the case as a result of an “Amendment to Schedules” being filed. A new name and address may also need to be added as a result of a “Proof of Claim” being filed by a creditor (or an attorney representing a creditor) who was not listed on the original creditor matrix. Finally, court personnel may add new creditor names and addresses after a conversion.
WHAT IS THE CASE’S CREDITOR RECORDS TABLE USED FOR?	The names and addresses are used for any traditional “paper notice” mailings. Examples of the types of notices that will still be mailed in paper format include, but are not limited to: a “Notice of Bankruptcy Case, 341 Meeting, and Deadlines”, a “Notice of Dismissal”, and an “Order of Discharge”. Claim information is also linked to the names and addresses in the case’s creditor records table when a “Proof of Claim” is filed.
WHAT IS THE FORMAT OF THE NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF CREDITORS IN THE CREDITOR RECORDS TABLE?	Since these names and addresses are used for traditional mailings, an effort is made to have these names and addresses comply with U.S. Postal Service guidelines. This includes having names and addresses in all capital letters, eliminating commas and some other punctuation, having PO Box information on the line above the city, state and zip, and keeping the city, state and zip code all together on the last line. Although we do have guidelines for preparing the matrix, the reality is that the format can be erratic because sometimes a pro se debtor or others do not follow the mailing matrix guidelines. The EDKY does run a program each night to change the name and address information into all capital letters if it isn’t already in all caps.
HOW SHOULD I SEARCH FOR MY COMPANY WHEN FILING A PROOF OF CLAIM?	Follow the “Creditor Records Table Search Tips” shown below.
CREDITOR RECORDS TABLE SEARCH TIPS	Searching is case sensitive. So a creditor with the last name of “Smith” must be searched for as “Smith”, not as “smith”. Since names are capitalized overnight, it is also a good idea to search with all caps as well, if you do not find the creditor during your first search. Include punctuation such as the apostrophe in “O’Brien” or the dash in “Hanna-Barbera” for searching purposes when searching the creditor database because punctuation was probably used on the matrix that was uploaded. Partial names can be entered, but at least two characters should be entered. Significant words will work when searching the creditor records table of a case. For example, “Radio” would find “Radio Shack” and “Northwest Radiology”. This is one of the main area where searching for creditor records in a case differs from searching for party filers. The following wildcards may be used, but are not required. A question mark (?) represents a wild card for one character only. An asterisk (*) is a wild card for any number (or none) of characters. Wild cards (*) (?) are not needed at the end of a search string. Ex: Harve would find Harvey, Harver, Harvester, etc. Wild cards may be used before or within search strings (*son) (Gr?y). Ex: Johns*n would find Johnston, Johnson, and Johnsen, but would not find Johns or Johannsen. While *Johns* would also find “The Johnson Company”. Ex: Gr?y would find Gray and Grey, but Gr*y would find Gray, Grey, and Gregory, etc. In a small case, it is okay to search the creditor records for a case without entering any search criteria because you are only searching for records in the current case, so it will not slow down the entire system. This is the other main area where searching for creditor records in a case differs from searching for party filers. NOTE: Since searching can be tricky, try several alternative searches before you decide that your company isn’t in the creditor records table.
HELP SCREENS	Help is available for most screens by clicking on the button. The help box will display describing the fields and what entry is required for the window you are currently viewing. Click on the button at the upper right hand corner of the screen or the button to close the help screen.
STEP 1	Log in to the CM/ECF System using your ECF Login and Password if you aren’t already logged in. NOTE: After logging in, if you click on Netscape Navigator’s (resize) button accidentally instead of clicking the minimize button, or if you drag the sides to resize the Netscape window, there is a Netscape Navigator bug which will throw you out of your CM/ECF session and you will lose all the information that you have entered up to that point. So, resize the window before you login!
STEP 2	Click on “Bankruptcy” in the blue menu bar at the top of the screen.
STEP 3	Click on the hyperlink in the categories list.
STEP 4	The “Creditor Search” screen will display next. It may contain the case number of the last case you have been using during the current login session. Change the case number if necessary. If you need to change the case number, enter the correct case number as yy-nnnnn (including the hyphen). NOTE: If you changed the case number and entered it incorrectly, the system will display the following message regarding the case number format. Click the button or the button and try entering the case number again. For training purposes, enter the Chapter 13 case number if it isn’t already displayed.
STEP 5	Since our training case is not a huge Chapter 11 case, leave the “Name of Creditor” field blank as shown below. NOTE: This will provide you with a drop down list of all the creditors so that you won’t miss finding a creditor because of difficulties with searching. With a huge Chapter 11 with hundreds of creditors, it would be better to enter some search criteria instead.
STEP 6	Leave the “Type of Creditor” at the default of “Creditor. NOTE: When a matrix is uploaded, creditors are added as the “Creditor” type. If you are searching for a creditor, the creditor type must match the type assigned to the creditor that you are searching for or you will not find a match. So, if a creditor has been added to the creditor database and given the creditor type of “Administrative”, a search would not find the creditor unless the “Type of Creditor” was changed to match “Administrative”.
STEP 7	Click the button.
SELECT A CREDITOR FOR CLAIM SCREEN	The “Select a Creditor for Claim” screen will then display any creditor(s) who match the search criteria. In our training case, all the creditors in the case with the creditor type “creditor” will display. Click the arrow next to the creditor displayed to see all the creditors along with their addresses. NOTE: If you do not see your company and therefore, need to add your company, click anywhere in the white part of the screen to make the drop down list go away.
SEARCH RESULTS WHEN CLIENT/ CREDITOR IS NOT IN THE CREDITOR RECORDS	If you perform a search for a specific creditor who was not listed is not in the creditor records for the case (and no other similar creditors are in the creditor records), the “Select a Creditor for Claim” screen will look like the screen below. NOTE: The box that would normally contain creditor names and addresses is small and empty. In this situation, either use your browser’s button to go back and enter different search criteria or follow the steps below to add a creditor (if you are sure they aren’t in the case).
STEP 8	Usually, you will find your company’s name, but the mailing address may not be the address where you wish to receive future paper notices from the court. Click the hyperlink to add your company if the address is wrong or if the company isn’t listed.
STEP 9	This will take you directly to “Creditor Processing” and the same case number will already be inserted in the case number field. Click the button.
ADD CREDITOR SCREEN	The “Add Creditor(s)” screen will now appear. Do not worry about the message (shown below) stating that the case already contains creditors. This message does not prevent you from adding the creditor you need to add.
STEP 10	Fill out the fields following postal regulations as shown below. Use capital letters. Leave out commas and periods. If there is a PO box, insert the PO box information on the line right before the city, state and zip code. Insert the city, state and zip code all together on the last line with no commas. NOTE: In this area of CM/ECF, there aren’t separate fields for the city, state, and zip code.
STEP 11	At the bottom of the screen, use your mouse to click the circle next to “Last Entry” to insert a mark in that circle instead of “Continue to Enter” which is the default. NOTE: If you forget to change this setting, the creditor name and address field will appear to blank out. If this happens, just click on your browser’s button and click next to “Last Entry” to fix it. Then continue the steps below.
STEP 12	Click the button.
STEP 13	The following “Add Creditor(s)” screen will now display. Click the button to complete adding the creditor.
STEP 14	A “Creditors Receipt” will now appear. Click the hyperlink to return to filing your Proof of Claim.
STEP 15	You will be returned once again to the “Search for Creditor” screen in the “Proof of Claim” filing section. This time, you may wish to enter a few letters, as shown in the example above, to narrow down the selection to the creditor you just added.
STEP 16	Click the button.
STEP 17	The search should find only your company this time. As long as only your company appears in the list, click the button.
PROOF OF CLAIM INFO. SCREEN	The “Proof of Claim Information” screen now displays. NOTE: This screen is NOT a substitute for the “Proof of Claim” form. You will still need to prepare a “Proof of Claim” form and place it on top of all your supporting evidence and convert all the pages into one .pdf document (unless it is more than 50 pages). The information entered into these fields allows the computer to create a “Claims Register” when requested.
CLAIM FIELD EXPLANA- TIONS	Claim field explanations: If filing an Amended Proof of Claim, determine the Claim Number of the earlier claim, and enter that number in the “Amend Claim #” field. Duplicates Claim # (shouldn’t require an entry because there should not normally be a need for an exact duplicate claim to be filed) The “Filed By” field defaults to “Creditor”. Leave the default as “Creditor”. The “Late” and “Status” fields are not intended for creditor use. Do not enter the “$” sign or commas in the dollar amount fields. Values will default to whole dollar amounts unless you insert a decimal and cents. Decimals are accepted, but not required when the amount is a whole dollar amount. The “Total” amount field(s) will provide an aggregate total of the values in the “Unsecured”, “Secured”, “Priority” and “Unknown” fields automatically. The “Description” and “Remarks” fields will appear on the Claims Register. Both fields hold a lot of typing, but only 60 characters will display on the Claims Register so don’t enter more than the field will display. There is no difference between description and remarks in EDKY. They are both used for adding additional information about the debt owed.
STEP 18	For training, complete the “Proof of Claim Information” screen as shown below.
STEP 19	Click the button.
STEP 20	You then have an opportunity to browse for and select the .pdf image of the “Proof of Claim”. Follow the separate instructions for “Browsing For and Selecting the Correct .pdf Document” to find, open, review, and select the “Proof of Claim” .pdf image. For the training case, the .pdf documents will be on the local “c:/” drive. NOTE: At your company, the .pdf documents may be stored on a network drive or on the “c:/” drive of a co-worker’s computer. NOTE: In the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, the decision has been made not to add items such as contracts, invoices, or other supporting documents as attachments, but to have the filer scan them along with the Proof of Claim itself, so that the claim along with any supporting evidence (up to 50 pages) is just one .pdf document.
.PDF WARNING MESSAGE	If you click on the button to advance without attaching a .pdf document, a “Warning Message” will be displayed. Click the button to close the message. You will then, once again, have the opportunity to browse to select the .pdf image of the document.
ATTACH- MENTS	The legal mind thinks of an attachment as any supporting document(s) stapled or attached to the back of the main pleading. These types of legal attachments will be referred to in this documentation as “supporting documentation”. In the USBC EDKY, the “attachment” feature is used in only two situations: (1) when the main pleading, plus any supporting documentation is more than 50 pages in length, and (2) for attaching proposed orders. The “Proof of Claim” and its supporting documentation in this training case is less than 50 pages, so leave the attachment setting at “No”.
NO ATTENTION MESSAGE	Unlike other CM/ECF screens, there is no red “Attention” message on this screen to let you know that by clicking the button, you are sending the “Proof of Claim” to the court.
NOTICE OF ELEC- TRONIC CLAIMS FILING	The “Notice of Electronic Claims Filing” will now display. See the separate instructions regarding “Notices of Electronic Filing” for more information regarding the notices that are generated after filing “Proofs of Claim”.