Opinion
Adv. No.: 05-01254-JS.
February 6, 2008
Cynthia L. Leppert, Bar No. 05857, Neuberger, Quinn, Gielen, Rubin Gibber, P.A., Baltimore, Maryland, Special Counsel for Chapter 7 Trustee, Lori Simpson.
Michael Scott Cohen, Bar No. 11068, Michael Scott Cohen, LLC, Cumberland, Maryland.
Harvey A. Levin, Bar No. 03163, Thompson Coburn LLP, Washington, D.C., Counsel for The Cit Group/Consumer Finance, Inc.
STIPULATION CONCERNING THE TESTIMONY OF DANIEL A. LaPLACA, ESQUIRE OF KNIGHT, MANZI, NUSSBAUM LaPLACA, P.A.
Lori Simpson, Chapter 7 Trustee, CIT Group/Consumer Finance, Inc., and Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company, by their undersigned counsel, enter into this stipulation:
1. The law firm of Knight, Manzi, Nussbaum LaPlaca, P.A. ("Knight Manzi") is the successor to the law firm of Reichelt, Nussbaum Brown.
2. Trustee's Exhibit 93, represented to be the complete Knight Manzi file on CMK Company's 1983 acquisition of 1315 Magnolia Avenue, is an authentic copy of the Knight Manzi file, and Knight Manzi, as well as Reichelt, Nussbaum Brown, kept this file in the ordinary course of their business.
3. Each of the documents contained in Trustee's Exhibit 93 was kept by Knight Manzi, as well as Reichelt, Nussbaum Brown, in the ordinary course of their business.
4. Trustee's Exhibit 93 was produced by the Knight Manzi firm, under cover of letter from Daniel A. LaPlaca, Esquire, a partner in the Knight Manzi law firm, in response to a subpoena issued by the Chapter 7 Trustee. Mr. LaPlaca was also a partner in the firm when it was known as Reichelt, Nussbaum Brown.
5. If called to testify, Mr. LaPlaca would testify that Paul M. Nussbaum, a partner in Reichelt, Nussbaum Brown, who handled the 1983 acquisition of 1315 Magnolia Avenue and whose name appears throughout the file, has passed away. There is no one else at Knight Manzi who worked on this matter.
6. If called to testify, Mr. LaPlaca would testify that it was Mr. Nussbaum's usual practice that, instead of retaining photocopies of correspondence sent by him and bearing his signature, he would retain unsigned carbon copies in his file of correspondence that was actually sent. The documents bearing Bates Stamps K004, K005 and K006 are carbon copies of correspondence which are contained in the file kept by Reichelt, Nussbaum Brown and by Knight Manzi in the ordinary course of their business.
SO ORDERED.