A local bankruptcy court watchdog has asked White Plains bankruptcy court to dismiss a case filed by a Tarrytown attorney who practices bankruptcy law.
The Woods Law Firm petitioned for Chapter 7 liquidation on Oct. 30 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, claiming no more than $50,000 in assets and as much as $500,000 in liabilities. Since then, the firm has failed to file detailed bankruptcy records and its manager, attorney Roderick D. Woods, did not show up for a creditors meeting on Dec. 12.
“To date, debtor has failed to cure the deficiencies,” bankruptcy trustee Marianne T. O’Toole stated in a Jan. 3 filing, “making it impossible to diligently inquire about the debtor’s financial affairs and the location of potential estate property.”
Accordingly, the trustee’s office, whose job is to promote the integrity of bankruptcy courts, has asked a judge to either dismiss the case or direct Woods to appear at a creditors meeting.
Roderick Woods has been licensed to practice law in Connecticut since 2007, Washington, D.C. and U.S. Tax Court since 2008, and New York since 2009. The Woods Law Firm operates out of Tarrytown Corporate Center in Greenburgh.
Woods specializes in bankruptcy law, general litigation and government law, according to the firm’s Yelp profile, and he describes himself as an advocate for debtors.
He has represented clients in nearly 150 federal cases since 2009, according to court statistics, mostly in Connecticut bankruptcy and district court, as well as federal courts throughout New York. He also has worked on several hundred cases in local New York courts since 2020, according to state records. But rather than representing debtors, most of his clients were banks and other types of creditors.
The four-page bankruptcy petition provides no details about the firm’s creditors, but it says that no funds will be available for distribution to unsecured creditors, after administrative expenses are paid.
Woods is representing the firm in the current case, according to the Chapter 7 petition, and he lists an office in Midtown Manhattan.
