Consumer Issues Potpourri: What’s New, What’s Trending, and What Isn’t Trending that Should Be!

Guy A. Van Baalen is the Assistant U.S. Trustee for the Tampa, Fla., office of the U.S. Trustee Program. He has served with the U.S. Trustee Program since 1989.

Previously, Mr. Van Baalen practiced in several firms in Buffalo, N.Y., for seven years. He was admitted into the New York State Bar in 1983. Mr. Van Baalen is admitted to practice in various federal courts, including the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Western Districts of New York, the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts for the Northern and Western Districts of New York, and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut.

He currently serves the rank of Lt. Colonel with the New York Guard and has been involved in many civic organizations, previously serving as the past president of the Board of Education for the Clinton Central School District and the New Hartford Rotary Club. He also has lectured extensively for various state and local bar associations within the U.S. Trustee Program.

Mr. Van Baalen received his undergraduate degree in 1979 from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany and his J.D. in 1982 from SUNY at Buffalo Law School.

Gavin N. Stewart is the owner of Stewart Legal Group, P.L. in Tampa, Fla., and his practice consists of creditors’ rights and consumer litigation in Florida, New Jersey and New York, as well as music law and personal injury law.

A native of Queensland, Australia, by way of Brooklyn, N.Y., Mr. Stewart has more than 15 years of experience representing both individuals and companies in consumer and commercial bankruptcy matters. He is a member of the Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association, New Jersey State Bar Association and ABI.

Mr. Stewart received his undergraduate degree from Rutgers University and his J.D. in 2007 from Stetson University College of Law, where he was a member of the Moot Court Board.

Kelly Remick is the Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Tampa Division of the Middle District of Florida. Prior to her appointment as trustee, she worked for Chapter 13 Standing Trustee Jon Waage as his senior staff attorney for nearly nine years. She also represented creditors in private practice for many years in bankruptcy and state court proceedings.

Ms. Remick received her B.A. in political science from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from the University of Florida College of Law.

Gregory A. Champeau is the managing member of Champeau Law, P.A. in Naples, Fla., where he primarily focuses on representing debtors in chapter 13 and chapter 7 consumer cases and related litigation. He has been an active consumer bankruptcy practitioner since 2000, and is licensed to practice in both Massachusetts and Florida.

Mr. Champeau is the former president of the Southwest Florida Bankruptcy Professionals Association, and is the recipient of the inaugural Honorable Alexander A. Paskay Professionalism Award. He is also a former Fort Myers representative to the Middle District Local Rules Committee and received the 2016 Outstanding Pro Bono Service Award for Collier County, Fla. In addition, he has served on the recently created Middle District Committee and Subcommittee tasked with reviewing and improving chapter 13 practice and procedure.

Mr. Champeau received his undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his J.D. cum laude from Nova Southeastern University.

Hon. Tiffany Payne Geyer is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Middle District of Florida in Orlando, appointed by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals on March 25, 2022.

Previously, she was a partner with BakerHostetler in Orlando and practiced primarily in the areas of bankruptcy and creditors’ rights. Judge Geyer represented both corporate and individual debtors in chapter 11 cases and individuals in chapter 7 cases, and her clients included health care businesses and medical professionals, investment bankers and financial advisors. She also represented clients in the hospitality sectors, assisted in representing debtors in the energy sectors, and negotiated multiple settlements of guarantor liability and assignments for the benefit of creditors. In addition, she represented secured creditors, unsecured creditors, landlords and panel trustees.

Judge Geyer has been listed in Chambers USA for Bankruptcy/Restructuring in Florida and in The Best Lawyers in America in 2020 for Bankruptcy and Creditor/Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law.

She began her legal career in Orlando clerking for Bankruptcy Judge Karen S. Jennemann, whose vacancy she filled upon her retirement, and she volunteered at a Florida nonprofit organization devoted to housing and educating young adults struggling with homelessness.