Attorney Barbara A. Hart

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Barbara A. Hart

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FAX 813-229-1811

Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy Law, Barbara is an experienced and creative insolvency attorney and commercial litigator regularly representing businesses and individuals in reorganization cases and in state and federal court actions. She is well versed in asset protection strategies, the sale of distressed assets, financial restructurings, the workout of commercial debts, assignments for the benefit of creditors, receiverships and dissolutions.

Barbara is an active member of the Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar and currently serves as the association’s Chair. Barbara has also served as the Chair of the District-Wide Steering Committee for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida, and as Chair of the IWIRC Florida Network, which recently honored Barbara with its 2021 Trailblazer Award.

Ms. Hart graduated with honors from Stetson University College of Law in 2001, where she served as the Managing Editor of the Stetson Law Review and was the recipient of the Judge Stanley Milledge Award and the McBride Family Scholarship. Ms. Hart also served a two-year term as law clerk for the Honorable Judge K. Rodney May, United Stated Bankruptcy Judge, Middle District of Florida.

EDUCATION
- Stetson University College of Law in 2001, Juris Doctor, cum laude
- University of South Florida, Master of Public Health, 1991
- Tusculum College, Bachelor of Science, 1988
BAR ADMISSIONS
- The Florida Bar (all State courts)
- United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida
- United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
- United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
HONORS AND DISTINCTIONS
- Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy Law
- Listed, Best Lawyers 2018-2022
- Listed, Florida Trend’s “Legal Elite” in the area of “Bankruptcy and Workout Law” 2016-2022
- Listed as Florida “Super Lawyer,” in the area of bankruptcy/insolvency practice in “Florida Super Lawyers” 2015-2022
- 2021 Trailblazer Award, Excellence Awards IWIRC – Florida Network
- Listed, Florida Super Lawyers Top 50 Women Lawyers, 2017-2018
- Listed Top Lawyer in Banking and Finance Litigation, by Tampa Magazine in Tampa, 2016-2021
- Rated “AV” (highest rating) by Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory
- Recognized by The Supreme Court of Florida for exceptional pro bono service in 2015-2019
- Listed among the 500 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyers in the 2022 and 2023 Editions of Lawdragon
- Listed, Chambers and Partners USA; Bankruptcy/Restructuring in Florida: North & Central.
MEMBERSHIPS AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
- Chair, Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association (2023-2024)
- President, Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association (2022-2023)
- Chair, District-wide Steering Committee (2020 and 2021)
- Vice President, Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar (2021-2022)
- Secretary, Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association (2020 – 2021)
- Treasurer, Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association (2019 – 2020)
- Florida Network Chair, International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (2018 – 2020)
- Board of Directors, Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association (TBBBA) (2016 – 2018)
- Board of Directors, International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation, Florida Network (2016 – 2021)
- Former Chair, TBBBA Credit Abuse Resistance Education (C.A.R.E) Program
- Member, American Bankruptcy Institute
- Member, Hillsborough County Bar Association
- Member, Florida Bar Business Law Section
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
- Moderator- Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association “Secrets of a Former Banker, The Life Cycle of a Tabled Loan”
- Panelist, Best Practices in Florida, “Judgment Collection”
- Panelist, American Law Institute, “Tips for Handling the Complex Real Estate Transaction.”
- Panelist, Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association, “Commercial Real Estate Leases and other Variable Contract Rights in Bankruptcy”
PUBLICATIONS
- Defendants Beware: The Middle District Declines Jurisdiction over ABC Action; co-authored with Edward Peterson and Donald Kirk
- Property of the Estate: Some Close Questions; co-authored with Harley E. Riedel
- Two Worlds Collide: The Interplay Between State and Bankruptcy Courts; co-authored with Russell M. Blain and Mark F. Robens
REPRESENTATION
Ms. Hart has served as lead or co-counsel for debtors in Chapter 11 cases, and for both plaintiffs and defendants in complicated, commercial foreclosure actions. Some of these are listed below:
- 1 Global Capital, LLC and 1 West Capital, LLC, representation of official committee of unsecured creditors
- Estate of Hall, representation of curator
- Naples Diagnostic Imaging Center – representation of Receiver
- HRK Holdings, LLC and HRK Industries, LLC- confirmed Chapter 11 reorganization of a 675 acre industrial development site.
- Represented a national sports league in commercial litigation
- St. Pete Beach Properties, LLC- confirmed Chapter 11 reorganization of a hotel development project and resolution of disputes with Cadence Bank.
- Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (In Special Liquidation)- representation of Special Liquidator as plaintiff in foreclosure action related to Channelside Bay Plaza and as defendant in an eviction action by the Tampa Port Authority.
- Representation of numerous real estate developers in resolution of construction loans ranging from $1 million dollars to over $100 million dollars.
- The Villas Condominiums Association, Inc. v. Villas Funding Company, Inc., et al., – successfully defended $15 million dollar Negligent Misrepresentation Claim Against Manager of Condo Converter and Officer through appeal to the Second DCA
- Universal Health Care Group Inc.