Local Rule 3018-1: Chapter 11 Ballots.

Rule 3018-1. Chapter 11 Ballots.

(a) Sample ballots. The proponent of a chapter 11 plan shall prepare a sample ballot for each class of voting creditors under the plan and shall file the sample ballots as attachments to an appropriately captioned statement at the same time the plan and disclosure statement are filed with the Court. The statement shall conform to Appendix 3E. Each sample ballot shall conform to Official Form 314 except each ballot shall state it shall be returned for filing to the Bankruptcy Clerk, District of South Dakota, at the appropriate Bankruptcy Clerk's office address in either Pierre or Sioux Falls, South Dakota, not to the plan proponent or the plan proponent's attorney. The sample ballots shall not include the deadline for returning ballots, which will not be set by the Court until after the sample ballots are filed with the Court. If a sample ballot includes more than one page, the second and each subsequent page shall include the case name and case number at the top of the page.

(b) Final ballots and service. Upon approval of the disclosure statement, the proponent of a chapter 11 plan shall prepare a final ballot for each class of voting creditors under the plan by making any changes to each sample ballot as may be directed by the Court and inserting the date set by the Court as the deadline for returning ballots. The plan proponent shall serve a copy of the appropriate ballot on each creditor and other party in interest at the same time the proponent serves the order setting the confirmation hearing and related deadlines.

(c) Tabulation of ballots. The plan proponent shall tabulate the ballots and file a completed tabulation not less than two days before the scheduled confirmation hearing. The completed tabulation shall be captioned as required by Bankr. D.S.D. R. 9004-2, shall be signed by the plan proponent or the plan proponent's attorney, and shall include:

(1) with respect to each class of claims or interests, a statement of whether the class has accepted the plan or is not impaired under the plan;

(2) if a class of claims is impaired under the plan, a statement of whether at least one class of impaired claims has accepted the plan; and

(3) if not every class of impaired claims has accepted the plan, a statement of whether the plan proponent will seek to confirm the plan under 11 U.S.C. § 1129(b).

REFERENCES: 11 U.S.C. §§ 1126 and 1129; Official Form 314; Fed.R.Bankr.P. 3018.

Practice Pointers: Often a creditor will only return the one or two pages of a ballot on which the creditor makes its election and affixes its signature. So the Clerk can properly file the ballot, include the case name and case number on the top of each page of the ballot.

In the last section of Official Form 314 labeled "Return this ballot to:," use the Clerk's Sioux Falls office address for Southern Division cases or the Clerk's Pierre office address for Northern, Central, or Western Division cases:

Bankruptcy Court Clerk Bankruptcy Court Clerk U.S. Courthouse U.S. Post Office & Federal Bldg. 400 S. Phillips Ave., Room 104 225 S. Pierre St., Room 203 Sioux Falls, SD 57104-6851 Pierre, SD 57501-2463