In re: Gary David Ormont

CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Florida.
DecidedMarch 11, 2026
Docket25-16275
StatusUnknown

This text of In re: Gary David Ormont (In re: Gary David Ormont) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Florida. primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re: Gary David Ormont, (Fla. 2026).

Opinion

Sr Ma, OY & x □□ OS aR’ if * A iL Ss eA □□□ A swillikg & □□□ ‘Disrmict OF OE ORDERED in the Southern District of Florida on March 11, 2026.

Mindy A. Mora, Judge United States Bankruptcy Court

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA www.flsb.uscourts.gov In re: Case No.: 25-16275-MAM Gary David Ormont, Chapter 13 Debtor(s).

OPINION AND ORDER DISCHARGING SHOW CAUSE ORDER AND IMPOSING SANCTIONS ON CLEAR PATH LEGAL FIRM, RODNEY NICOLAS, AND CHELSEA LYNN Debtor Gary Ormont found the bankruptcy process confusing and, rather than consulting with a bankruptcy lawyer, enlisted the aid of someone who he thought could help: a bankruptcy petition preparer. Debtor’s request to ClearPath Legal Firm (“ClearPath”) for bankruptcy help made sense because, as the name implies, ClearPath indicated to Debtor that it was qualified to help with bankruptcy matters. ClearPath’s current website lists

bankruptcy document preparation as a standard service along with services available in the legal practice areas of family law, civil law, estate planning, real estate, and business formation.1

ClearPath coached the debtor through several key aspects of the bankruptcy process but failed to properly disclose important information, including the identification number for its responsible person, Rodney Nicholas, and the true certification status of the person who helped Debtor, Chelsea Lynn. Ms. Lynn, self-identified in email communications as attorney “Chelsea Lynn, Esq.”, has never appeared in court despite at least two orders directing her appearance. By way of explanation for her repeated absence, ClearPath represented

that Ms. Lynn is merely a “remote document preparer”. Although ClearPath has repeatedly insisted that neither it nor Ms. Lynn provides legal advice or assistance, email communications filed on the docket indicate otherwise. Because Ms. Lynn has never appeared in court, her true identify remains a mystery to this day. Debtor now believes that Ms. Lynn—who routinely signed communications to Debtor in a manner indicating she is an attorney—is a former

schoolteacher. FACTUAL BACKGROUND It is unclear to what extent Ms. Lynn and ClearPath guided Debtor through

1 Sometime after the filing of this bankruptcy case, ClearPath apparently rebranded itself as “Clear Path Legal Docs Preparation Service”. Compare https://clearpathlegaldocspreparationservices.com/ with ECF No. 41, p. 2 (identifying sender as “Chelsea Lynn, Esq.” with “ClearPath Legal Firm”) and ECF No. 53, p.1. the bankruptcy process, but the record leaves no room for doubt that the services provided went far beyond mere retyping of handwritten forms and included legal advice. See, e.g., ECF No. 53, pdf pp. 25-26 (describing information needed to properly

complete forms and attaching draft motion to value and loan documents); see also id., pdf pp. 30-32 (explaining revisions to forms, reasons for those revisions, and why revisions might be important for confirmation of a chapter 13 plan). The legal advice and work performed included assistance with the preparation of a motion to value Debtor’s vehicle. Id.; ECF Nos. 28, 40, and 68 (collectively as amended, the “Motion to Value”). Issues with the Motion to Value and Debtor’s initial chapter 13 plan (ECF No. 18) (the “Plan”) are what first brought this matter to the Court’s attention.

At a hearing on October 9, 2025 (the “First Hearing”), counsel to the chapter 13 trustee (“Trustee”) identified deficiencies in the Plan and inconsistencies in the Motion to Value. Trustee pointed out that Debtor’s vehicle was listed in three sections of the Plan, but without payments, despite the existence of the Motion to Value. At that hearing, Debtor stated that he hired Ms. Lynn and ClearPath Legal to assist him with his chapter 13 bankruptcy and understood that they should have already

filed corrected documents through the Court’s electronic filing system (CM/ECF). Bankruptcy petition preparers (“BPPs”) are not authorized to use CM/ECF, so electronic filing could not and did not occur. Debtor seemed unaware of any procedural issue. Based on Debtor’s representations at the First Hearing, the status of Debtor’s bankruptcy case, and documents filed on the docket as of October 21, 2025,2 the Court issued an order to show cause (ECF No. 48) (the “Show Cause Order”) directing Ms. Lynn to explain why she should not be sanctioned for multiple violations of

Bankruptcy Code § 110.3 The Show Cause Order set a hearing on November 13, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. (the “Show Cause Hearing”) and required Ms. Lynn to attend the Show Cause Hearing in person. Ms. Lynn failed to appear. Between the First Hearing and the Show Cause Hearing, an interesting turn of events unfolded. A person arrived at the courthouse with documents to file on behalf of Ms. Lynn. The documents, docketed as ECF No. 53 (the “Response”),

included a written request to accept the filing as a “declaration” but failed to cite to the federal statute that would allow the filing to serve the same function as a sworn affidavit.4 The person who submitted the filing signed the court’s log as “Rodney Paul Nicholas”. Mr. Nicholas declined to provide a physical address but included a local cell phone number for contact information. At the Show Cause Hearing, Mr. Nicholas offered representations on the

record on behalf of ClearPath and Ms. Lynn, but did not disclose that he was the “responsible person” for ClearPath under § 110. He agreed to convey to ClearPath the

2 ECF No. 41 (documents submitted to Court with communications between Debtor and Ms. Lynn in her capacity as an agent of ClearPath). 3 At this point, it was not clear that Ms. Lynn was not the owner of ClearPath. 4 28 U.S.C. § 1746. judge’s concerns but did not explain that the person to whom the concerns should be conveyed was, in fact, himself. That information did not surface until later. After a further review of the docket, the Court referred the matter to the

United States Trustee (ECF No. 64) (the “Referral Order”) for investigation and scheduled a hearing on the Referral Order for January 13, 2026 (the “Referral Hearing”). Mr. Nicholas appeared again at the Referral Hearing. At this point, he acknowledged his role as the responsible person for ClearPath pursuant to § 110 . He further represented that the entity was formed in Florida and operates as a d/b/a (doing business as) entity within this state.5 Mr. Nicholas explained that Ms. Lynn is

an independent contractor on the “Fiverr” platform6 and, despite written communications from Ms. Lynn signed as “Esq.”, contended that neither ClearPath nor Ms. Lynn have ever claimed to provide legal advice or legal services.7 Mr. Nicholas professed to have an understanding of “some” of the provisions of § 110. He also represented to the Court that he, ClearPath, and Ms. Lynn were not currently working with any other debtors who had cases pending in the Southern

District of Florida.8

5 The Court could not verify Mr. Nicholas’s representations regarding ClearPath through a standard public records search on wwww.sunbiz.org. 6 See https://www.fiverr.com. 7 At this point, Clear Path still used the name “ClearPath Legal Firm”. 8 Because Mr. Nicholas also represented that Ms. Lynn was an independent contractor who presumably could accept work from multiple sources, it is unclear why Mr. Nicolas believed that he could accurately represent Ms. Lynn’s work status as to all document preparation projects in this geographic area. Mr. Nicholas offered no explanation for Ms. Lynn’s refusal to comply with the Show Cause Order beyond her “remote” work status, nor did he explain his ongoing refusal to provide the appropriate disclosures as the responsible person under § 110

for ClearPath.

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Related

Florida Bar v. Brumbaugh
355 So. 2d 1186 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1978)
In Re Calzadilla
151 B.R. 622 (S.D. Florida, 1993)
In Re Bachmann
113 B.R. 769 (S.D. Florida, 1990)

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