[00:00:00] Speaker 02: Thank you. [00:00:01] Speaker 02: Okay, can we call our last matter, please? [00:00:11] Speaker 00: We have related appeals, Enrae Hayden and Enrae Western Steel. [00:00:17] Speaker 00: Joel Schwartz is appearing for Western Steel and William Cashen-Appleys. [00:00:23] Speaker 02: Okay, let me take a moment to make sure we have the context correct. [00:00:28] Speaker 02: This matter, this is an appeal by, I don't know if it's Dr. Hayden or Mr. Hayden of the three different matters that the clerk just recited. [00:00:39] Speaker 02: We have briefing from both parties, but I believe we were informed today that Mr. Hayden or Dr. Hayden was unavailable for argument. [00:00:49] Speaker 02: Apple Lee had, [00:00:52] Speaker 02: indicated earlier that they would be willing to submit the matter and thought it might be appropriate to submit the matter solely on the papers. [00:01:00] Speaker 02: We responded to that with an order that made oral argument optional. [00:01:04] Speaker 02: So either party could decide to come and argue or they could decide to take it on the papers from their position. [00:01:11] Speaker 02: In effect, that seems to be what Mr. Hayden, Dr. Hayden has done. [00:01:15] Speaker 02: I understand he is not available today. [00:01:17] Speaker 02: So that's [00:01:19] Speaker 02: his choice. [00:01:20] Speaker 02: Mr. Schwartz is here and having taken the time to come and attend, I think it's entirely appropriate that we hear from him. [00:01:28] Speaker 02: And I think we will, from Mr. Hayden or Dr. Hayden's perspective, we will take the matter on the papers that he has submitted. [00:01:36] Speaker 02: And we're delighted to hear now from Mr. Schwartz. [00:01:38] Speaker 02: Thank you, Your Honors. [00:01:39] Speaker 02: May it please the court, Joel Schwartz on behalf of the Appalachian Western Steel. [00:01:43] Speaker 01: Don't look on the bright side. [00:01:44] Speaker 02: You don't have to reserve any rebuttal time, right? [00:01:46] Speaker 01: Exactly, Your Honors. [00:01:49] Speaker 01: Joel Schwartz on behalf of Appalachian Western Steel Inc. [00:01:52] Speaker 01: and Alabama Corporation and William B. Cashin. [00:01:57] Speaker 01: And I will note that I did state on the record an Alabama Corporation because I think it is important to the extent that it was not perceived from the briefing [00:02:07] Speaker 01: that there is an additional entity, Western Steel. [00:02:12] Speaker 02: Yeah, I think it was perceived. [00:02:14] Speaker 01: Okay. [00:02:14] Speaker 01: Okay. [00:02:15] Speaker 01: And so I wanted to make sure I was clear on the record in part because I have to admit that Mr. Hayden, Dr. Hayden has over the years made accusations about me representing his sham entity. [00:02:32] Speaker 01: And I just wanted to make sure I was clear about that on the record. [00:02:35] Speaker 01: Your honors, I don't want to take up a whole lot of your time because as I indicated in my motion seeking to vacate the oral argument, this is an entirely frivolous set of appeals stemming from solely Dr. Hayden's attempt to appeal orders by District Court Judge Barnes denying what were utterly baseless motions to recuse Judge Spraker. [00:03:04] Speaker 01: And I think Judge Barnes did an excellent job in her memorandum decisions in these matters, laying out what the legal basis and necessary evidentiary basis for a proper motion to recuse a judge would be. [00:03:20] Speaker 01: I think she correctly noted that despite giving Mr. Hayden multiple opportunities in the hearings on those motions to present [00:03:30] Speaker 01: any evidence to support wildly accusatory statements regarding Judge Spraker's supposed extrajudicial bias against Dr. Hayden. [00:03:44] Speaker 01: He not only attempted to distance himself from what he had actually said in his moving papers, but he presented no evidence whatsoever because it is a pure fiction. [00:03:57] Speaker 01: The standard of review on the appeal is, of course, abusive discretion, and Dr. Hayden has done nothing in his movie papers to establish, or in his briefs in this matter, to establish that there was an abuse of discretion by Judge Barnes. [00:04:15] Speaker 01: I would note, procedurally, Judge Barnes did not have to be the one to hear those and decide upon those motions, but the court was extra careful in the way that it handled this, and I think that that's commendable. [00:04:27] Speaker 01: And at the end of the day, what we see is Dr. Hayden attempting to air a number of grievances with adverse rulings and proceedings that were ultimately quite frivolous proceedings all around, but he didn't appeal any of those decisions. [00:04:51] Speaker 01: He's just attempted to bootstrap an appeal of the order [00:04:56] Speaker 01: denying recusal and use that as an opportunity to re-argue those issues. [00:05:02] Speaker 01: In his opposition to my motion seeking to just submit this on the briefs, Dr. Hayden goes into a number of things that were obviously not before Judge Barnes when she heard the motions to recuse, but that are not before any bankruptcy court or not presently before any court. [00:05:22] Speaker 01: And so I don't think that that is lost on the court. [00:05:25] Speaker 01: I just wanted to appear in an abundance of caution, anticipating that Mr. Hayden might appear and do what he customarily does, which is make arguments that have absolutely nothing to do with the very limited issues that are actually before the court in which he is proceeding. [00:05:41] Speaker 01: With that, I will gladly submit on my briefs as well, and to the extent the court might have any questions for me, I'm glad to answer them. [00:05:52] Speaker 01: Okay. [00:05:53] Speaker 01: Thank you very much. [00:05:53] Speaker 02: Anybody have any questions for Mr. Schwartz? [00:05:56] Speaker 02: I do not. [00:05:57] Speaker 02: I do not either. [00:05:57] Speaker 02: Thank you very much. [00:05:58] Speaker 02: Thank you for the courtesy of appearing today. [00:06:00] Speaker 02: I appreciate it. [00:06:00] Speaker 01: Of course. [00:06:00] Speaker 01: Thank you, your honors. [00:06:01] Speaker 01: We appreciate it. [00:06:02] Speaker 02: The matter is submitted and we'll get you a written decision as soon as we can. [00:06:04] Speaker 02: Thank you. [00:06:05] Speaker 02: And with that, I believe we've concluded the calendar. [00:06:10] Speaker 00: Yes, your honor. [00:06:10] Speaker 00: We are in recess. [00:06:12] Speaker 02: You're in recess. [00:06:12] Speaker 02: Okay. [00:06:13] Speaker 02: Are we, can we go back into the roving room for just a moment? [00:06:19] Speaker 02: Thank you.