Sarah Fowler
Attorney
Sarah joined Blackwell, Burke & Ramsey, P.C. as an attorney and shareholder in 2022. Sarah works with a wide variety of clients ranging from financial institutions, agricultural lenders, business debtors, creditors’ committees, shareholders, asset purchasers, small business owners, and bankruptcy trustees. She assists her clients with addressing the complexities of financial distress and finding creative solutions to a variety of commercial disputes in an economic manner. Sarah represents these clients in both state and federal courts and in out-of-court arrangements. Throughout the course of her representation of these clients, Sarah regularly drafts mortgage loan documents, including loan agreements, promissory notes, deeds, mortgages, releases, and easements. Sarah also has extensive experience in review and analysis of business agreements, real estate contracts, and lease agreements. Sarah spends a significant amount of time in the agriculture and small business areas.
Additionally, Sarah represents creditors, financial institutions, and other entities faced with issues arising from compliance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Fair Credit Billing Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Sarah is a licensed and practicing attorney in the State of Indiana and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
In 2022, Sarah was appointed as a member of the Chapter 7 Panel of Bankruptcy Trustees for the Southern District of Indiana.
Professional Experience
- Represents creditors and borrowers, including agricultural lenders and agricultural producers, in loan workouts, restructuring, foreclosures, and liquidations outside of court
- Represents creditors, debtors, and trustees in all chapters of bankruptcy cases, including in any litigation involving claims of voidable transfers, preferences, discharge and dischargeability issues, alleged tax claims, and the subordination and reclassification of claims
- Represents lenders and borrowers in workouts, loan documentation, and related business matters
- Represents financial institutions, businesses, and individuals in commercial and consumer collections cases
- Represents business owners, including agricultural producers, in mergers, acquisitions, asset sales, purchases, services contracts, real estate transactions, and exit planning
- Represents businesses, lenders, and individuals in a variety of commercial litigation
Bar Admissions
- Indiana, 2012
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, 2012
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, 2012
- Kentucky, 2020
Educational Background
- Marion College (now Marion University), summa cum laude, 2008
- Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, cum laude, 2012
Professional Organizations
- Indianapolis Bar Association
- Member, 2012 – present
- Executive Committee Member for the Bankruptcy and Commercial Law Section, 2014 – present
- Turnaround Management Association – Indiana
- Member, 2015 – present
- Board of Directors Member, 2022 – present
- National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges
- Next Gen Committee, 2019 – present
- International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation
- Member, 2015 – present
- Co-Founder and Indiana Chair of the KIT (Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee) Network), 2021 – present
Awards and Honors
- Selected to participate in the 2019 National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges Next Generation Program
- Indianapolis Bar Association Bar Leader Series Class VX
- 2018 – 2022 Super Lawyers Rising Star in Bankruptcy, Creditor/Debtor Rights, and Business Litigation
- 2019 – 2023 Best Lawyers® in Bankruptcy/Creditors’ Rights, Insolvency & Reorganization Law, and Mortgage Banking Foreclosure Law
Publications and Lectures
- Secured Transactions for IndyBar Review Students (Indianapolis Bar Association, IndyBar Review, every February and July from July 2016 – present)
- The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: What You (and Your Client(s)) Need to Know (Indianapolis Bar Association, October 28, 2021)
- “Ask the Attorney” – Farm Issues Related to Estate and Asset Planning (Purdue University, Women in Ag Morning Mixer, October 19, 2021)
- Navigating Cases with Significant Tax Liabilities and Digital Currency from the Perspective of Counsel for Debtors, Chapter 7 Panel Trustees, and Creditors (Indianapolis Bar Association, Neil Shook Advanced Consumer Bankruptcy Roundtable, April 23, 2021)
- Consumer Finance Litigation – Telephone Consumer Protection Act (Indianapolis Bar Association, August 20, 2020)
- Recent Developments under the CARES Act (Indianapolis Bar Association, May 21, 2020)
- Supreme Court and Seventh Circuit Case Law Update (Indianapolis Bar Association, December 10, 2019)
- FDCPA and Collection Law (National Business Institute, December 6, 2019)
- Consumer Law Updates (ICLEF, 41st Annual Indiana Law Update, September 11, 2019)
- FDCPA Compliance for the Indiana Practitioner (National Business Institute, July 10, 2019)
- Collection Law from Start to Finish – Filing the Lawsuit (National Business Institute, December 8, 2018)
- Consumer Law Updates (ICLEF, 40th Annual Indiana Law Update, September 12, 2018)
- Bankruptcy as Way to Collect and Its Implication on Collection Practices (ICLEF, March 9, 2018)
- FDCPA Compliance for the Indiana Practitioner (National Business Institute, July 13, 2017)
- Avoiding Second Mortgages on a Debtor’s Residence, The Co-Debtor Stay, and Discharge and Dischargeability Issues (Indianapolis Bar Association, Advanced Consumer Bankruptcy Roundtable, May 27, 2017)
- Ethical Issues for Business Bankruptcy Attorneys (ICLEF, Steven H. Ancel Annual Bankruptcy Institute, December 9, 2016)
- Hot Collection Issues in the Business World (Ice Miller, October 19, 2016)
- Risk Analysis in Business Transactions (Ice Miller, June 15, 2016)
- Chapter 11 Exit Strategies (Structured Dismissals and Other Options) (Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, William J. O’Neill Great Lakes Regional Bankruptcy Institute, June 1, 2016)
Decisions from Representative Cases
- In the Matter of: Onatah Farms, LLC, Douglas W. Morrow, Mary Beth Morrow, MBD Farms, LLC, NCI Farms, LLC, 2021 WL 2809902 (Bankr. N.D. Ind. Apr. 29, 2021)
- In the Matter of: Onatah Farms, LLC, Douglas W. Morrow, Mary Beth Morrow, MBD Farms, LLC, NCI Farms, LLC, 2021 WL 2808813 (Bankr. N.D. Ind. Apr. 29, 2021)
- In the Matter of: Onatah Farms, LLC, Douglas W. Morrow, Mary Beth Morrow, MBD Farms, LLC, NCI Farms, LLC, 2021 WL 6520211 (Bankr. N.D. Ind. Apr. 26, 2021)
- McKinney v. Real Time Resolutions, Inc., 2020 WL 5848506 (S.D. Ind. Oct. 1, 2020)
- Farm Credit Mid-America, PCA v. Tingle (In re Tingle), 594 B.R. 396 (Bankr. E.D. Ky. 2018)
- O’Day v. Ally Financial Inc., 2018 WL 3055330 (N.D. Ind. June 20, 2018)
- Evan v. Diners Club Int’l Ltd., 2017 WL 4784667 (N.D. Ind. Oct. 24, 2017)
- Whirlpool Corporation v. hhgreegg, Inc. et al., 578 B.R. 814 (Bankr. S.D. Ind. Dec. 4, 2017)
- Lee Group Holding Co., LLC v. Walro (In re Lee), 2015 WL 4724944 (S.D. Ind. Aug. 10, 2015)
- Kaur v. Hebenstreit (In re Bains), 2015 WL 1224487 (S.D. Ind. Mar. 17, 2015)
- Walro v. Lee Group Holding Co., LLC (In re Lee), 524 B.R. 798 (Bankr. S.D. Ind. 2014)
- Silver v. Munson (In re Wieder), 2013 WL 3336611 (Bankr. S.D. Ind. July 2, 2013)
Representative Clients
- Represented an agricultural lender in obtaining a determination that debtors were not entitled to a chapter 7 discharge due to numerous fraudulent and unexplainable acts on summary judgment without having to incur the time and expense of trial
- Represented a noteholder in the foreclosure and sale of approximately 25 rental properties that produced a return to the noteholder in excess of what any party had anticipated
- Represented various banks, financial institutions, and lenders in numerous commercial foreclosure actions, sales of property, replevin of equipment, and pursuit of guarantors upon deficiency judgments
- Represented creditors in the chapter 7 bankruptcy case where debtor had massive tort liabilities and successfully obtained the benefit of a channeling injunction and resolution of all outstanding litigation for the creditor through a chapter 11 plan
- Represented a farming operation in successfully navigating the chapter 11 process and efficiently confirming a consensual plan to which there were no objections after negotiating to sell the largest secured creditor’s claim to another lender at a significant discount
- Represented agricultural borrowers in negotiating an out-of-court resolution of multi-million-dollar claims asserts by numerous lenders to allow the borrowers to continue their family farming operations
