Henry A. Callaway III
How Judge Callaway rules, drawn from 27 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Callaway
Henry A. Callaway III has served as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Alabama since May 2015. Before his appointment, he practiced business litigation and bankruptcy law. He earned degrees from Harvard University and Vanderbilt University.
Judge Callaway's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Callaway's own (checked October 11, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
Standing orders for every case in this court
Orders the court applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 11, 2026).
- Administrative Order 2026-03: Filings Using Generative Artificial Intelligence ↗
- Administrative Order 2026-02: Withdrawal of Rule 3002.1(c) Notices ↗
- Administrative Order 2025-06: Matters Which Can Be Filed Negative Notice ↗
- Administrative Order 2025-01: Telephonic Participation in Motion Dockets and Chapter 13 Confirmation Hearings ↗
- Administrative Order 2024-02: Procedures for Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
- Administrative Order 2023-06: Notice of Continued Chapter 13 Confirmation Hearings ↗
- Administrative Order 2023-01: Wage Withholding or TFS in Chapter 13 Cases ↗
- Administrative Order 2019-10: Filing Documents Under Seal ↗
- Administrative Order 2019-09: Redaction by Clerk of Personal Data Identifiers ↗
- Administrative Order 2019-05: Unopposed Motions for Relief from Stay in Chapter 7 Cases ↗
How Judge Callaway decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Mixed-debt Chapter 7 cases apply the exemption limits in effect on the petition date.
“The undersigned judges find that, in Chapter 7 cases with a ‘mix’ of debts which pre-and postdate the change in exemptions, the approach which complies with the Bankruptcy Code and is most consistent with other law is to apply the exemption limits in effect at the time of the bankruptcy petition”
A Chapter 13 debtor's postpetition mortgage payments made directly to the creditor are not payments under the plan, so direct-payment arrears alone do not bar discharge after plan completion.
“mortgage payments paid directly by [a] debtor are not ‘payments under the plan’ and a debtor’s failure to make such payments standing alone does not merit . . . the denial of [a debtor’s] discharge”
In a plan confirmation dispute, the court set the creditor’s secured claim at the collateral value supported by the evidence and treated the balance as unsecured.
“court finds that Republic’s claim is secured in the amount of $4,350 with the remainder of the claim unsecured.”
Procedural preferences
A creditor that receives oral notice of bankruptcy must investigate promptly and restore the status quo rather than wait for notice in its preferred form.
“The law is very clear that once a party has notice that a bankruptcy has been filed, the party cannot just ignore that information until receiving the information in the form that party would like to have it.”
Once the debtor completed Chapter 13 plan payments, the court declined to increase the unsecured creditor payout through a later plan modification.
“It is thus too late for the trustee to move to modify the plan to increase the percentage paid on unsecured claims, and the debtor is entitled to the net settlement proceeds.”
The court required debtors to address disputed lease or secured claim treatment in their Chapter 13 plan rather than through a claim objection alone.
“issue for the plan, not for an objection to claim.”
The court enforced confirmed plan treatment against a creditor that had not objected to the plan, despite later language in a stay relief order permitting a deficiency claim filing.
“The order of confirmation (doc. 34) is binding on both creditors and the debtor.”
Cautions
A settlement release should expressly reserve claims or assets the trustee intends to preserve; an unrestricted general release may relinquish them even without a separate abandonment notice.
“If the parties had intended to limit the releases, they could have specifically done so.”
A lapsed financing statement did not by itself undo a purchase money security interest that was perfected without filing.
“But Lendmark did not have to file a financing statement in the first”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
The two judges issued a joint interpretive opinion governing old-debt and mixed-debt exemption questions, with final orders reserved for individual cases.
“The court awards actual damages, exclusive of attorney’s fees, of $845 ($150 + $100 + $45 + $550), which will be”
“misconduct taken in arrogant defiance of federal law and merit an award of punitive damages in the amount of $3,000.”
“The court also awards $2,500 in attorney’s fees.”
“The court finds for the plaintiff April Mansfield and against the defendant-debtor Kathie Allen on the plaintiff’s nondischargeability claims under Bankruptcy Code §§ 523(a)(4) and (a)(6).”
“The trustee’s objection is sustained, and claim no. 3 is disallowed or reduced to the amount paid.”
Callaway reset a dismissal request for a final hearing and gave the debtor a deadline to report her non-filing spouse's income; the order stated an intended future result and is not counted as a disposition.
“The court therefore grants the debtor’s motion for discharge, which will be entered by separate document.”
“the court will enter a separate final judgment declaring that the monies being held by Midland for commissions earned under Dyken’s personal code from June 10, 2023 forward and for commissions earned under Dyken Insurance’s insurance code from May 30, 2021 forward are to be paid to Dyken and Dyken Insurance, respectively.”
“the court sustains Republic’s objections to confirmation in part:”
The court apportioned pending Chapter 13 attorney fee distributions between the former firm’s estate and the lawyer who continued to represent its clients.
“The court thus overrules the debtor’s objection to claim no. 3 and allows that claim as”
“the court grants the debtor’s motion and disallows the”
“the court finds that the answer is no and grants the motion only in part.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
All five sampled matters remained pending at the sampling boundary, so no completed-case duration is reported.
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