Charles M. Walker
How Judge Walker rules, drawn from 4 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Walker
Charles M. Walker is a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Middle District of Tennessee. He took the oath of office on July 27, 2016, after fourteen years as a trial attorney with the Office of the United States Trustee. Before that service, he practiced secured transactions, creditors' rights, and bankruptcy law in Nashville.
Judge Walker's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Walker, as published on the court's website (checked October 11, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
- In-Person vs Virtual Participation in Court Hearings ↗
- Judge Walker's Guidelines for Cash Collateral and Financing Stipulations ↗
- Scheduling Status Conferences for New Chapter 11 Cases ↗
- Employment of Professionals ↗
- Motion for Default Judgment ↗
- Procedures for Mediation in Judge Walker's Cases ↗
- Adversary Proceedings ↗
Key rules
Filing
An application to employ a professional must strictly comply with Rule 2014(a) and state specific case facts supporting the retention.
“All applications to employ professionals shall comply strictly with Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 2014(a) and contain a statement specifying the circumstances that support retention of the professional. This statement shall contain specific facts of the case related to the proposed representation.”
Filing
Filings within 72 hours of a pretrial conference or hearing must carry a blue tag designation.
“NOTE: ANY FILINGS MADE WITHIN 72 HOURS OF A PRETRIAL CONFERENCE OR ANY HEARING MUST BE FILED WITH BLUE TAG DESIGNATION”
Motions
In Chapter 11 cash collateral or financing requests, Walker does not normally approve cross-collateralization in an interim order; identify and justify it in a final request.
“The following will not normally be approved in an interim order, and must be identified and justified in final requests (see B, below): 1. Cross-collateralization clauses, i.e., clauses that secure prepetition debt with postpetition assets in which the secured party would not otherwise have a security interest by virtue of its prepetition security agreement.”
Motions
A default judgment motion in an adversary proceeding must include proof of proper service of process on the defendants.
“a motion for default judgment in an adversary proceeding must be supported by the following: 1. Proof of proper service of process on the defendant(s)”
Conferences
Walker permits virtual appearances for Courtroom 2 motion dockets unless otherwise ordered.
“This hybrid format will allow parties to choose whether they appear in-person or virtually. Any interested party may appear in-person, with virtual appearances being permitted utilizing Zoomgov, unless otherwise ordered by the Court.”
Conferences
A request for Walker’s virtual hearing link must be made no later than the day before the hearing and requires a completed form.
“If a participant would like to appear using Zoomgov, then a request for the virtual access link must be made no later than the day before the hearing date. Even though no motion is required, the requesting party must register for a virtual link by submitting a completed form.”
Conferences
Requests for judicial mediation in a Walker case must be made by motion.
“Requests for judicial mediation in one of Judge Walker’s cases shall be made by motion.”
Conferences
In a new Chapter 11 case other than a small business case, the debtor and counsel must attend the scheduled status conference.
“In all newly filed Chapter 11 cases other than small business cases as defined in 11 U.S.C. § 101(51D), the Court will schedule a status conference following the § 341 meeting of creditors. The Debtor or its representative and Debtor’s counsel are required to attend.”
Trial
Parties, counsel, and witnesses must appear in person for all trials.
“Parties, counsel, and witnesses are required to appear in person for all trials.”
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).
How Judge Walker decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
A plan's claim-reservation provisions are read together with the disclosure statement to determine whether creditors could identify and evaluate the retained asset.
“Here, when section 9.02 of the Plan is read in conjunction with section 8.02, other relevant plan provisions as designated above, and the Disclosure Statement, creditors are able to clearly see that the Arbitration Claim is expressly included among the means for implementing the Plan, and work to protect the estate from the loss of those assets that are in the form of causes of action.”
Procedural preferences
An allowed claim should not be stripped without notice merely because the creditor's current address cannot be located.
“Stripping a creditor of an allowed claim with no notice evidences a substantial prejudice to a property right”
Cautions
Relief needed to implement a reorganization should be addressed through the plan and confirmation process rather than assumed to remain available after confirmation.
“This relief could and should have been sought through the plan and confirmation process.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the reasons stated in the Memorandum contemporaneously filed herewith, IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED that judgment will be entered in favor of the Debtor.”
“The Trustee’s motion is denied. The claim of Parsa remains allowed”
“the Trustee's objection to the Debtor's claimed exemption is OVERRULED.”
“Therefore, Ritzen’s Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
All nine matters were terminated. Four motion-bearing streams supplied the nine grounded docket outcomes; the other five retained no readable disposition.
Draft for Judge Walker with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Walker, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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