Defending Clarity in a High‑Stakes Notice Battle
Signal designed and implemented the Notice Plan for this contentious pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
When an opposing expert challenged the notices as biased and insufficient for due process, Signal’s Dr. Shannon Wheatman—a nationally recognized plain-language expert—defended the program in court.
Dr. Wheatman testified that effective notices serve as accessible gateways to alert people of their rights and direct them to detailed information, not as exhaustive legal documents.
Drawing on communication science and decades of experience in major bankruptcy cases, she demonstrated that the campaign achieved 95.8% reach among the target audience.
Dr. Wheatman additionally showed that the campaign followed established best practices for promoting comprehension across diverse audiences.
The judge ultimately agreed with Dr. Wheatman’s analysis.
Even under the time constraints of a chess clock trial format, Judge Christopher Lopez expressed wanting more time to discuss plain-language principles with her—underscoring both the strength of her testimony and the court’s recognition of the Notice Plan’s validity.
In re Red River Talc LLC, No. 24-90505 (Bankr. S.D. Tex.).
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