The Bankruptcy & Restructuring Group at Lord, Bissell & Brook LLP provides quality representation in virtually every aspect of corporate bankruptcy matters, serving the needs of parties to bankruptcy litigation and bankruptcy transactions, and insurers enforcing their contractual rights against debtors. The depth and breadth of our Bankruptcy & Restructuring Group’s practice has been underscored by our representations of creditors and other parties in national chapter 11 cases, including Conseco, United Airlines, Kmart, Global Crossing, PennCorp Financial, Comdisco, Fleming Companies, WorldCom, Outboard Marine Corporation, Bucyrus International and Mercury Finance. We offer a full range of business bankruptcy services to a broad variety of corporate clients.
A Full Range of Business Bankruptcy Attorneys The Bankruptcy and Restructuring Group consists of eight senior attorneys (seven partners and one senior of counsel) who devote their practices to bankruptcy, corporate restructuring and workout matters, and ten associates who assist those partners in providing bankruptcy services to our clients. We are an intenational firm with offices in Atlanta, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, Sacramento, and Washington, D.C. Our Bankruptcy and Restructuring Group represents clients in bankruptcy matters in venues throughout the country.
Bankruptcy Services for Creditors The Bankruptcy & Restructuring Group provides a full range of bankruptcy services to creditors, including banks, finance companies, insurance companies, committees, reinsurers, portfolio managers, bondholders, investment funds and other institutional creditors. We vigorously pursue the rights of creditors in chapter 11 cases, liquidations, workouts, debtor-in-possession lending, restructuring of debt, protecting the rights of creditors in litigation contexts, and resolving environmental issues pertaining to foreclosed real estate.
Restructuring and Liquidation Services for Debtors We represent business debtors, particularly upper middle market clients, in restructuring their businesses and renegotiating their debt structure with their primary creditors in a variety of contexts. In addition, our bankruptcy & restructuring attorneys currently represent a liquidation trust in litigation matters, and have the experience and personnel to represent chapter 11 trustees and other liquidation estates and receiverships.
Bankruptcy Litigation Services Our bankruptcy & restructuring attorneys vigorously pursue recoveries, prosecute claims and defend against attacks by bankruptcy trustees and debtors. We have broad experience representing institutional clients in virtually every kind of bankruptcy-related litigation, including: preference, fraudulent conveyance and other avoidance actions; setoff litigation; executory contract and other contract disputes; administrative claims; fee disputes, including malpractice actions against conflicted bankruptcy counsel; disputes regarding asset purchase agreements and other transactions with debtors; securities litigation arising from bankruptcy contexts; litigation about disclosure statements and plans of reorganization; objections to claim; lien priority litigation; bankruptcy-related directors and officers litigation; and financial fraud litigation.
Bankruptcy Transactional Services We counsel financial institutions and other parties regarding the sale or purchase of businesses or assets from bankruptcy or insurance insolvency estates. In addition, we negotiate and document workouts, service contracts with chapter 11 debtors, loan restructurings, forbearance agreements, debtor-in-possession loans, cash collateral stipulations, subordination agreements and numerous other bankruptcy-related transactions.
Bankruptcy Services for Insurance Clients Our Bankruptcy & Restructuring Group draws upon our extensive insurance client base and experience to represent insurance industry clients confronted with bankruptcy and insurance insolvency issues. We provide bankruptcy and insurance insolvency services to insurers, reinsurers, guaranty funds and other insurance industry clients. For example, we represent several major insurers regularly as creditors in the bankruptcies of their insureds enforcing their rights to collect amounts due under loss-sensitive policies, including asserting priority claim on their behalf, and defending preferences and avoidable transfer actions.
Recent Representations We have represented prominent clients in a broad range of significant matters, including:
- The major secured creditor ($75 million in secured loans) in the chapter 11 cases of affiliated aluminum processing companies in Chicago;
- The senior secured lender ($80 million of mortgage debt) in proposing and successfully confirming a contested plan of reorganization for a national car wash chain in bankruptcy court in Delaware;
- A major insurer in a recent successful appeal, in which the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held in In re Howard Delivery that amounts due with respect to workers’ compensation insurance are entitled to priority under section 507(a)(4) of the Bankruptcy Code, in the face of three other Circuit Court decisions to the contrary;
- Aircraft financiers in the United Airlines case, which involved foreclosing the equity interests in aircraft leased to United;
- An upper middle market construction company in an out-of-court restructuring of $112 million in loans;
Non-debtor affiliates of a debtor facing potential pre-packaged chapter 11 case because of massive asbestos injury claims;
- The Estate Representative appointed under the chapter 11 plan for Global Crossing, acting as its litigation counsel for hundreds of preference and fraudulent conveyance actions;
- The Ad Hoc Securitization Holders’ Committee in the Conseco Finance chapter 11 cases, including pension funds, life insurers and investors holding securitizations aggregating more than $4 billion;
- The major mortgage loan insurer in the Conseco Finance chapter 11 cases;
- The claims management services firm in the Kmart chapter 11 case;
- The successful bidder in the auction of the engine division in the Outboard Marine Corporation case, participating in a joint bid in excess of $100 million;
- Major insurers in recovering premium and protecting their other contractual rights in the bankruptcies of numerous insured companies in venues throughout the nation, including in the WorldCom, National Steel, Fleming Companies, Piccadilly Cafeterias, Bethlehem Steel, Owens Corning, and Payless Cashways cases;
- Defendant in a motion to dismiss a preference complaint filed in In re TWA, Inc. against recipients of alleged preferential payments in excess of $2 million, resulting in a ruling setting heightened pleading standards for preference complaints;
- A bank litigating its claims against eight business debtors, resulting in confirmed plans of reorganization and the dismissal of more than 80 appeals before the Court of Appeals, concluding more than six years of aggravated litigation; and
- Bucyrus International in litigation resulting in the disgorgement of $2 million in legal fees paid to its nationally prominent chapter 11 counsel who had not disclosed its conflicts. We also prosecuted and settled a $160 million malpractice action against the conflicted firm.