Bankruptcy & Creditors' Rights
Contact: Mark G. DeGiacomo
Contact: Robert A. White
Our Bankruptcy and Creditors' Rights Group has represented both creditors and debtors in bankruptcy, workouts, foreclosures and creditors' rights litigation for over 30 years. Our lawyers have counseled parties involved in corporate and partnership restructurings, receiverships and dissolutions outside of bankruptcy. The firm also has assisted potential purchasers of assets from troubled companies both in and out of bankruptcy. Our co-chairs each have approximately 20 years experience practicing in the bankruptcy court. The group can call upon lawyers in other disciplines such as labor, environmental, real estate, corporate, pensions and environmental to render assistance when needed.
Distressed companies need skilled assistance to quickly and efficiently evaluate their options. With experience in all facets of business law - financing, employment, intellectual property, real estate and other areas - we work with financial advisors to set the right strategy for the company. In these litigious times we help directors navigate the minefields of fiduciary responsibilities in the zone of insolvency.
Our lawyers have been involved in the sale of troubled companies in a variety of industries including health care, manufacturing, construction and high tech. The solution for numerous small to mid market companies in distress is to effectuate a sale of some or all of their assets, often within a short time frame and a contentious atmosphere. We can assist clients in evaluating the risk in a transaction and suggest strategies to accomplish their goals. In representing buyers, sellers, lenders and creditors in these situations, we combine our M & A know-how with deep insolvency experience.
In representing both secured and unsecured lenders we assist them in evaluating their options in dealing with troubled borrowers. We advance our clients’ interests whether they choose to participate in workouts, a restructuring of the debt, sell their position or pursue creditor remedies, including foreclosures, prejudgment attachments and/or other means of collection.
We are often called upon to represent groups of creditors in bankruptcy cases. We assist the committee in evaluating purchase or restructuring offers for the company, investigate insider dealings, analyze liens of secured creditors, litigate a variety of issues, and negotiate with the debtor on numerous bankruptcy issues.
One of our co-chairs serves on the United States Trustee’s Panel of Trustees in Boston where he has been appointed Chapter 11 or Chapter 7 trustee in scores of cases over the years. In that capacity he is involved in the valuation and sale of assets of companies in a wide variety of industries. In each case, Murtha Cullina has served as his counsel and represented him in connection with every aspect of the reorganization or liquidation process. In that capacity we have investigated numerous claims involving liens of secured creditors, director and officer liability issues, insurance coverage and fraudulent transfer actions. Recently, one of our other bankruptcy attorneys was appointed a panel trustee in New Hampshire, and we have been representing her in that new capacity.
Our bankruptcy lawyers are experienced in all phases of business reorganization and creditors' rights litigation and workouts. We serve business debtors as well as institutional and trade creditors, creditors' committees, lessors, equity holders and parties seeking to acquire assets from financially troubled companies. Our clients are drawn from a broad variety of industries, from financial institutions to health care providers and high technology companies, from manufacturing, construction and utilities to retail and real estate companies. Our locations in Hartford, New Haven Stamford, Madison CT and Boston and Woburn MA provide ready access to all New England bankruptcy courts.
Our clients have called on us to play substantial roles in major bankruptcy cases. We represented a group of creditors in initiating what became the largest bankruptcy in Connecticut history and have taken substantial roles on behalf of creditors in the Massachusetts bankruptcy courts as well. We represented both the first Connecticut hospital to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy and one of the first companies ever to use the unique jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court to resolve liability for thousands of personal injury cases across the country in a single proceeding. As a result of this broad experience we are able to represent our clients in virtually any aspect of bankruptcy litigation.
- Represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Robotic Vision Systems, Inc. and Auto Image ID, Inc. pending in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Hampshire. RVSI developed, marketed and manufactured bar code scanning devices and also manufactured semiconductor components. We participated in identifying potential buyers for the assets and in the ultimate sale of the two divisions.
- Represented Boston Chapter 7 Trustee in the IronBridge case, a high-tech startup networking and electronics company that was developing optically based terabit routers.
- Represented a Committee for 1,500 ERISA plans that had invested in a $265 million fund which had made inappropriate investments. Investor recovered 100% of their claims.
- Represented the Chapter 11 Trustee in the bankruptcy and reorganization of a sub-prime residential developer with over $150 million in debt.
- Represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of a technology company. We investigated and settled a dispute with a Fortune 100 company within six months that recovered $2.5 million for the estate without litigation.
- Represented Chapter 7 Trustee of a remarketer of computer equipment. We have recovered in excess of $1.5 million for the estate as a result of a settlement with the secured creditor.
