Van Matre, Harrison, Hollis, Taylor, and Bacon, P.C., routinely represents secured and unsecured creditors, debtors, landlords, employees and labor unions, equity holders, and asset purchasers in handling all aspects of bankruptcies. We have vast experience representing both debtors and creditors in proceedings under Chapters 7, 11, 12, and 13 of the Bankruptcy Code.
Our practice is extremely varied and deep. It encompasses not only bankruptcy and creditors’ rights matters, but also other disciplines in which we utilize the firm’s experience in:
- Real estate law (sales and leases assets, prioritizing liens and restructuring mortgages)
- Corporate law (restructuring equity and pre-bankruptcy reorganization)
- Labor (litigating and negotiating issues involving liability under the Fair Labor Standards Act and union collective bargaining agreements under the Bankruptcy Code)
- Tax (strategize and evaluate minimal negative tax implication related to real estate transactions, workouts, and asset sales in both in bankruptcy and in out of court workouts)
- Lender Liability Litigation (we have represented both lenders and borrowers in complex debt collection litigation and related lender liability claims including breach of fiduciary duty claims, fraud and bad faith claims, improper setoff claims, Equal Credit Opportunity Act claims and defenses, and Anti-Tying claims)
The depth and breadth of our practice gives us the ability to provide both our lender and borrower clients with a comprehensive perspective in arriving at creative solutions when a lending relationship becomes distressed.
We also have extensive experience litigating a wide variety of matters in bankruptcy court involving fraudulent transfers, preferential transfers, perfection and priority of security interests, recharacterization of debt as equity, subordination of insiders’ claim, exceptions to discharge, lender liability and breach of fiduciary duty claims.
Representative Experience:
- Represented an entity that purchased the assets of a Chapter 11 debtor that was a leading cell tower manufacturer. The asset purchase not only involved complex issues under the Bankruptcy Code but also implicated corporate, tax, employment, and real estate issues.
- Represented a large national bank in bankruptcy litigation to determine whether the bank’s post-petition action in terminating an interest rate swap agreement with the Chapter 11 debtor violated the automatic stay and whether the resulting swap termination fee was part of the bank’s secured claim. We settled the claim favorably on behalf of the client on the eve of trial.
- Represented a Chapter 11 debtor that owns a large apartment complex in obtaining an order form the bankruptcy court allowing it to use its post-petition rental income to fund its operations during the Chapter 11 case.
- Represented several employees of a large Chapter 11 debtor in successfully recovering pre-petition wages that the debtor owed the employees.