Bankruptcy & Reorganization

Whether your goal is to recover your collateral from a borrower that has filed bankruptcy, or to reorganize your business under the protection of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, our accomplished bankruptcy attorneys can assist you. Our attorneys’ expertise in all matters regarding bankruptcy, from creditor, borrower, committee, trustee and other parties is well known and well recognized. We are known for our creative resolution of complex business problems within the bankruptcy arena through negotiation, contested proceedings, or litigation in bankruptcy court.  Our expertise is also well-recognized in related areas of Creditors’ Rights, Business and Financial Restructuring, and Loan Workouts discussed under these separate headings.

Our attorneys have multiple decades of experience in bankruptcy litigation and Chapter 11 reorganizations. Several of our bankruptcy attorneys have been certified as specialists in Business Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification or the State Bar of Arizona.   In addition, our attorneys have been recognized by the Best Lawyers in America, Southwest Super-Lawyers, The Business Journal’s Best of the Bar,  and A-V Rated by Martindale Hubbell. Our attorneys are members in and have held leadership positions in the Bankruptcy Section of the State Bar of Arizona, the Arizona Bankruptcy American Inn of Court, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the American College of Bankruptcy, and the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference – Lawyer Representative.

Our clients are creditors, bankruptcy estates, brokers, creditors’ committees, developers, investors, lenders, landlords, vendors, guarantors, shareholders, and trustees.  They do business in a wide-array of industries such as advertising and media, asset-based lending, aviation, commercial lending, constructions, contractors, equipment leasing and financing, factoring, franchising, government, hard money lenders, healthcare, hospitality, restaurants, insurance, manufacturers, municipalities, non-profits, printing, and publishing, private education, charter schools, preschools, property management, retail stores, shopping center owners, and subcontractors.

We are experienced in prosecuting and defending nondischargeabilty complaints, preference actions, fraudulent transfer claims, involuntary bankruptcy filings, contested Chapter 11 plan confirmation hearings, and numerous other contested matters and adversary actions in bankruptcy cases.

Selected Recent Representations:

• Judgement Creditor of Operating Aircraft Business.
  We represented the holder of a $26 million dollar judgment against an aviation company (based on stolen trade secrets and other conduct) that filed a Chapter 11 case instead of posting a bond to stay enforcement pending appeal.   Our proactive approach in bankruptcy litigation led to the prompt appointment of a Chapter 11 trustee, substantive consolidation of the debtor with a sister business to reverse the effect of pre-bankruptcy dissipation of assets, the  successful sale of the assets, and the filing of a consensual plan of liquidation with the Trustee.

• Secured Lender to Charter School.
  We represented a large U.S. commercial bank in asserting its rights under a loan made to a non-profit charter school that filed Chapter 11.  We  assisted the client in scrutinizing the debtor’s proposed use of cash collateral, the valuation of the client’s collateral, and other ongoing issues in the case.  Without disrupting the debtor’s educational mission, we successfully obtained the relief required for the bank to pursue the appointment of a state-court receiver to run the charter school pending its disposition, and the conversion of the then unnecessary reorganization case to liquidation under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code.

• Debtor – Heavy Equipment Rental Business.
  We worked successfully with a family-owned heavy equipment lessor that fell on hard times during the recession to preserve its business where the principal secured lender desired to liquidate the company.  Through our representation, the company prevailed over contested objections to gain approval of a reorganization plan containing a restructured payout to the secured creditor, and restructured obligations to other creditors and equity holders.

• Debtor – Landmark Arizona Hotel
  We served as counsel for the Chapter 11 debtor that owned and operated a renowned hotel/resort in the West Valley,  as well as four golf course properties in the Valley at large.  After resolving contentious disputes over the turnover of the properties from a prepetition receiver and the debtor’s use of cash collateral, we negotiated a path for the consensual liquidation of the debtor’s assets through a bankruptcy sale and structured bankruptcy dismissal.  The result was a comprehensive settlement involving the debtor, its secured and unsecured lenders, and certain non-debtor affiliate guarantors of the debtor’s obligations.

• Government Entity as Creditor
  We represented an Arizona County Assessor in a contested Chapter 11 proceeding relating to the reorganization of a large mobile home development in Southwest Arizona.  The Chapter 11 case involved a prior failed Chapter 11 plan and a challenge by the debtor to the property tax claim asserted by the County.  After resolving default issues related to the prior failed plan and challenges to the County’s proof of claim, the County and other senior secured creditors jointly proposed (and will soon confirm) a creditor’s Chapter 11 plan of reorganization pursuant to which the debtor will be liquidated and the County will be paid its allowed claims in full.

• Creditors’ Committee
  We served as lead counsel for an Ad Hoc Committee of Investors in certain bankruptcy cases consolidated under the name Greenbelt Property Management, LLC (“Greenbelt”).  The principal of Greenbelt was engaged in a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors in residential real estate in Arizona.  The firm navigated this ad hoc investor committee through the critical stages of these bankruptcy cases to maximize the recovery for this group.