Bankruptcy/Creditor and Debtor Rights Practice Group

The Bankruptcy/Creditors and Debtors Rights Practice Group is a thriving practice, devoted to assisting clients in navigating the ever-changing territory of modern commercial and consumer bankruptcy, insolvency, and recovery law. We specialize in maximizing the effective pursuit of clients' available debtor-creditor rights and remedies in both litigation and out-of-court workout and recovery situations. Although we regularly represent numerous regional and national financial institutions, we also regularly assist other creditors, creditors' committees, trustees, purchasers of assets, lessors of real and personal property, parties to executory contracts, and debtors. We also handle Foreclosures, Collections, and Evictions.

Fred Bopp, the Group's Chair, Randy Creswell, and Andy Cadot, the Group's of counsel member, are all listed in The Best Lawyers in America 2009 (copyright 2008 by Woodward/White, Inc. of Aiken, S.C.) and Group members, which also include Tony Manhart, and Stephanie Williams, maintain membership in the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Turnaround Management Association, and other professional organizations. In addition, Group members are involved in the community and are committed to pro bono representation.

The Group's attorneys are licensed to practice in state and federal courts in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New York, and the District of Columbia.

Services Provided

We customize our focus to meet the specific needs of each client. Committed to client satisfaction, we have expertise in all areas of bankruptcy and debtor-creditor law. Also, we operate as part of an interdisciplinary team, and are able to draw on resources from the Firm's business, transaction, tax, real estate, litigation, and other practice groups, thereby providing efficient and effective client services. We are results-driven, motivated, creative, and ready to:

• Advise clients in connection with all aspects of bankruptcy and non-bankruptcy liquidations, financial restructurings, and reorganizations;
• Represent creditors' committees and bankruptcy trustees;
• Defend clients in bankruptcy preference, fraudulent transfer, and other litigation;
• Advise lenders in loan workouts and restructurings and on lender liability matters;
• Counsel financial institutions and other creditors on protecting collateral, realizing and/or foreclosing on secured parties' real and personal property assets, and maximizing the return on administrative and unsecured claims;
• Pursue bankruptcy nondischargeability actions on behalf of creditors; and
• Litigate Chapter 7, Chapter 11, Chapter 13 and other bankruptcy and debtor-creditor matters in both state and federal courts.

Foreclosures

We handle foreclosures for TD Banknorth, N.A., the Maine State Housing Authority, and a number of national mortgage companies. Although foreclosures can be quite complex, Andy Cadot has handled over 3,500 foreclosures for commercial and residential properties.

We use flexible billing practices, and will cap legal fees for simple foreclosures (not including disbursements for filing fees, sheriffs fees, title abstracting costs, publication costs, recording fees, etc.) if the case is uncontested. If a motion to serve any party by publication is required, the cap will be increased. If the defendants contest the case, we will bill attorney and paralegal time at discounted hourly rates. If the case becomes contested, we will do our best to estimate the additional fees. We bill twice during the course of a civil action foreclosure: once at the point of summary judgment and the second just prior to conducting the public auction; we do not charge for long distance telephone calls, postage, local courier service, faxing, Westlaw or other computerized legal research charges, photocopying or mailing.

We have experience conducting Power of Sale foreclosures for commercial properties; where appropriate, a sale can be scheduled and held (using an auction company) within four to six weeks of publishing a Notice of Sale.

Collections

In addition, we assist the Firm's clients in pursuing and resolving both commercial and retail collection matters speedily, efficiently, and favorably by providing systematic and personal attention to each collection matter. To facilitate the collection of amounts due to our clients, we will seek, on a client's behalf, real estate attachments, bank account attachments, ex parte attachments, personal property attachments, and any other applicable pre- and post-judgment remedy that is appropriate and available in any given matter. Our commercial and retail collection team is skilled at pursuing creditor claims in state and federal courts and in the bankruptcy courts. We also are experienced in perfecting, enforcing, and collecting foreign judgments.

Evictions

We also represent landlords, real estate management companies, financial institutions, and our other commercial clients in connection with recovering possession of commercial and investment real property in eviction/forcible entry and detainer actions. We work toward a final judgment but are also experienced in negotiating agreements to facilitate obtaining possession of the property at issue for our client as expeditiously and economically as possible.

Representative Matters

In late October 2008, the Bankruptcy Group, in its capacity as counsel to the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the jointly-administered Chapter 11 cases of Red Shield Environmental, LLC, was intrumental in facilitating the Debtors' sale of its paper mill and other assets for the purchase price of approximately $19 million dollars. The new buyer fully anticipates restarting the paper mill and employing hundres of Mainers in the process. The sale of the Debtors' assets is also expected to bring a substantial dividend to the holders of general unsecured claims in those cases. The Bankruptcy Group's substantial experience and expertise in similar large-scale bankruptcy-auction sales was critical to acheiving such a positive result in those cases, as well as for the employees of the Red Shield paper mill.

The Bankruptcy Group continues to represent an individual debtor/real estate contractor and developer who filed in Maine under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in June of 2006. The Bankruptcy Group succeeded in confirming the Debtor's Chapter 11 Plan in May of 2007, less than one year after filing, which the Bankruptcy Group believes is Maine's first confirmed individual Chapter 11 plan following the effective date of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005.

The Bankruptcy Group is currently retained as special counsel to a Maine Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee in the administration of the bankruptcy estate of two individual debtors, which consisted of a large amount of real property and business equipment, including equipment from a garbage collection and disposal business and a laundry facility. The Bankruptcy Group obtained Bankruptcy Court approval to hold an auction sale, which was conducted on August 29, 2007, and exceeded expectations in the amount brought in to the bankruptcy estate for the benefit of creditors.

Recently, a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee in Massachusetts obtained the approval of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts to employ the Bankruptcy Group as special counsel to the Trustee, in order to represent the Trustee in the pursuit of an action in the United States District Court for the District of Maine, which is ongoing.