Bankruptcy Litigation

Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr has been involved in such notable bankruptcies and related litigations as:

• Tried a major business valuation case for more than six weeks in federal court in Chicago in connection with the Conseco bankruptcy, the third largest bankruptcy in United States history. This lengthy business valuation trial directly led to a substantial settlement for Saul Ewing clients, which was entered the day before a decision was to be announced.
• Led trial counsel in a six-month in New Jersey Superior Court trial involving various claims of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty relating to the formation and dissolution of a joint venture in the hazardous waste management business
• Appointed to serve as the Chapter 11 trustee in a Maryland bankruptcy case involving two individuals. We were charged with seeking to recover the debtors' prebankruptcy transfer of significant funds to an offshore asset protection trust. Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr attorneys filed a complaint attacking the trust and seeking the repatriation of the trust's assets for the benefit of the debtors' creditors. Within several months, the debtors ultimately settled the litigation for an amount representing most of the funds transferred.
• Represented an ad hoc stockholders' committee in a large Chapter 11 case for a public company in New York, Impath Inc. We convinced the bankruptcy court to order the appointment of an official committee of equity holders over the objections of other major parties in the case. As counsel for the equity committee, Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr played a major role in negotiating the terms of the Chapter 11 plan and in settling class action litigation, as a result of which equity holders received a substantial cash distribution promptly upon the plan becoming effective.
• Served as lead bankruptcy counsel for Owens Corning, a multibillion-dollar world leader in the manufacture and sale of building material systems and composites systems. The bankruptcy cases were commenced in the District of Delaware in order to protect the company's businesses and value for all of its constituents, and primarily to resolve asbestos claims. The cases involved numerous complex inter-creditor issues and litigation, including the valuation of present and future asbestos liabilities, substantive consolidation law, and fraudulent conveyance litigation
• Established in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a precedent-setting case, the rights of a software licensor to prevent a Chapter 11 debtor from returning its license rights without the licensor's consent.