Select Experience Includes:

• Cole Schotz served as co-counsel in a chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding pending in Delaware for a publicly-held Singapore-based real estate investment trust and its subsidiaries which had a principal strategy of investing in income producing hotel real estate properties in the U.S. As co-counsel, Cole Schotz was involved in all aspects of the Debtors’ chapter 11 cases which ultimately resulted in the successful sale of 14 of the Debtors’ 15 total hotel property assets and, subsequently, confirmation of the Debtors’ chapter 11 plans of liquidation. Following confirmation of the Debtors’ bankruptcy plan, Cole Schotz was appointed as lead counsel to Alan Tantleff, the Liquidating Trustee appointed under the plan of liquidation.
• After representing the Creditors’ Committee in the bankruptcy case of Think Finance, LLC, a FinTech company, the firm was retained post-confirmation by the Litigation Trustee to investigate and prosecute several complex fraudulent transfer cases against a publicly-traded company, Elevate Credit, Inc., which spun-off from the Debtor pre-petition in a tax-free spinoff, as well as over 100 of the Debtors’ former shareholders, affiliates and vendors. The beneficiaries of the trust were comprised of over 1 million consumer borrowers who brought a class action in the underlying case alleging that they were defrauded by a predatory lender as a part of a “Native American rent-a-tribe” scheme. Cole Schotz helped recover a combined total of over $115.0 million for the estate and trust, and void over $1.0 billion of consumer loans.
• Represented Modell’s Sporting Goods in its chapter 11 cases, securing an unprecedented months’-long suspension of the cases in response to mandatory store-closures at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our team successfully leveraged the Bankruptcy Code to craft novel arguments in favor of a case-wide suspension to compensate for the impact a global pandemic had on the operating retailer. Our model was successfully replicated in some of the largest bankruptcy cases across the country. After the governmental restrictions ended, the temporary suspension was lifted, operations resumed and the Debtors were able to complete their liquidation sales, repay their secured lenders and confirm a liquidating plan.
• Represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, comprised exclusively of the Debtors’ largest landlords of RGN-Group Holdings, LLC, a leading provider of co-working space in the United States. Our team launched a comprehensive investigation, identified potential claims that could be pursued for the benefit of unsecured creditors, negotiated with the Debtors and their non-debtor parent company, and ultimately reached a global settlement that allowed the Debtors to confirm an unimpaired chapter 11 plan that delivered 100% returns to unsecured Creditors.
• Represented True Religion Apparel, Inc. and its affiliates in its chapter 11 filing amidst the COVID-19 pandemic that crippled the retail industry. Following the filing, our team worked with the company, its lenders, landlords, vendors and other parties of interest to formulate and file a chapter 11 plan of reorganization that would keep True Religion stores open and save one of the most recognizable brands in modern fashion. The plan was heralded as a “minor miracle.”
• Represented turnaround manager Lynn Tilton and her Patriarch Partners entities—which have held ownership in and restructured more than 240 companies with combined revenues in excess of $100 billion—in their roles as creator, former manager and agent, and secured creditor of the bankrupt Zohar investment funds. Cole Schotz and its co-counsel also litigated numerous disputes before the Delaware Bankruptcy Court and several appeals to the Delaware District Court and Third Circuit involving a number of the portfolio companies.
• Representing 710 Long Ridge Rd. Operating Co. LLC, a former operator of skilled nursing care facilities, in defending appeals before the District Court of New Jersey following a successful chapter 11 case in which the company restructured its collective bargaining agreements and reorganized its operations.
• Representing three court-appointed independent managers of National Realty Investment Advisors, LLC in its chapter 11 cases. Cole Schotz orchestrated the appointment of the independent managers and the chief restructuring officer in the face of a variety of governance challenges and have actively advised the independent managers since their appointment. NRIA and its 130+ affiliated Debtors are widely regarded as having operated a Ponzi scheme and are under investigation by several state and federal agencies. The independent managers are working with the Debtors’ employees, consultants, and retained professionals to monetize the Debtors’ real estate portfolio and maximize returns to the Debtors’ creditors and investors.
• Represented the Official Committee of Opioid Related Claimants of Mallinckrodt plc and its affiliated chapter 11 Debtors. This was an important case given its role in remedying the opioid epidemic – one of the most significant public-health crises in recent memory – and the myriad legal complexities posed given the widespread harm opioids have wrought on victims, their families, and their communities. As Delaware and efficiency counsel, we advised the Committee with respect to various issues that impacted the rights of opioid claimants and intervened on such claimants’ behalf by, among other things, reviewing and analyzing the terms governing the Debtors’ use of cash collateral during the case, analyzing the recoveries proposed under the Debtors’ prepetition restructuring support agreement and related chapter 11 plan, working with the Debtors to craft a bespoke noticing program for the Debtors’ opioid claimants to ensure that such claimants received adequate notice of the Debtors’ chapter 11 plan and their right to vote in connection therewith, and investigating potential claims and causes of action to increase the value of the Debtors’ estates for the benefit of opioid claimants.
• Representing the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy. The maker of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma, and its owners, the Sackler family, are facing thousands of lawsuits across the country that allege the company and the Sackler family are responsible for creating and exacerbating the opioid crisis. We have coordinated and continue to review an expansive database of documents and communications relevant to the Committee’s analysis of potential claims against the Sackler family. The database is currently comprised of over ten million records and continues to grow as additional productions of documents are made. Cole Schotz is also active in litigation against Purdue’s insurers seeking coverage for the opioid claims asserted against Purdue.