Lanigan & Lanigan, P.L.
831 W. Morse Blvd., Winter Park, Florida 32789
407-740-7379
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Bankruptcy
Making the Decision to File Bankruptcy The Lanigans explain how Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and Chapter 13 Bankruptcy differ. Chapter 13 bankruptcy and Chapter 11 bankruptcy are both plans of reorganization but they have very specific differences. When you reach the point where you are considering bankruptcy contact Winter Park, Florida, lawyer Roddy Lanigan for a meeting to determine your bankruptcy options. The final decision is yours but you have to qualify and find out based on your finances which bankruptcy is optimal. Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Chapter 11 is usually for businesses or for individuals who owe much more than the average person. Chapter 11 allows businesses to get on a payment plan and try to get out of debt while still operating as a viable company. Section §109(d) governs Chapter 11 which gives the same list found in §109(b) for Chapter 7 (you can file in Chapter 11 only if you can file under Chapter 7) except Chapter 11 includes railroads, uninsured banks and banks organized under the Federal Reserve Act. Chapter 11 is very loose, can be expensive and complex but this flexibility allows the companies to negotiate and can take a lot of time. In addition, Chapter 11 does not require a trustee and the person running the bankruptcy is known as the “debtor in possession.” This allows any party of interest to file a plan which is then voted on by the creditors to determine which one best serves their interests. Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Conversely, Chapter 13 bankruptcy is known as the “working man’s or woman’s plan” and focuses on average consumers who are not looking to...
Bankruptcy
Business Direction From Bankruptcy Attorneys Business reorganization is sometimes a better choice than bankruptcy for companies trying to stay afloat in a tough economy. Florida businesses are taking a beating because consumers are affected by a slow recovery which translates to lower profit margins. When debt increases and revenue drops drastically, bankruptcy is often the first thing that people will try to alleviate the stress. Sometimes it’s the first step toward closing the business down. A distressed business doesn’t have to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Winter Park bankruptcy attorneys Eric Lanigan and Roddy Lanigan have provided corporate debt restructuring which is a business reorganization for companies in crisis. Building a successful business takes years of work and sacrifice. Most owners are hard pressed to submit to the humiliation of going broke after investing so much time, energy and money into a dream. There is a very lengthy proceeding and creditors who can legally take ownership of a failing enterprise if the business has not protected its assets. Chapter 11 commercial debt protection may be the most familiar to business owners but it’s a last ditch effort to keep the company running but it’s also an expensive one. Attorney fees can begin in the thousands and end in the hundreds of thousands. When you add the emotional stress and the time it takes to handle day-to-day operations while meeting with trustees and attorneys, it’s easy to see why indebted entrepreneurs would want an alternative to the process of commercial debt protection. A business reorganization is the business owner’s way out of bankruptcy. Attorneys Eric and Roddy Lanigan can help businesses:...
Bankruptcy
Holders of a Florida development’s tax-exempt “dirt bonds” are battling a court order that could make it more difficult for owners of at least $2.9 billion of defaulted debt involving Fiddler’s Creek Community Development Districts to get paid by excluding them from a Chapter 11 settlement plan. Is is one of the single biggest default events in the history of the municipal market, which is nearly $5.1 billion, or 77 percent of those issued since 2003, having taken place in Florida, according to Bloomberg reports. Creditors Frustrated With Chapter 11 Settlement Plan The owners of the $100 million of dirt bonds sold by Fiddler’s Creek Community Development Districts now know debt payments will begin after those to other creditors of Fiddler’s Creek LLC, the bankrupt builder of a 4,000-acre (1,600-hectare) community in Naples, on Florida’s west coast. Dirt bonds are sold by community development districts established by builders to pay for utility lines and roads on newly developed housing land. Florida issued almost 400 in the $7 billion outstanding. The disaster started with Florida’s economic and real estate downturn which continues. In bankruptcy restructuring, debts are let go by a court order based on a careful reorganization plan. Creditors are in line for payment by what funds are available and do not want their debts dismissed. This case, Florida’s first where a development district settled debts with a builder under Chapter 11 bankruptcy procedures over bondholders’ objections, may prompt more Chapter 11 filings by builders looking to delay bond payments. Florida has many developers filing bankruptcy or who have bankruptcies pending. It means that bondholders supposed to be first paid are now last....
Bankruptcy
The New York High Court rules on Chapter 11 law clarifying the business exemption law issues over a Liquidating Trust that filed suit against Deloitte, LLP., for accounting fraud in New York State Supreme Court. Deloitte, an audit, financial advisory, tax and consulting firm, moved to dismiss the suit arguing the Trust represented more than 50 claimants, thereby making its claim subject to dismissal under the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 (SLUSA). The SLUSA sought to prevent abuses in private securities fraud lawsuits. However, The Trust countered it qualified for the single-entity exemption because the Trust was a single entity within the meaning of SLUSA. The New York Court of Appeals held that a liquidating trust established pursuant to a bankruptcy reorganization plan was a single “person” within the meaning of the “single-entity exemption” because the primary purpose of the trust was not to pursue the litigation. Business Reorganization Clarified When Court Rules on Chapter 11 Law Business reorganization is a complex process. Circumventing litigation through careful planning, and in-depth financial review with clients can prepare for any legal situation involved in a bankruptcy. Winter Park Florida bankruptcy lawyers Eric Lanigan and Roddy Lanigan, of Lanigan and Lanigan, P.L., have 36 years and five years experience respectively of discerning complex business and civil litigation and bankruptcy laws for clients. Determining bankruptcy law application and challenges that large and small businesses face while going through a business reorganization or a Chapter 11 bankruptcy is important to how a case will ultimately be litigated in court. Work with attorneys who have familiarity with a range of bankruptcy and business reorganization cases and...
