Creditor’s Rights
Given Stone & Baxter’s more than 170 years of combined experience representing business debtors all over Georgia, secured and unsecured creditors frequently engage Stone & Baxter for its unrivaled debtor perspective. Those creditors and non-debtor parties include trade creditors, landlords, smaller banks and financial institutions, loan servicers, asset-based lenders, equipment financers and lessors, finance companies, private equity groups, and asset purchasers.
Local creditors understand that our results-oriented approach to creditor’s rights strikes an optimal balance between aggressive advocacy, swift action, cost-benefit, and return on investment. In fact, Stone & Baxter’s very own Jerry Kaplan pioneered, decades ago, the model Georgia collection practice. That model positions us to handle a portfolio of accounts on an ongoing basis in a manner that is consistent with and compliments a creditor’s expected returns. However, it also positions us to serve as a close advisor in complex, high stakes creditor crises that require cross-disciplinary expertise more often associated with large firms.
Out-of-state creditors (including their in-house and outside counsel) learn that Stone & Baxter is that rare Georgia law firm that is equipped to navigate them through local creditor matters of any size, category, or complexity, anywhere in Georgia, on a tight budget. Our decades of experience in providing a sort of “creditor hotline” permits us to adapt to the varied roles that outside creditors require, even moments before a deadline or hearing.
Stone & Baxter’s creditor’s rights practice covers all aspects of the debtor-creditor relationship, including the initiation of that relationship with documentation, out-of-court election of remedies, enforcement, and negotiation, maximizing creditor protection and recovery in bankruptcy, and enforcing the bankruptcy bargain after bankruptcy. Specific coverage includes:
Pre-Bankruptcy
- Negotiating loan modifications, forbearance agreements, and workouts
- Direct suits on promissory notes, guaranties, and other debt instruments
- Repossessions, real estate foreclosures, and other asset recovery matters
- Gathering and liquidating creditor collateral
- Pursuit of deficiency claims following foreclosures
- Seeking the appointment of and representing receivers
- Lease-related litigation, including dispossessory proceedings
- Post-judgment collection (including foreign judgment registrations)
- Investigating and pursuing fraudulent transfer, veil-piercing, and alter ego claims
- Representing creditors in pre-bankruptcy appellate matters
Bankruptcy
- Initiating involuntary bankruptcies against debtors
- Participating in 341 Meetings of Creditors
- Obtaining relief from the automatic stay
- Litigating debtor exemptions, discharge, and dischargeability issues
- Filing and defending proofs of claims and administrative claims
- Defending creditors in creditor status, priority, and equitable subordination matters
- Effectuating the purchase and sale of claims and interests in bankruptcy
- Defending landlords and tenants in bankruptcy
- Litigating cash collateral, adequate protection, and collateral valuation issues
- Arranging for and challenging debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing
- Participating in and challenging proposed bankruptcy sales, auctions, etc.
- Litigating issues regarding property of the bankruptcy estate and turnover
- Defending lien determination and avoidance matters
- Defending creditors in fraudulent transfer and preference actions
- Objecting to Chapter 11 plans and participating in the plan confirmation process
- Initiating and participating in dismissal and conversion proceedings
- Representing creditors in bankruptcy appellate matters
In addition to navigating creditors through pre-bankruptcy matters and the entire life-cycle of bankruptcy cases of every type, Stone & Baxter also represents creditors as their debtors emerge from bankruptcy. As a result of Stone & Baxter’s deep debtor and creditor practices, Stone & Baxter is uniquely positioned to protect post-bankruptcy creditors vigilantly while keeping in mind that bankruptcy cases can have a dramatic impact on creditor rights and remedies.
