David Liebenstein is an associate in the Bankruptcy and Business Restructuring Practice Group in the New York office of Haynes and Boone, LLP.
David was selected for inclusion in New York Rising Stars 2011 - Metro Edition.
Representative Matters
- Represents The Penn Traffic Company, the operator of supermarkets and related distribution companies with debt exceeding $250 million, and its affiliates as debtors' counsel in their Chapter 11 cases pending in the United States Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.
- Representation of certain first and second lien lenders in the Chapter 11 case of this cable, phone and internet provider, formerly known as Millennium Digital Media Capital, LLC, which filed for bankruptcy in Delaware in January 2009.
- Representation of the senior lenders in the Chapter 11 cases of swimming pool manufacturer and its affiliates in the United States Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.
- Represents NexBank, SSB and ad hoc second lien lender group in connection with Metroflag workout.
Selected Publications
- "Equitable Mootness: Will the Surgery Kill the Patient?" American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, September 2010.
Memberships
- American Bar Association
- Turnaround Management Association
Selected Representative Experience
Innkeepers USA Trust
Representation the largest creditor in the Innkeepers bankruptcy cases, Midland Loan Services, Inc., special servicer for an $825 million CMBS loan secured by forty-five franchised hotels.
Latham International, Inc. - Chapter 11 Prepackaged Plan
Representation of prepetition lenders (funds and private equity) in acquisition of the largest manufacturer of swimming pool components and pool accessories in North America pursuant to a prepackaged plan of reorganzation.
The Penn Traffic Company - Chapter 11
Representation of The Penn Traffic Company and its subsidiaries in their Chapter 11 cases in the Delaware bankruptcy court. At filing, Penn Traffic owned and operated 79 supermarkets in the northeast part of the United States, and had total debt exceeding $250 million and annual revenues approaching $900 million. Following a spirited marketing and sale process, debtors sold substantially all their assets to TOPS Markets, LLC.
Wellman Inc.
Represented The Bank of New York as agent for the first lien lenders in this Chapter 11 case in the Southern District of New York. Successfully defeated efforts by the Debtor and junior lienholders to effect a cramdown valuation of the agent’s collateral at $70 million. After a hotly contested evidentiary trial, the efforts by Wellman and the junior lienholders failed and the court found the value of the agent’s collateral to be $140 million - two times the amount proposed by the debtor and junior lienholders.
Online Publications
10/13/2010 -
Weathering the Storm: Court Ruling Won't Allow Secured Creditors To Be Shut Out by Crafty Bid Procedures
On October 5, 2010, Judge Bruce Black of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois (the “
Bankruptcy Court”) issued a ruling in the River Road Hotel Partner LLC,
et. al. (the “
Debtors”) bankruptcy cases denying the Debtors’ bid procedures motion incident to plan confirmation.
04/07/2010 -
Weathering the Storm: Does the Bankruptcy Code Restrict a Liquidation Trustee’s Power after Plan Confirmation?
Reversing the decision of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the Seventh Circuit (the “Court”) held in
Grede v. Bank of New York Mellon, et al., No. 09-3121 (7th Cir. Mar. 18, 2010) that neither the Bankruptcy Code (the “Code”) nor the Supreme Court’s decision in
Caplin v. Marine Midland Grace Trust Co., 406 U.S. 416 (1972) apply to the activities of a post-confirmation liquidating trustee appointed in a liquidating trust created by a confirmed plan of reorganization.
10/04/2009 -
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down: Issues in U.S. Construction Insolvencies
We are in the midst of arguably the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. One of the biggest victims of this meltdown is the construction industry, both residential and commercial, which has been hit as hard, if not harder, than any industry in the United States.