For more than 30 years, GSRM lawyers have been known in Nashville and across Tennessee as leaders in the representation of businesses in financial crisis. The firm serves clients on all sides of controversies involving troubled businesses.
The firm’s attorneys actively participate in the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisers ("AIRA") to enhance their analysis and resources in creating viable solutions in the insolvency and reorganization arena.
GSRM represents clients in matters of:
Asset-Based Lending
The firm represents parties entering into and administering asset-based lending transactions and assists in documentation of such transactions. GSRM attorneys counsel either the lender or the borrower in the supervision of these transactions, enforcement of their rights, and performance of their duties in the relationship.
Commercial Bankruptcy and Reorganization
GSRM attorneys utilize out-of-court workouts, as well as Chapter 11 and other court proceedings, to assist scores of high-profile companies in resolving their financial problems.
Creditors’ Rights and Remedies
While GSRM represents secured and unsecured creditors in bankruptcy cases, including Chapter 7, 13, and 11 cases, the firm also represents creditors in matters that do not involve bankruptcy.
Examples include:
- Foreclosing upon real property on behalf of lienholders
- Filing state court actions to recover collateral and collect debts
- Filing and taking action to enforce mechanics' and materialmen’s liens
- Domesticating and enforcing out-of-state judgments
We also represent creditors in workout situations. We have particular experience representing committees and indenture trustees who, in turn, serve the interests of groups of secured or unsecured creditors.
Debtor-in-Possession Lending
The firm represents parties on all sides of loan transactions to debtors in possession (DIPs) in Chapter 11. Such representation may involve obtaining authority for a client to borrow funds as a DIP or counseling the lender. In other cases, GSRM may represent pre-petition creditors in monitoring the DIP lending and protecting those existing creditors against inappropriate encroachment on their interests.
Litigation
Litigated matters are many and varied in insolvency proceedings under the federal Bankruptcy Code. A few of the litigated issues unique to insolvency include:
- Validity of creditor claims
- Whether a creditor received a "preferential" payment from the debtor before bankruptcy
- Whether a secured creditor is entitled to relief from the bankruptcy "automatic stay" so that it may recover its collateral
- Whether proposed plans of reorganization are fair to creditors
Many cases that involve contract and other commercial disputes end up in bankruptcy court because one of the parties is a debtor in a bankruptcy proceeding.
In fact, much of the developing commercial law comes from federal bankruptcy court decisions. GSRM’s insolvency attorneys handle these matters, collaborating with and using the resources of other litigators and business lawyers in the firm as needed.
Reorganization Tax Matters
GSRM participates with business clients in the tax planning process and works with the client's tax department and outside accountants to define the tax effect of the reorganization or restructuring, in workouts or in a bankruptcy proceeding.
Alternatively, the firm assists creditors, shareholders, and lenders in defining any tax problems with a debtor's plan to reorganize.
For individuals, GSRM evaluates the ability of a taxpayer to discharge tax liability or to obtain a "judicial" payment plan in a bankruptcy proceeding.
An analysis of any tax collection matter must include consideration of bankruptcy; however, many cases can be resolved through offers-in-compromise or installment payment agreements.
If a Tax Court proceeding is not in process, tax liabilities may be litigated in the Bankruptcy Court.
Workouts and Turnarounds
GSRM assists both lenders and borrowers with out-of-court and out-of-bankruptcy workouts of troubled loans. A workout can be a viable and practical alternative to litigation or bankruptcy and often serves the parties' best interests. The firm’s services include negotiation and documentation of workable and creative solutions to financial problems.
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