The Cooley Godward Kronish Bankruptcy & Restructuring group has extensive experience representing corporations and partnerships in complicated bankruptcy cases, out-of-court restructurings and prepackaged bankruptcies. Our recent debtor representations include Metromedia Fiber Network; Pacific Gas & Electric Company; USG Corporation; OpTel, Inc.; Old UGC, Inc.; Hvide Marine, Incorporated; Auspex, Inc.; DNA Sciences, Inc.; Okura Co. (America); Venture Stores; Hexcel Corporation; and Pudgie's Chicken.
Representative Cases
Metromedia Fiber Network
Cooley restructured $5 billion in debt created by a national telecommunications fiber and network company during the height of the high-technology/telecom investment boom. Unlike many bankrupt telecom companies, Metromedia Fiber Network was successfully reorganized under a Chapter 11 plan, which featured a rights offering of its stock to unsecured creditors. As a result, the company has been revitalized and operates today under the name AboveNet as a publicly traded company with substantial market value.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E)
Cooley represented PG&E, the largest public utility in California, in its bankruptcy proceedings. Initially, PG&E sought to confirm its reorganization plan and defeat an alternative option sponsored by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The confirmation hearing on those plans is widely believe to be the longest and most complex in the history of the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts (November 2002 – spring 2003). In June 2003, PG&E and the CPUC reached agreement on a compromise plan of reorganization, which was confirmed on December 22, 2003.
USG Corporation
Cooley represented USG and its affiliated debtors in bankruptcy proceedings related principally to asbestos liability, assisting with strategic planning and all asbestos-related issues. Cooley engaged in large-scale litigation in preparation for a trial to estimate hundreds of thousands of asbestos personal injury claims for bankruptcy-related purposes and defended bankruptcy litigation alleging asbestos liability under substantive consolidation, successor liability, corporate veil piercing and other theories. Ultimately, Cooley helped achieve a global settlement, providing for a personal injury trust to pay asbestos personal injury claims, paying all non-asbestos claimants in full and providing shareholders with equity in the reorganized debtors. The settlement, incorporated into a reorganization plan that was confirmed in the summer of 2006, was, in USG's words, "fair, fast, final and affordable."
Hvide Marine
This bankruptcy case was a complex international proceeding involving a shipping line of oil tankers and smaller ships with assets located all over the world. The Firm filed 230 bankruptcy petitions and restructured approximately $1 billion in debt via an offering of publicly traded stock. The case involved the law of multiple countries and the intersection of bankruptcy and admiralty law. As a result of Cooley’s representation, Hvide Marine is now successfully operating as a reorganized entity.
OpTel, Inc.
OpTel, a telecommunications company with national operations, also successfully emerged from Chapter 11 as a result of Cooley’s representation. The Firm orchestrated sales of the debtor’s telephone assets and certain of its cable television franchises, but arranged for the company to retain several significant cable franchises. A private stock offering was made to creditors to satisfy the debt owed them under the Chapter 11 plan. As a result, the creditors ended up owning the reorganized company, which continues in operation today.
Old UGC, Inc.
Cooley represented Old UGC, a major subsidiary of publicly traded UnitedGlobalCom, Inc. (now part of Liberty Global) in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. Cooley helped Old UGC restructure more than $1.2 billion of debt through a reorganization plan that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York confirmed in November 2004, less than a year after the case was filed.
Pacific Crossing
Cooley currently serves as special litigation counsel to Pacific Crossing and its affiliates, reorganizing Chapter 11 debtors. The Firm’s representation has included, among other things, prosecuting and defending administrative and pre-petition claims estimated to be worth over $100 million in separate adversary proceedings against its former parent, Global Crossing, and its former affiliate, Asia Global Crossing. Cooley also advises Pacific Crossing in connection with related matters, including litigation over title disputes to certain property.
Auspex, Inc.
Cooley represented Auspex in what appeared to be a deeply insolvent Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. Due to the extraordinary work by Cooley attorneys, the Bankruptcy Court ultimately held an auction, at which Auspex’s patents sold for millions more than anticipated. Cooley also helped the company quickly confirm and implement a Chapter 11 plan and resolve numerous claims disputes. As a result, Auspex ended up solvent, was able to pay creditors in full with interest and even returned money to shareholders.DNA Sciences, Inc.
Cooley represented DNA Sciences in a successful Chapter 11 case, preparing for and conducting an auction in the Bankruptcy Court that generated significant interest among potential buyers and yielded far greater proceeds than most parties had anticipated. Cooley then quickly helped confirm and implement the plan, resulting in prompt pro rata distributions to the company’s creditors.
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