Services

Clingman & Hanger has become a national-level resource by virtue of our depth of experience, our across-the-board flexibility and our straightforward management structure.

When we ask people why they selected C&H for an engagement, they tell us that accomplishments from our prior engagements were a primary factor that distinguished us from other alternatives – whether they were considering in-house personnel or other outside professionals to handle a wind-down or to find a solution to a novel situation they had not previously encountered.

Some of our more significant engagements include:

BI-LO, LLC, Trustee of Unsecured Creditors Trust (South Carolina)

Liquidation of 200+ store grocery chain, with ultimate distribution to creditors of 62.6% exceeding the projection of 43% -57%. Resolved over 70% of trade vendor claims prior to first incremental distribution. Resolved over 300 real estate lease claims including rejection claims, guaranty claims of former owner and other leases previously assigned to a bankrupt former affiliate. Implemented an effective strategy to reserve and resolve over 200 personal injury claims. Achieved cost savings by using NEMUS (C&H’s proprietary claims management system) to track and manage claims reconciliation and to serve as distribution agent.

Barnwell County Hospital, Disbursing Agent for Liquidating Trustee (South Carolina)

Imported claims data into NEMUS and assisted Trustee of Chapter 9 Plan in preparing exhibits for objections, tracking claims and settlements, as well as serving as disbursing agent.

Best Products Co., Inc., Liquidating Officers (Virginia)

Completed all wind-down activities for national retailer, including closing more than 180 stores, terminating over 140 leases and severing nearly 12,000 employees. Migrated IT from corporate mainframe, resolved personal injury claims and terminated employee benefit plans and complex insurance programs. Achieved recovery rate of 98.06% against projection of 60-68%.

Cache, Stub Rent/503(b)(9) Disbursing Agent (Delaware)

Served as court appointed disbursing agent for distribution of fund, created as a carve out from the DIP lenders’ cash collateral, for the benefit of over 200 claimants holding valid 503 (b)(9) claims and claims for unpaid administrative rent in an administratively insolvent Chapter 11 case. Developed a claims solicitation and reconciliation process that was integrated into the final DIP order. Implemented the approved program, resolved claims and made pro-rata distributions to allowed claimants within 2 ½ months of appointment.

Drug Emporium, Liquidating Trustee (Ohio)

Resolved all claims and made final distribution within 12 months of appointment at recovery rate at high end of estimated range for liquidation of this national retail drug store chain, despite understatement of several significant liabilities in projections. Involved identifying and migrating necessary mainframe data to local servers, as well as indentifying, indexing and transferring pertinent business records for claims reconciliation. C&H personnel conducted claims reconciliation since all former employees had been terminated.

EUSA, INC. formerly ESCADA (USA), Inc., Liquidating Trustee, (New York)

Assisted pre-confirmation with plan development and liquidation analysis for U.S. retail and wholesale operations after a 363 sale. Conducted claims reconciliation including typical vendor, real estate, contract rejection and tax matters, as well as resolution of significant and complicated U.S. Customs claim challenging valuation basis of virtually all goods imported over a ten year period, issues related to enforceability of claims stemming from upstream guarantys of loans made to parent and significant claim filed by the administrator for the parent’s German insolvency proceeding successfully asserting that certain amounts advanced as loans by the foreign parent be considered contributions to equity.

FCC Liquidating Trust (formerly, Florida Career College and Anthem Colleges), Liquidating Trustee, (Delaware)

Completing wind-down of multi-campus career colleges, including claims resolution, asset recovery and other administrative work. Has involved preparation of tax returns in over 20 states, termination of benefit plans and conducting investigation into retained causes of action to potentially pursue director and officer liability claims or litigation to enhance creditor recoveries. Administrative expenses were underestimated at plan confirmation, jeopardizing recovery to priority claimants. C&H’s work to date has achieved recoveries not anticipated at confirmation that will result in full payment to administrative and priority creditors and will likely fund an unanticipated distribution to general unsecured creditors before the case closes.

FFR Trust (formerly Fairfield Residential LLC), Surety Bond Consultant for counsel to Liquidating Trustee (New York)

Assisted counsel and management team to resolve surety bond issues related to multi-family residential projects in various stages of construction in which the Liquidating Trust retained an interest. Audited open bond matters for previously completed projects which paved the way for a global settlement with the company’s surety company, resulting in a release of more than $400,000 of collateral back to the Trust and resolution of over $84 million in claims in exchange for administrative and unsecured claims which totaled less than $85,000.

Fruit of the Loom Unsecured Creditors Trust, Trust Administrator for Unsecured Creditors Trust (Delaware)

Appointed after a 363 sale of assets to Berkshire Hathaway and charged with resolving over 8,000 general unsecured claims, including a class action lawsuit involving approximately 5,000 former employees and substantial unanticipated contract rejection damage claims. Prepared required periodic SEC filings including 10Qs and 10Ks. Used C&H personnel for claims reconciliation, since no employees remained, and served as disbursement agent, which reduced cost. Ultimate distribution was at high end of projected range.

Fuddruckers/Deel Liquidating Trust/Brosna International LLC, Consultant (Delaware)

Appointed by the bankruptcy court to negotiate terms of buy-outs on the debtors’ high deductible workers’ compensation programs. Carriers had fully drawn down letters of credit posted to collateralize the programs and were holding proceeds substantially in excess of reserves for incurred claims. Developed strategies for closing open claims and oversaw an actuarial analysis and independent claim review to substantiate our evaluation of the claims reserves, ultimately negotiating a buyout that transferred all future risk to the carrier and resulted in a return of over two thirds of the collateral that the carrier had initially asserted as necessary to fund the program.

GW Limited 51, Inc. (formerly Greatwide Transportation), Plan Administrator for Liquidating Chapter 11 (Delaware)

Retained to complete plan administration and distribution of general unsecured gift fund after a 363 sale. Due to errors in the debtors’ liquidation estimates for taxes attributable to the sale, prepared before C&H was retained in the case, we were faced with the unusual situation of post-confirmation administrative insolvency and ultimately obtained a dismissal order from the bankruptcy court. Distributions from the litigation give up fund were to have been coordinated with the claims process for the case, but dismissal of the case disrupted this process. C&H implemented an innovative court-approved claims resolution process that enabled distribution of the gift fund, involving notice to potential claimants and establishment of a supplemental bar date. All of these steps were efficiently handled in-house, with a resulting distribution to unsecured creditors of 1.08%—more than twice the 0.5% estimated at plan confirmation, despite dismissal of the bankruptcy case due to administrative insolvency.

Harman Stove Company, Distribution Agent for an Out-of-Court Restructuring

Served as distribution agent for an out of court restructuring plan that involved a sale of assets. Accepted assignment of contract rights to enforce the creditor plan and post-closing provisions of the asset sale agreement.

HomeBanc General Unsecured Creditor Trust, Claims and Distribution Agent (Delaware)

Served as Claims and Distribution Agent for an unsecured creditors give up fund that survived a Chapter 7 filing. With the Chapter 11 case long dismissed, and no claims reconciliation work done by the Chapter 7 trustee because of the unlikelihood that assets would be available for distribution in the Chapter 7 case, the Trust and Trust Advisory Board turned to C&H because of our specialized experience and our NEMUS claims management system. We developed and successfully implemented a strategy for resolution of several thousand claims and schedules outside of a bankruptcy court proceeding, making a distribution to creditors that otherwise could not have been made.

Homeland Stores, Inc., Wind-Down Agent in Liquidating Chapter 11 (Oklahoma)

Expeditiously completed wind-down for a regional grocery chain with 70+ stores, where projected distribution rate was very low. Collected remaining assets, cost-effectively resolved claims and terminated union and non-union employee benefit plans. Returned 5.66% to general unsecured claimants against projections of 1-3%.

House2Home, Inc. (formerly Homebase, Inc.), Estate Manager in Liquidating Chapter 11 (California)

Handled all aspects of wind-down of chain of 40+ bigbox home decorating stores including asset disposition and recovery, avoidance actions, claims resolution and development of a cash-management system for approximately $90 million in estate funds. Enhanced recovery by filing over 1,000 avoidance actions within 30 days of appointment (due to statute of limitations running) and recovering over $10 million - twice the amount projected at confirmation. Developed factual information and strategy to litigate a novel bankruptcy issue concerning priority of claim filed by the California Self Insurers Security Fund, which went on appeal to 9th Circuit and ultimately added over $12.5 million to the unsecured creditor distribution. Used C&H personnel for claims reconciliation since no employees remained. Achieved further cost savings by obtaining court approval to self-administer claims and thus eliminate cost of claims agent and also served as disbursing agent.

Pemco World Air Services, Plan Administrator for Liquidating Chapter 11 (Delaware)

Administered funds set aside for general unsecured claimants by 363 purchaser. Significant administrative claims filed post-confirmation jeopardized solvency. C&H identified several opportunities to find additional funds that allowed higher class claims to be paid and a small distribution to general unsecured creditors, closing the case within eight months of effective date. Claims work and distributions were facilitated by using NEMUS, C&H’s proprietary claims software, to minimize third-party expenses and maximize creditor recoveries.

Patriot Coal, Preference Advisor (Virginia)

Engaged by committee counsel to analyze potential preference recoveries and defenses to determine value of preference waivers in a proposed 363 sale.

SemGroup Litigation Trust, Distribution Agent for Chapter 11 Litigation Trustee (Delaware)

Imported electronic claims register into NEMUS (our proprietary claims system), issued distribution checks to beneficiaries and provide bank reconciliation and reporting to the Trustee.

Standard Register, SRC Secured Creditor Trust, Trust Advisor (Delaware)

Selected to administer Secured Creditor Trust, the principal asset of which is collateral from terminated workers’ compensation programs. Overseeing resolution of underlying workers’ compensation claims, developing claims resolution strategies, evaluating and analyzing loss reserves to ultimately negotiate buyouts of Debtors’ obligations with carriers and state funds and use resulting excess collateral for distribution to secured lender, Silver Point Finance LLC.

Staples Communications, Wind-down Planning (Massachusetts)

Developed an out-of-court wind-down plan for a telecommunications subsidiary of Staples, Inc., to be used as a contingency in the event that a sale transaction was not completed. Our processes identified tax attributes which could enhance the sales price in a properly structured transaction. This enabled Staples to reinvigorate stalled sales negotiations and ultimately resulted in a sale of the telecommunications subsidiary as an ongoing business, thereby saving hundreds of jobs.

Tyringham Holdings, Inc., Trustee of Unsecured Creditors Trust (Virginia)

Resolved unsecured creditors’ claims, pursued preference recoveries and served as disbursing agent for unsecured creditors of a chain of high-end jewelry stores. Creditor distributions were enhanced by approximately one-third due to our preference recovery work.

Value City Department Stores, LLC, Chief Wind-down Officer and Chapter 11 Plan Administrator (New York)

Engaged pre-confirmation to lead wind-down of retail discount chain, including wind-down staffing, data migration and asset recoveries. Provided financial analyses, projections and other support for developing liquidation plan. Resolved thousands of employee claims, including a WARN class action matter. Unwound a multi-employer workers’ compensation program and recovered collateral from carrier. Investigated and pursued fraudulent conveyance litigation against former parent, resulting in multi-million dollar recoveries for the estate. Customized a proprietary model for analysis of potential preference payments and worked with preference counsel to pursue approximately 700 preference actions, achieving almost $9 million in recoveries against $2-$5 projection.

Venture Stores, Wind-down Officers for Liquidating Chapter 11 (Delaware)

Took over administration of wind-down at request of creditors committee after existing management appointed at confirmation departed less than 12 months after the Effective Date. Supervised remaining employees, pursued asset recoveries not previously addressed and actively managed claims resolution process. Ultimate distribution to creditors was 55.01%, substantially higher than disclosure statement projection of 40-48%, which was in jeopardy of becoming less than 30% at the time C&H was appointed.