Redefining Full Service

An article in Law360 featured a case in which Eric P. Francisconi, a partner of the firm, represents one of the former owners of two defunct oil processing sites in the Los Angeles that has asked a federal judge to approve a settlement in excess of $7.6 million to clean the contaminated soil and bring an end to nearly 25 years of litigation. Mr. Francisconi co-filed the application to confirm the terms of a settlement reached after numerous days of mediation.

Partner Eric P. Francisconi completed the settlement of a complex suit between the Firm’s client, who refurbishes, operates, and re-sells multi-unit residential buildings in the Los Angeles area, and its former partner and lender. The matter, which settled after several in-person settlement conferences in the Norwalk Superior Court, concerned numerous properties and entities and a dispute in accounting in which the litigants had widely divergent view of what amounts were owed to one another. In resolving the matter after lengthy and tenacious settlement efforts, the parties were able to avoid months of litigation and an expensive and time-consuming trial.

The Firm’s Melissa Lowe prevailed in front of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel’s (“BAP”) and Bankruptcy Court’s decisions to approve a global settlement the Firm negotiated. The Firm represents a Chapter 7 trustee in the case and was able to negotiate a settlement which resulted in full payment to general unsecured creditors and allowed the aged case to move to be closed. The debtor appealed the approval of the settlement to the BAP, who affirmed, and then to the Ninth Circuit but the Firm prevailed and the order approving the settlement was upheld.

The Firm prevailed in an appeal to the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (“BAP”) regarding an objection to a debtor’s homestead exemption. Despite the debtor having not lived in the property for over 5 years, and the debtor having signed a document agreeing to the sale of the property or the purchase of her interest in the property, the debtor claimed a homestead exemption in the same property. The Firm, on behalf of the Chapter 7 trustee, objected to the exemption on the basis that the property was not the debtor’s residence. After a one day trial in the bankruptcy court, the bankruptcy court sustained the Trustee’s objection. The debtor appealed and after briefing and oral argument in front of the 3 judge panel, the bankruptcy court’s ruling was affirmed by the BAP.

The Firm, led by James C. Bastian, Jr. and Melissa Lowe, confirmed a plan of reorganization for individual debtors just 9 months after the case was filed. The plan will pay creditors in full once disputed claims are resolved.