Tel 818.705.2777 | Dir 818.933.0030 | Fax 818.705.3777
Email Craig@MarguliesFaithLaw.com
16030 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 470, Encino, CA 91436
Individual Debtor Chapters 7, 11 and sub-V
Corporate Debtor Chapters 7, 11 and sub-V
Bankruptcy Trustee Representation
Committee Representation
Creditor Representation
Out of Court Workouts
Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (ABC)
Bankruptcy & Commercial Litigation
Bankruptcy Appeals
BAR ADMISSIONS
California
Colorado
Minnesota
EDUCATION
University of Miami School of Law – J.D., cum laude
University of California, Santa Barbara – B.A., Business Economics, cum laude
Mr. Margulies is one of the two founding partners of Margulies Faith LLP and a recognized “Southern California Super Lawyer” award recipient in years 2009 through and including the present. He has “big-firm” specialized training and experience in complex business bankruptcy law. Mr. Margulies practices in all chapters under the Bankruptcy Code. His clients have included business and individual debtors, secured and unsecured creditors, buyers and sellers of distressed assets, bankruptcy trustees appointed by the Office of the United States Trustee’s Office, Official Unsecured Creditors’ Committees, landlords, private equity firms, and municipalities. Mr. Margulies worked for large, nationally recognized law firms and a highly specialized bankruptcy boutique firm before founding Margulies Faith LLP.
His specialized experience includes practicing in areas of law including business bankruptcy under chapter 11 and sub-chapter V, bankruptcy litigation, workouts, creditors’ rights, Official Creditors’ Committee representation, debt negotiation, assignments for the benefit of creditors (ABCs), dispute resolution, state court litigation and appellate work. Mr. Margulies has extensive knowledge in all aspects of a bankruptcy law practice (both in large and boutique law firms), including reorganizations, liquidations, law and motion work, asset sales and purchases, automatic stay issues, avoidance litigation, creditor representation, landlord/tenant disputes, and other transactional and insolvency related matters.
Mr. Margulies serves on the Executive Committee to the Bankruptcy Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, and is a member of the California Bankruptcy Forum, Los Angeles County Bar Association, and Financial Lawyers Conference. Mr. Margulies routinely lectures on bankruptcy and insolvency-related issues, and was published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal for an article entitled “Debtor May Assign Executory Contracts or Unexpired Leases”.
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
As Debtor’s Counsel:
- Representation of Schaefer Ambulance Service, Inc., a family-owned business formed in 1932 to provide air and ground emergency/non-emergency and interfacility ambulance transport services throughout southern California, in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case to wind-down and liquidate its many assets at various locations. Mr. Margulies and his Firm successfully confirmed a liquidating Plan of Reorganization for the benefit of creditors and its shareholders.
- Representation of Gospel Light Publications, Inc., a Christian media company specializing in the production of print and digital media educational resources to meet the needs of church leaders throughout the world, as a Chapter 11 debtor and debtor in possession. Gospel Light Publications successfully completed a sale of its assets under a confirmed Chapter 11 Plan.
- Representation of Clarklift of California, Inc., a company specializing in the distribution, sale, service, rental and finance of equipment and trucks to the agricultural, construction, manufacturing, transportation and warehousing industries, as a Chapter 11 debtor and debtor in possession. Clarklift of California successfully reorganized under a confirmed Chapter 11 Plan.
- Representation of Optinetrics, Inc., an advanced photonics engineering company with an integrated optics technology platform for the fabrication of optical devices for communications, biotechnology, sensors and commercial electronics, as a chapter 11 debtor and debtor in possession. The case culminated in a confirmed liquidating chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization, and Mr. Margulies then represented the Liquidating Trustee to assist the trustee in implementing the Plan provisions for the benefit of creditors.
- Represented “high net worth” individuals to successfully file and reorganize their secured and unsecured debts through confirmed chapter 11 Plans of Reorganization
- Represented numerous individuals and married couples to file bankruptcy cases resulting in a successful discharge of their debts and a fresh start
As Creditor and Committee Counsel:
- Representation of the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Estyle, Inc. (“Babystyle”) chapter 11 bankruptcy filed in the Central District of California, successfully obtaining a carve-out from the secured creditors’ blanket liens for the benefit of the unsecured creditors; and further prosecuting 100s of avoidance actions for the benefit of the unsecured creditors
- Representation of the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Douglas Furniture of California, LLC, a chapter 11 bankruptcy filed in the Central District of California
- Representation of a very large body of Class Action creditors (also serving as members of the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors) in the Bodies in Motion chapter 11 bankruptcy filed in the Central District of California, resulting in a successful resolution of multimillions in claims
- Representation of the creditor serving as the Chairperson of the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Brotman Hospital, Inc. chapter 11 bankruptcy case, filed in the Central District of California
- Representation of Contagious Entertainment as a member of the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Persik Entertainment chapter 11 bankruptcy case, filed in the Central District of California
- Representation of Hilton Hotels and Hilton Hawaiian Village to protect their claim in excess of $30 million in Dillingham Construction Co.’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filed in Oakland, California
- Representation of the County of Los Angeles to successfully protect its claims in the Queen Mary bankruptcy case
- Representation of the City of Glendale to enforce its rights and claims in various bankruptcy proceedings, including the ability to enforce of its police and regulatory powers against various business and individuals
- Representation of large mechanics lien creditors, including members sitting on the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, in the jointly administered Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases of Landsource Communities Development LLC, et al., filed in the District of Delaware, resulting in a extremely large returns on their claims
As Trustee's Counsel:
- Representation of chapter 7 trustees appointed by the Office of the United States Trustee’s Office to uncover, recover and sell millions of dollars’ worth of assets for the benefit of unsecured creditors through complex litigation
- Representation of chapter 7 trustees appointed by the Office of the United States Trustee’s Office to successfully deny an individual of his discharge under section 727 of the Bankruptcy Code due to the debtor’s failure to disclose assets in his bankruptcy schedules
Other Representations:
- Representation of landlords in chapter 11 bankruptcy cases to enforce the provisions of their leases, in both asset sales and reorganizations
- Representation of defendants in both large multi-million dollar and smaller tens of thousands of dollars preference and fraudulent transfer actions resulting in dismissals and/or large reductions in the claims
- Represented individual managing members/shareholders in the “Terminator” case known as T Asset Acquisition and related entities chapter 11 bankruptcy cases filed in the Central District of California, also known as the 3rd sequel in the Terminator motion picture series, to successfully negotiate and protect their interests against the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors and other interested parties
- Represented hundreds of individuals to successfully resolve complex state court litigation (in which they were being sued) and/or debt collection matters for pennies on the dollar utilizing “the threat” of bankruptcy without actually having to file bankruptcy; and
- Represented individuals suing chapter 7 debtors for the non-dischargeability of millions of dollars of debt obligation owing as a result of debtors’ pre-bankruptcy acts (e.g., fraud, conversion, willful and malicious injuries) resulting in successful non-dischargeable judgments (both through trial verdicts and pre-trial orders)