Troubled Fones Cliffs property listed for bankruptcy sale

Nearly 1,000 acres of land at Virginia’s famous Fones Cliffs on the Rappahannock River will be put up for auction at a bankruptcy sale.

A listing by New York-based Auction Advisors puts the minimum bid for the property as $4.25 million in an auction to be held Nov. 3.  

The 977-acre undeveloped property, which is currently owned by Virginia True Corporation, has been embroiled in difficulties since 2017, when the company purchased the property for $12 million from long-time owners the Diatomite Corporation of America. 

Virginia True planned to develop a luxury golf course and resort on the property. In November 2017, however, Richmond County ordered the company to stop work after it cleared more than 13 acres of forested land near the cliffs without a permit. A lack of required stormwater controls at the site led to extensive erosion and landslides.

Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality subsequently issued three notices of violation to Virginia True, and the lawsuit was later referred to the Office of the Attorney General. 

A document filed in bankruptcy court this August lists the company owing the state $200,000 related to “governmental enforcement action.” 

A four-mile stretch of striking white cliffs on the

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September 18, 2022 by ATTORNEY

Revlon executives to get up to $36M in bankruptcy bonuses

“In fact, the metrics imposed are indeed tall orders and serious challenges,” Jones said. “They will require the senior executive team to not only work hard, which I have no doubt they’re doing, but also work extremely effectively, probably creatively, and in ways I don’t even know.”

Bankruptcy bonuses are commonly ladled out by ailing companies to top management shortly before or soon after filing for Chapter 11 protection. In 2005 Congress amended the bankruptcy code and aimed to rein in “retention bonuses” doled out to executives simply for staying on the job. Companies responded by labeling payouts as “incentive bonuses” and tied them to financial goals that could benefit the reorganization.

But critics say the goals are typically easy to meet and amount to backdoor executive payout schemes at companies scrambling for every dollar.

Nonetheless, judges typically approve bankruptcy bonuses because they feel doing so will maximize value going forward, even if the bonus recipients are the same people who led the company into Chapter 11.

“It is a tricky thing to explain how and why you need your senior management team to stick around,” acknowledged Jones, who drew comfort from the fact all of Revlon’s creditors support its

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September 17, 2022 by ATTORNEY

Why You Should Become a Board-Certified Lawyer

The Florida Bar reports there over 93,000 lawyers eligible to practice law. Demand for legal services is on the rise as droves of out-of-state consumers and their businesses relocate to Florida. To meet this demand, law firms have aggressively been recruiting lawyers particularly in specialty areas such as real estate, construction and corporate law. In the wake of these developments, lawyers can best position themselves to achieve success by becoming a board-certified specialist.

Board certification is administered by eight national private organizations with eighteen certification programs accredited by the American Bar Association. These private certification programs include specialty areas in bankruptcy, criminal trial advocacy, patent litigation, and complex litigation. Many state bar associations also administer board certification programs. For example, Florida has the largest number of certification specialty areas, at 27, which range from marital and family law to criminal law, construction, real estate, and workers’ compensation. Board certification is Florida’s official, independent determination of a lawyer’s expertise to practice in a specialty area of law. As noted on its website, “It is the gold standard for Florida lawyers, representing a recognition by a lawyer’s peers that they have attained a level of professional expertise in their chosen field.”

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September 16, 2022 by ATTORNEY

Judge reports threats, harassment over J&J talc bankruptcy

A bottle of Johnson and Johnson Baby Powder. REUTERS/Mike Segar/Illustration

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  • Judge revealed the harassment at a hearing on a J&J subsidiary’s effort to block two states’ consumer protection lawsuits

(Reuters) – A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Wednesday said he has received threats related to the bankruptcy of a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary he is overseeing, with some messages suggesting that the case is an effort to “cover up” harms allegedly caused by J&J’s talc products.

Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan in Trenton, New Jersey said at a hearing that he and his staff have been getting angry and menacing messages through phone calls, voicemails, emails and social media posts since his February decision not to dismiss the bankruptcy case of LTL Management LLC.

J&J created the subsidiary in October, assigned its talc liabilities to it and put it in bankruptcy a few days later, in an attempt to resolve approximately 38,000 lawsuits alleging that its Baby Powder and other talc products caused mesothelioma and ovarian cancer.

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J&J, which has denied the allegations and said that its products

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September 15, 2022 by ATTORNEY

It’s a ‘severe problem’ that student-loan borrowers are still facing roadblocks getting rid of their debt through bankruptcy, Elizabeth Warren says

It’s a ‘severe problem’ that student-loan borrowers are still facing roadblocks getting rid of their debt through bankruptcy, Elizabeth Warren says
It’s a ‘severe problem’ that student-loan borrowers are still facing roadblocks getting rid of their debt through bankruptcy, Elizabeth Warren says

Sen. Elizabeth Warren.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

  • Elizabeth Warren called on the Justice Department to restore bankruptcy protections for student-loan borrowers.

  • Borrowers currently have to prove a difficult standard in court to get rid of their debt.

  • Biden’s administration has promised reform, but the process continues to be slow-moving.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is renewing the call to restore bankruptcy protections for student-loan borrowers.

Last week, President Joe Biden took a major step in providing relief to millions of borrowers by announcing up to $20,000 in student-loan forgiveness for those making under $125,000 a year. While that relief is expected to wipe out balances for 20 million borrowers, the majority will still have debt balances that some might seek to discharge in court through bankruptcy. But doing so has historically been very difficult, and Warren wants Attorney General Merrick Garland to ensure bankruptcy becomes a viable route to providing relief.

“To support the administration’s efforts to overhaul the student loan system and ensure that bankruptcy relief is a viable option for borrowers in severe financial straits, it is critical that you issue and implement this updated guidance without delay,” Warren wrote in a Thursday letter

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September 12, 2022 by ATTORNEY
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