McDonald & Kindelt, LLP was organized on January 1, 2011. Its members possess experience and a demonstrated and confirmed proven record of success in business restructuring and bankruptcy.
In 2011, we served as counsel to the DIP Lender for a publicly-traded oil and gas production company in the Eastern District of Texas. In that case, the DIP Lender ultimately submitted a plan of reorganization that was confirmed by the Court. The Plan resulted in the restructuring which resulted in taking a public company private. The reorganized company operates oil and gas properties in Eastern and South Texas.
In addition, we also successfully reorganized the Town of Muldrow in a Chapter 9 proceeding in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. In that case, we achieved a negotiated multi-million dollar agreement for the use of water that allowed funding of substantial improvements to the town’s waste water treatment facilities.
We also achieved successful reorganization of a trucking company and warehouse operator in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Arkansas, which Plan was confirmed in January 2011. The Plan utilized a Creditors Trust for post-confirmation implementation, for which the Firm is co-counsel.
During 2011 the firm served as counsel for the Hale-Halsell Company Creditors Trust, established pursuant to a Plan Mr. McDonald and Mr. Kutmas submitted for the Official Unsecured Creditors Committee, which was confirmed. Distributions to holders of general unsecured claims of approximately 125% of allowed unsecured claims, based upon successful Trust recoveries.
Since 2008, lawyers of this firm have represented the interest of oil and gas producers in the nationally significant case of In re SemCrude, L.P. pending in the United States Bankruptcy Court for Delaware and in related matters before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the federal courts in Texas and bankruptcy court in New Mexico. The SemCrude Case involved claims of oil and gas producers against their production purchaser, SemCrude. Our lawyers represented clients’ interests in pursuit of secured lien status for oil and gas production sold in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, and Wyoming and took a leading role in development and presentation of such rights.
Members of the firm bring experience in business reorganization and creditor representation which is unparalleled in Oklahoma. Mr. McDonald served as Practice Group Chair of the Creditor Rights and Bankruptcy Practice Group at Doerner, Saunders, Daniel & Anderson, LLP from formation of the Group until his departure from the firm on December 31, 2010. During a 35 year career, Mr. McDonald has served creditors, debtors, secured creditors, and lenders in a broad range of industries, including:
- Automotive Manufacturing (tier one)
- Aviation Cases of Major Airlines
- Grocery Retail
- Wholesale Distribution
- Oil & Gas Business, including
- Production
- Transportation and Marketing
- Petroleum Engineering
- Natural Gas Gathering Systems
- Major Retail Chains
- Financial Services
- Commercial Real Estate
- Real Estate Development
- Manufacturing
- Medical Technology
- Steel Mill Production
- Transportation Industry
Mr. McDonald has developed expertise in Creditor Committee representation, beginning with the Osage Crude Oil Purchasing, Inc. case in 1985. Committees represented by Mr. McDonald have submitted and gained confirmation of Committee Plans for the benefit of creditors in a number of Chapter 11 cases. The Osage Crude case recovered nearly 100 cents on the dollar for Creditor Claims. Recovery in this case resulted largely from successful litigation by the Committee, led by Mr. McDonald against one of Oklahoma’s major banking institutions on a preference/fraudulent transfer theory resulting in a multi-million dollar recovery. Other representative matters in which Mr. McDonald successfully represented Creditors Committees include:
- Official Committee in the Sheffield Steel Case, a steel mini-mill in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma
- Official Committee in the J.P. EMCO case in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
- Official Committee in the Camrose Technologies, L.L.C. bankruptcy case in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
- Official Committee as co-counsel in the Hale-Halsell Company case in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma
Both the J.P. EMCO and Camrose cases involved Tier I automotive suppliers. Under Mr. McDonald’s representation, the Creditors Committee prepared and confirmed Plans of Reorganization in both cases. The Hale-Halsell Company involved a large wholesale grocery distribution network, in which the Committee filed and confirmed a Plan of Liquidation creating a Creditors Trust for administration of the Plan. The Creditors Trust has provided substantial distributions to creditors, which at the present time has distributed approximately one hundred twenty-five percent (125%) to unsecured creditors. The Firm has represented the Hale-Halsell Creditors Trust post-confirmation. The Committee, led by Mr. McDonald and other lawyers of the firm, successfully undertook litigation against former Officers and Directors of the Company in the Hale-Halsell case, achieving a substantial settlement, and was active in the effective disposition of other assets in the case, including the sale of a leading grocery chain in Western Oklahoma.
Representation of a Creditors Committee requires a solid general business knowledge, and an understanding of the United States Bankruptcy Code and its various powers and provisions, coupled with strong litigation skills. Mr. McDonald had the opportunity to see the challenges that face a Committee from the inside as a member of the Committee in the Piper Aircraft bankruptcy pending in the Middle District of Florida. The successful reorganization of Piper included addressing novel and complex issues related to possible future injury claims, and the Committee, of which Mr. McDonald was a member worked with the Debtor and industry leaders in an effort that resulted in Piper’s successful reorganization.
Mr. McDonald has also served the Courts as a member of the Committees to revise Local Rules, as a Court appointed Special Master/Expert, and on occasion has assisted in mediation of matters at the Court’s request.
