Industry Spotlight: Dealing with the Insolvent or Near-Insolvent Hotel Debtor — Debtor and Creditor Perspectives, Actions and Opportunities

Nicholas J. Zluticky is a partner with Stinson LLP in Kansas City, Mo., in the firm’s Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights Division, where he represents lenders in all aspects of debtor/creditor relationships. His experience includes the representation of secured and unsecured lenders in bankruptcy cases, as well as Kansas and Missouri foreclosures, collection actions against borrowers and guarantors, workouts, participation disputes and lender-liability defense. He also has experience representing clients in all aspects of bankruptcy matters, including debtors (e.g., Interstate Bakeries Corp., Bistate Bistro Associates, L.P. and Gas-Mart USA, Inc.), liquidating trustees (e.g., Blue Sun St. Joe Refining LLC), bankruptcy trustees (Social Networking Technology Inc.) and creditors’ committees (e.g., Blue Sun St. Joe Refining, LLC).

Most recently, Mr. Zluticky was counsel for the debtors in the jointly administered bankruptcy case of In re John Q. Hammons Fall 2006, LLC. The debtors owned and operated 35 hotels throughout the country, more than 30 parcels of undeveloped real estate in 11 states, several commercial real estate properties throughout Missouri, the Federal Courthouse in Springfield, Mo., golf courses, real estate leased to restaurants, a minority interest in a casino, and the rights to the film The Great American West.

Mr. Zluticky received his B.A. in political science in 2005 from the University of Kansas and his J.D. in 2008 with honors from Washburn University, where he was a staff member on the Washburn Law Journal.

Mark D. Podgainy, CTP is a managing director with Getzler Henrich & Associates LLC in New York and has more than 20 years of experience working with healthy, underperforming and distressed middle-market businesses, both as an advisor and as a member of the management team. He has provided operations restructuring, business plan analysis, performance improvement, cash and vendor management, bankruptcy consulting and interim-management services.

Mr. Podgainy has also worked with law firms on forensic and litigation support assignments in bankruptcy cases. His clients have included business owners, boards of directors, private-equity firms, lenders, creditors’ committees and law firms, and he has worked primarily in the manufacturing and distribution, consumer products, building products, food, hospitality, retail, apparel and textile, and real estate sectors, among others.

Mr. Podgainy also has experience with both the nonprofit and education sectors, including ConnectEdu and The College of New Rochelle, and he has experience in successfully guiding middle-market companies through the workout and restructuring processes, both in court and out of court. He has served as CRO, interim CFO, treasurer or financial advisor in a variety of companies and situations. Outcomes have included improved operational and financial performance, successful reorganizations, enterprise and asset sales, wind-downs and liquidations. In each situation, he has been able to address thorny financial, legal, organizational and governance issues to maximize recoveries for the parties-in-interest.

Mr. Podgainy is a board member of Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City Inc., a nonprofit that revitalizes underserved neighborhoods, and the New York City Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association. He is a member of ABI, the Turnaround Management Association and the Cornell Hotel Society, and he has written frequently on mergers and acquisitions, real estate and related topics for numerous industry trade publications.

Mr. Podgainy received his Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and his M.B.A. from Columbia University.

Jerry Markowitz is a founding shareholder of Markowitz Ringel Trusty + Hartog, P.A. He concentrates his practice in the areas of creditors’ and debtors’ rights, including workouts, bankruptcy, asset recovery, insolvency, receiverships, reorganization, restructuring and mediation.

Dawn M. Cica is an attorney with Carlyon Cica Chtd. in Las Vegas and has more than 30 years of experience working on transactions of all types, including transactional aspects of bankruptcy and creditors’ rights such as strategic resolutions, workouts, restructurings, settlements, debtor-inpossession financings and asset-purchases/sales. In addition to her transactional experience, she has built a renowned bankruptcy practice representing creditors, committees, affiliated parties and debtors.

Ms. Cica has been involved in many influential Nevada bankruptcies in various industries, including the Aladdin Resort, Station Casinos, Riviera Hotel & Casino, Jerry’s Nugget, Las Vegas Monorail, Lake Las Vegas, South Edge, Consolidated Resorts, Viansa Winery, Tower Homes, Village at Centennial Springs, CommPartners, Global Axcess, MEGO Financial, Integrated Financial Associates, USA Capital, Rodeo Creek Gold, Martifer Solar USA, Nevada Cancer Institute, Cal-Neva Lodge, LLC, New Cal-Neva Lodge, LLC, Nevada Gaming Partners, LLC, John Ritter, DC Solar and Lucky Dragon Hotel and Casio. She has also participated in bankruptcies and assignments for the benefit of creditors in California and New York.

Ms. Cica has received numerous industry and peer recognitions, including the National M&A Advisory Award for Real Estate Deal of the Year – Chapter 15 Sale of the Veris Gold Mine (2015), and as one of the Nevada and Top 50 Women Mountain States Super Lawyers. She received her B.S. in finance and B.A. from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1984 and her J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law in 1987, where she was a member of the UCLA Law Review and participated in a moot court.

David M. Neff is a partner in the Chicago office of Perkins Coie LLP, where he focuses on both litigation and transactions and represents debtors, lenders, individual creditors and creditors’ committees in all types of bankruptcies throughout the country. In 2012, he argued for the petitioner in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in RadLAX Gateway Hotel v. Amalgamated Bank. That same year, he also obtained a damage claim of almost $125 million for a client in the MSR Resorts bankruptcy case after two trials.

Mr. Neff is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and an adjunct professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. He has been designated an Illinois Super Lawyer from 2005-17, and Chambers USA has listed him as one of the leading Chicago bankruptcy lawyers from 2007-17.

Mr. Neff is a past president of the Chicago Bar Association Bankruptcies and Reorganization Committee and has spoken often at the Norton Bankruptcy Litigation Institute and for ABI. He has particular experience in the hotel industry, where he has represented major parties in more than 50 hotel bankruptcy cases throughout the country and many out-of-court restructurings. He also has a specialty in professional partnership dissolutions and bankruptcies and has represented five law firms in such matters. In addition, he has authored law review articles on hotel bankruptcies, professional partnership bankruptcy and dissolution matters, and landlord/tenant bankruptcy issues.

Mr. Neff received his B.S. in journalism from Northwestern University in 1982 and his J.D.from DePaul University College of Law in 1985.