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About James T. Bentley
James is special counsel Schulte Roth and Zabel's Business Reorganization practice. He has significant experience in bankruptcy and out-of-court restructurings. James assists clients with acquisitions and divestitures of distressed companies and their assets, financing and use of cash collateral, and identifying exit strategies. He also litigates various disputes including labor issues, preference and fraudulent claim challenges, financing and cash collateral issues, and stay relief and adequate protection claims.
Articles by James T. Bentley
The Elegant Swan and Clumsy Duck: What is Recharacterization in Bankruptcy?
How the Recharacterization of Debt Impacts Creditors The line between a loan and an equity investment isn’t always clear. In these cases, those who represent unsecured creditors can impact the distribution on claims in the creditor’s favor. This is done through the recharacterization of debt. In bankruptcy, a debt claim has a higher priority […]
Equitable Subordination vs. Recharacterization – Unsecured Creditors Push Ahead of Lenders Who Invested, Part III
In part one of our series on recharacterization, we discussed the elements of judicial recharacterization of loans as equity interests.[i] In part two of the series, we considered how debtors can “claw back” putative “loans” that they may have repaid years earlier because the “loans” were in fact equity investments and their repayment was invalid.[ii] […]
How Unsecured Creditors Push Ahead of Lenders Who in Fact Invested, Part II – Clawback of “Loan Repayments”
In our last article[i], we discussed the judicial recharacterization of loans as equity interests. As we described, a court will recharacterize a lender’s debt claim as equity if it determines the “loan” actually was intended to be, and was treated by the parties as, an equity investment. Recharacterization is a powerful tool for creditors and […]