Hirzel Dreyfuss & Dempsey, PLLC
BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS
When faced with a bankruptcy proceeding, whether as a creditor who is owed money or a third-party who has been drawn into a bankruptcy adversarial proceeding, our experienced attorneys can help navigate the complex and opaque world of bankruptcy law.
We can help you to protect your rights and financial interests from being harmed during a bankruptcy proceeding.
Bankruptcy Law
How Hirzel Dreyfuss & Dempsey Can Help
We represent people and companies whose money or rights are caught up in someone else's bankruptcy. Creditors owed money by a debtor, franchisees whose franchisor has filed, guarantors sued on personal guaranties, and officers and directors named in adversary proceedings after a company fails.
We are not a consumer bankruptcy filing shop. If you are looking to file a personal Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, that is different work and we will point you elsewhere. What we do is litigate, in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida and in other bankruptcy courts where a matter takes us, in core bankruptcy proceedings and in the adversary proceedings that run alongside them.
Creditors and Parties Owed Money
A bankruptcy filing stops collection and moves the fight into a forum with its own rules, its own deadlines, and its own vocabulary. Proofs of claim, claim objections, relief from the automatic stay, plan objections, and the question of whether a debt survives the discharge at all.
We represent creditors and other parties in interest who need to protect a claim rather than write it off.
Adversary Proceedings
An adversary proceeding is a lawsuit inside the bankruptcy case, and it is where the real disputes usually land. Fraudulent transfer and preference claims, breach of fiduciary duty claims against former management, guaranty enforcement, and objections to the dischargeability of particular debts.
These are tried cases. Our attorneys have tried matters in federal bankruptcy adversary proceedings, not only briefed them.
Franchisees When a Franchisor Files
When a franchisor enters bankruptcy, its franchisees are exposed in ways that most bankruptcy lawyers do not see coming. The franchise agreement is an executory contract that the debtor may assume, assign, or reject. Marks, territory, supply arrangements, and the value of the franchisee’s business all turn on what happens to that contract.
Because the firm's franchise practice and its bankruptcy practice sit together, we handle these matters as franchise disputes that happen to be in bankruptcy court, which is what they usually are.
Officers, Directors, and Guarantors
When a company fails, the estate looks for recovery, and it looks first at the people who ran the company and the people who signed guaranties. Claims for breach of fiduciary duty, aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty, and personal guaranty liability arrive months or years after the business is gone.
We defend individuals in those proceedings.
Representative Matters
We appear in bankruptcy courts in Florida and, where a matter requires it, elsewhere.
Represented former officers and directors of subsidiaries of a national residential development company in adversary proceedings in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida, defending claims for breach of fiduciary duty and aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty.
Represented multiple franchisees in core bankruptcy proceedings and adversary proceedings arising from the bankruptcy of an international restaurant franchisor.
Represented three investors in an adversary proceeding in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida involving claims for personal guaranty liability and related defenses.