Miller, Johnson, Snell & Cummiskey, P.L.C..

Miller Johnson provides unmatched, comprehensive service to our clients in matters involving Creditors’ Rights, Debtors’ Rights, and Bankruptcy. Our attorneys have been involved in many of the most significant bankruptcy proceedings in the Western District of Michigan. We have acted as court-appointed experts in bankruptcy proceedings, and one of our members has served as the bankruptcy trustee in numerous cases in the Western District.

We not only counsel our clients leading up to and during a bankruptcy proceeding, we help them anticipate and avoid the often devastating impact of a bankruptcy or financial failure. When possible, we accomplish restructurings and liquidations for our clients on an out-of-court basis. When structuring and negotiating transactions like loan workouts, forbearance agreements, asset purchase or sale agreements, mergers, acquisitions, or other long-term contracts, we help clients identify potential bankruptcy pitfalls and minimize the damage that could result from the other party’s bankruptcy or financial failure.

We help our clients structure secured transactions and properly perfect their security interests to withstand attack in a debtor’s subsequent bankruptcy or insolvency proceeding. Where a debtor defaults, we represent our clients in actions to repossess collateral, enforce construction liens, and foreclose mortgages.

Miller Johnson’s numerous legal practice specialties outside of bankruptcy also benefit our clients. We have often put our firm’s special expertise in employment, environmental, ERISA, real estate, tax, and other areas of the law to work for our clients in bankruptcy matters.

Our clients include:

• Creditors’ committees
• Business and individual creditors (secured and unsecured), including mortgage holders, construction lien claimants, automotive suppliers, distributors under dealership contracts, landlords, and many other creditors with special interests in bankruptcy proceedings
• Lending and financial institutions
• Business and individual debtors with business-related debt
• Bankruptcy trustees
• Entities interested in acquiring the assets of troubled businesses
• Defendants in bankruptcy preference claims

The following cases illustrate what we have accomplished in our practice:

• We represented the creditors’ committee and, following confirmation of the plan, the liquidation trustee in the chapter 11 liquidation of the iconic Checker Motors Corporation, producing a significant pool of funds available for distribution to unsecured creditors. The case involved the negotiation of sizeable pension fund claims against the company as well as significant accommodation, resourcing, and sale agreements.
• We represented an out-of-court creditors’ committee in negotiations with a debtor and lenders in a matter that involved hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and investments in commercial real estate located in California.
• We served as co-counsel for the creditors’ committee in the Chapter 11 reorganization of Family Christian Bookstores and its related entities. Family Christian operated a chain of religious bookstores throughout the United States. We assisted in obtaining a significant dividend for unsecured creditors through the sale of the Debtors’ business.
• We served as co-counsel for the creditors’ committee in the Chapter 11 reorganization of a large Midwest clothing retailer; successfully negotiating a plan of reorganization which paid a significant dividend to unsecured creditors.
• On behalf of a large national equipment lessor, our team uncovered a significant fraud involving approximately $100 million in equipment leases. We were able to obtain the immediate appointment of a receiver and assist the receiver as special counsel in expanding the receivership to include the debtor’s principals and affiliated entities.
• While representing the world’s leading manufacturer of jukeboxes and bill changers, which had accumulated more than $100 million in debt and had union, pension, retiree benefit, and environmental issues, the Miller Johnson team worked with company management, lenders, investment bankers, and other constituencies to complete the sale of the business as a going concern within 75 days of the company’s bankruptcy filing at a price significantly higher than the initial offer made for it.
• We helped a large regional bank structure a receivership of the shareholder interests that controlled a group of telecommunication companies. The shareholder interests secured loans of approximately $75 million and the receivership facilitated the sale of those companies.
• We successfully defended the former major shareholders of a large national retailer against fraudulent conveyance claims brought by the debtor’s liquidation trust, where the retailer filed for bankruptcy some two years after the sale of our client’s stock.
• We provided ongoing assistance to automotive suppliers pummeled by the unprecedented downturn in their industry, helping them deal with both troubled customers and troubled suppliers. When necessary, we helped them affect the orderly wind down of their operations, lessening the exposure of principals and, where possible, preserving equity for shareholders.
• We represented a bankruptcy trustee in unwinding a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme, filing more than 100 separate causes of action to recover thousands of avoidable transfers made by the debtor.
• We represented a regional retailer of petroleum products and related services in its restructuring under Chapter 11 over a four-year period.
• We represented the Chapter 11 and subsequently the Chapter 7 Trustee in a case involving the operation and subsequent sale of a large hospital in southern Michigan.
• We represented a Chapter 11 Trustee in successfully reorganizing and obtaining Chapter 11 plan confirmation for a large West Michigan farming operation.

iller Johnson provides full-service legal counsel to those seeking assistance with:

• Patents
  Patents protect new and non-obvious inventions and give the holder of the patent the right to prevent others from making, using, selling or importing that invention for a certain period of time. Miller Johnson’s patent attorneys – all of whom are degreed engineers with both industry experience and over 30 years of combined experience practicing before the United States Patent & Trademark Office – counsel clients on a wide array of patent-related topics, including the protection and monetization of inventions across the world in various industries and technologies such as mechanical, electrical, computer, biotech, and business-related systems and methods.
• Trademarks
  Trademarks are distinctive names and logos that identify the source of a product or service and distinguish the product or service of one business from the product or service of another business. Miller Johnson’s attorneys counsel clients regarding the selection, adoption, registration, licensing, transfer and enforcement of trademarks, both domestically and abroad.
• Copyrights
  Copyrights protect creative and artistic works and give the copyright holder the exclusive right to reproduce such works for a certain period of time. Our team offers a full complement of services to protect rights in literary, musical, dramatic and artistic works.  In addition to preparing and filing applications for copyright registration, Miller Johnson’s attorneys have substantial experience identifying unauthorized copies of copyrighted works.
• Non-Compete and Non-Disclosure Agreements
  Non-compete agreements can be used to protect against unfair competition, while Non-disclosure agreements can be used to protect the confidentiality of trade secrets. Miller Johnson has extensive experience in helping clients prevent their confidential proprietary information and customer relationships from being used by competitors.
• Licensing
  Businesses and individuals can monetize their intellectual property by licensing others to use it. Conversely, a business or individual may decide to obtain the right to use a third party’s intellectual property.  Miller Johnson’s attorneys have many years of experience in negotiating licensing transactions.
• Litigation
  When a client is faced with a question concerning infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property – whether its own or that of a third party Miller Johnson’s experienced team is there to ensure the client that the client’s interests are aggressively pursued and defended.

Miller Johnson provides its business clients the legal advice and counseling necessary to further the development and growth of their businesses.  We are able to meet the diverse needs of a wide range of clients, small and large, including corporations, other limited liability entities, partnerships, families, and individuals.

Our business attorneys offer clients experience in an array of disciplines including real estate, health care, finance, and business litigation.  This approach enables us to provide cost effective legal services specifically tailored to meet the clients’ needs.

We provide our clients with both long-term business strategies and the ability to handle the legal issues that arise in the continuing operation of their business.

Our business lawyers can assist you in a variety of legal matters, including:

• Commercial agreements
• Current legal issues affecting businesses
• Entity formation, including corporations, limited liability companies, general and limited partnerships, and trusts
• Fiduciary duties in various business entities
• Joint ventures
• Licensure, zoning and taxation issues
• Stock option plans and profit sharing
• Other general business matters

Our business attorneys are committed to developing relationships with clients.  These relationships enable Miller Johnson to provide the most complete and personal legal counseling possible.

Our employment and labor law team here at Miller Johnson numbers more than 25 attorneys. So whether you employ a handful of employees in one location or thousands all over the country, we can meet your needs.

Our employer clients include businesses of all sizes, in a limitless array of industries, throughout Michigan and beyond. In the public sector, we represent school districts, colleges, cities, counties, and other municipal and public employers. We also represent numerous business and trade associations.

Every one of our clients receives the same commitment to responsive, effective and honest representation and counsel. Communication is important to our relationship, too, and we keep our clients informed of developments in the law that might affect them through our newsletter, client alerts, seminars and workshops.

A diverse clientele provides us with the full spectrum of employment-related legal issues and disputes.

LITIGATION

Miller Johnson has a highly regarded, diverse litigation practice, and we have been successful in achieving excellent results for our clients.  Our litigators regularly try cases of all kinds – including highly complex and sophisticated cases – at the trial and appellate levels, in state and federal courts in Michigan and throughout the United States.  We are known by the courts and other lawyers for thorough, imaginative and professional advocacy.

We represent major national and international corporations, local and regional businesses, and individuals in virtually all types of litigation including the following:

We represent clients in all stages of disputes. We do not believe in litigation for litigation’s sake; we are effective negotiators and can often resolve disputes before filing suit.

Clients often call upon our skill and judgment before litigation to analyze the merits of their cases and to give them risk assessments and cost benefit analyses of filing suit. We make sure our advice is honest and realistic.

We also try to keep our clients from being driven into court by giving them prompt advice in the early stages of a dispute. We are frequently able to prevent or dissuade an adversary from even filing suit.

However, if a matter cannot be successfully settled and a client must litigate, we will marshal the firm’s resources and experience to vigorously and aggressively do battle in court.  We investigate the facts thoroughly, research the law meticulously, and make our arguments forcefully.

We believe in working very closely with our clients throughout litigation.  We keep them informed of the progress of their cases and make sure they understand each step in the litigation process.  We consult with our clients on every significant issue and always seek their input, thoughts, and perspective on strategy decisions.  We consider each client’s participation and judgment indispensable.

For most cases we use a team approach.  An experienced partner will often work on a particular case with younger lawyers and trained legal assistants.  For complex issues a non-litigation lawyer in our firm may be consulted.  This team approach is often both successful and cost effective.  We also use computerized litigation support systems where there are larger numbers of documents, exhibits, depositions, and transcripts.  Of course, up-to-date computer-assisted research is always available.

Trials are often time consuming, difficult, and tense.  It is important to have a solid, trusting relationship with an experienced lawyer in whom you have confidence.  That’s the kind of lawyer you will find at Miller Johnson.