FIDUCIARY LITIGATION

Markus Williams Young & Zimmermann’s Fiduciary Litigation Practice Group regularly represents banks, corporations, trustees, creditors, banks, corporate officers and directors, entities that hold a fiduciary position, and the beneficiaries of a fiduciary relationship, by investigating, protecting against, and pursuing or defending fiduciary litigation claims in the bankruptcy and insolvency setting.

We recognize what actions give rise to claims, and just as importantly, we recognize what actions do not give rise to viable claims. Because we have experience both defending and prosecuting such actions, we know what the world looks like from the opposite side of the courtroom. Such experience is invaluable in calculating the risks and benefits of litigation and recognizing when to settle and when to go to trial. Based upon this experience, we are regularly asked to conduct internal investigations regarding the actions of an institution’s directors and officers in order to assist the institution in complying with its statutory and common law duties to its shareholders and creditors.

How Can We Help?

• Our fiduciary litigation lawyers advise boards of directors as to their fiduciary duties once the company becomes insolvent.

• We conduct internal investigations of bank officers to determine if such officers took any actions that violated civil or criminal banking statutes at the state or federal level.

• Our attorneys recommend actions to minimize the risks of litigation in the future.

• We investigate actions taken by fiduciaries in order to determine if genuine liability and collectable damages exist, in order to help our clients mitigate or recoup losses.

• We determine if any insurance covers the claims, and negotiate and, if necessary, litigate with the insurance company to ensure the proper coverage is available.

• We defend or prosecute breach of fiduciary litigation claims in state or federal courts.

Why Markus Williams Young & Zimmermann?

Although the complex nature inherent in fiduciary litigation means we can never guarantee a result, our decades of experience with financial institutions, and with complex insolvency and business litigation, help us recognize the cases where our expertise would be most helpful to our clients. The following are a few examples of our significant representations in this area:

Geneva Steel

• We represented the chapter 11 trustee in fiduciary litigation against the former board of directors and the former chief executive officer in the Geneva Steel bankruptcy in Utah. The litigation resulted in settlements that provided over $20 million in value to the unsecured creditors.

• We represented the chapter 11 trustee in fiduciary litigation against the former counsel for Geneva Steel. The litigation resulted in the disgorgement of millions of dollars of fees in addition to a substantial recovery for the unsecured creditors.

Convergent

• We represented a liquidating trustee in litigation against directors and officers of the company that resulted in a multimillion dollar recovery to the bankruptcy estate.

Schwinn Bicycle

• We represented the corporation in conjunction with a court-ordered investigation into the pre-petition actions of the company’s directors and officers. As a result of the investigation, no claims were pursued against the directors and officers.

Other representations:

• Markus Williams Young & Zimmermann was asked by a publicly traded company to advise its board of directors and audit committee in connection with an internal fraud investigation in a matter in which members of the company’s senior management were later indicted.

• We assisted a farm credit institution in its internal investigation of the bank officer who handled an account in which the debtor was indicted for criminal fraud. We determined that although the bank officer may not have acted in the most intelligent manner, his actions were not sufficient to subject either the bank or himself to civil or criminal liability in federal or state courts.

• We investigated potential criminal and civil claims against a former officer of a failed financial institution. Upon our recommendation, the institution asserted claims against the officer.

• We investigated potential criminal and civil claims against a bank officer in connection with his involvement on behalf of the bank with a failed escrow and bonding company. We determined that the officer had not committed fraud or violated any civil or criminal banking statutes.

Attorneys Concentrating In Fiduciary Litigation:

	James T. Markus	jmarkus@markuswilliams.com	vcard
	Thomas J. Bissell	tbissell@markuswilliams.com	vcard
	Peter Q. Murphy	pmurphy@markuswilliams.com	vcard

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