Lynne B. Xerras

Lynne B. Xerras is an attorney in Holland & Knight's Boston office and a member of the firm's Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Creditors' Rights Group. She has focused her over 20-year career assisting companies in distress within and out of court restructuring and liquidation options and has extensive experience representing Chapter 11 debtors from petition, to sale, to plan confirmation. She also has extensive experience representing secured and unsecured creditors, landlords and intellectual property license counter-parties across a wide range of industries in complex Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, as well as invoking state law remedies to recover debt. As a corollary, she frequently represents parties involved in Section 363 sale transactions before the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts. 

Within the firm, Ms. Xerras frequently collaborates with attorneys involved in corporate, lending and intellectual property transactions to ensure the underlying documents build in appropriate protection for the client's rights should a bankruptcy intervene, as well as evaluates true-sale factors and avoidance risk. She is skilled at advocating for both plaintiffs and defendants in Bankruptcy Court litigation asserting claims for preference, fraudulent transfer, breach of fiduciary duty and other avoidance actions, achieving favorable results for her clients as efficiently as practicable.

Aside from her busy practice, Ms. Xerras has represented local nonprofit organizations in connection with dissolution and financial distress on a pro bono basis. Over the course of her career, she has lectured for several local and national organizations on bankruptcy law and procedure and creditors' rights issues, as well as published numerous articles on bankruptcy law topics.
 
Some of Ms. Xerras' current and recent matters include:

• Represented a Florida-based insurance company in the acquisition of two related companies through the U.S. Bankruptcy Code Section 363 sale process
• Represented a stalking-horse bidder and debtor-in-possession lender in connection with Chapter 11 case filed by Massachusetts based travel and tour company
• Advises landlords and property management firms regarding tenant bankruptcy issues and strategy
• Represented Ector County Energy Center LLC, an ERCOT energy provider impacted by Winter Storm Uri, as the debtor in Chapter 11 proceedings that distributed the proceeds of a market-high per-megawatt price transaction resulting from a highly competitive 363 sale process through a confirmed Chapter 11 plan that invoked more than $600 million in negotiated claim caps to yield a 100 percent dividend to non-insider creditors
• Represented a sand mining company in restructuring of $40 million senior secured debt facility and of $110 million in railcar lease obligations
• Represented U.S. subsidiary of company headquartered in China in analysis of debt restructuring options to adapt to decline in market
• Advised management of global maritime company in assessment of debt restructuring available through U.S. Chapter 11 filing
• Advising clients regarding their ability to terminate existing contractual relationships based on events of breach and insolvency
• Counsel to Chapter 7 trustees in suits seeking damages for breach of fiduciary duty by officers and directors of a defunct companies, reaching settlement of complex claims to fund creditor distributions through litigation, mediation, and negotiation
• Represented several colleges and universities in defense of trustee claims to avoid and recover tuition payments funded by bankrupt parents of matriculating students as fraudulent transfers
• Representing quasi-state agency in Chapter 11 case and associated litigation initiated by network operator regarding treatment of agency's claim and contract
• Worked with lead litigation counsel to successfully move for dismissal of Chapter 11 cases filed by former manager of debtor without corporate authority and after appointment of examiner for debtor-entities
• Representing insurance company in protecting rights under restrictive covenant in bankruptcy case filed by former employee
• Successfully represented leading cancer treatment hospital and research institution in defense of claims asserted by Chapter 7 trustee of bankrupt donor to recover donations and pledges
• Evaluated whether attributes of sale of portfolio of accounts receivable to special purpose entity (SPE) reflected "true-sale" to purchaser
• Negotiated terms of inbound intellectual property license for global cosmetic brand to protect against licensee's bankruptcy 
• Co-counsel to employee-owned company as creditor in Chapter 11 case of Peabody Energy, asserting client's right to indemnification for $1.2 billion in environmental claims asserted by federal, state and tribal entities against client and negotiating favorable plan treatment with key constituents, including the U.S. Department of Justice
• Represented equipment lessor in state law receivership action filed by lessee 
• Part of team representing an indenture trustee for $100 million in California pollution control bonds in the PG&E Chapter 11 cases
• Represented iconic silver manufacturer in its Chapter 11 reorganization and going-concern sale to Lenox, Inc., resulting in a confirmed plan yielding a substantial dividend to all creditor classes
• Represented the shareholder/principal of defunct compounding center in defense of claims asserted by the bankruptcy trustee and in furtherance of a global settlement process in mass tort Chapter 11 case as well as related federal indictment
• Represented a primary secured creditor in the bankruptcy of eight affiliated health clubs in litigation before the bankruptcy court, involving control over club facilities and their revenue
• Co-counsel to supplier in a defense of state court action brought by a Chapter 7 trustee in a retailer's bankruptcy to recover the asserted value of untaken "chargebacks" and vendor allowances
• Represented a publicly held industrial supply company as creditor in numerous Chapter 11 cases, often facilitating the sale of the client's unsecured and administrative claims and defending preference litigation
• Represented the owner of a lighting product retailer and showroom in the successful acquisition of a competing lighting supply company through a Section 363 sale
• Member of a team representing the former director and officer of affiliated film production companies in defense of claims for breach of fiduciary duties asserted by the creditors' committee and lenders
• Represented the examiner appointed in the bankruptcy of a group of closely held real estate holding companies, overseeing an accounting firm's forensic accounting and diligence regarding the amount of undisclosed distributions made to a majority partner
• Represented the official committee of unsecured creditors in a Chapter 11 case manufacturer in the solar power industry
• Represented a fuel distributor and gas station site owner in connection with the bankruptcy of the master lessee and assertion of the client's rights as creditor and landlord
• Spearheaded negotiations on behalf of a group of banks and mortgage servicers leading to a favorable global settlement of claims asserted by the Attorney General's Office and individuals involved in debtor/borrower's "foreclosure avoidance" transactions

Media Coverage

• Law360, "Texas Power Co. Wins Immediate OK Of Ch. 11 Wind-Down", December 21, 2022
• Law360, "Bankrupt Texas Power Plant Gets $144M Asset Sale Approved", June 27, 2022
• Law360, "Meet The Attys For Texas Power Plant Owner In Del. Ch. 11", June 15, 2022
• Law360, "Texas Power Plant Gets Lender Cash Use Approved In Ch. 11", June 2, 2022
• Law360, "Power Plant Owner Defends Ch. 11 Plans Against Challenges", May 31, 2022
• Law360, "Texas Plant's Ch. 11 Has No Obvious Purpose, Del. Judge Told", April 13, 2022
• Law360, "Storm-Hit Texas Power Plant Opens Ch. 11 In Del. For Sale", April 12, 2022