William K. Fendrick
813.227.6707

Overview

Keith Fendrick is an attorney in Holland & Knight's Tampa office and a member of the firm's Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Creditors' Rights Practice Group, Litigation Section, and Financial Services Practice Group. He focuses his practice on bankruptcy and creditors' rights, corporate and real estate reorganizations and restructurings, and commercial litigation.

Mr. Fendrick has vast experience assisting numerous banks and financial institutions in a variety of litigation matters in both state and federal courts. Mr. Fendrick has advised lenders in New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) defaults and workouts, commercial real estate defaults and workouts, as well as numerous loan defaults and restructurings. In addition, he represents financial institutions, corporations, insurance companies, and creditor groups in numerous large Chapter 11 cases around the country and in state and federal court litigation. He also works with secured and unsecured creditors in litigation, workouts, non-bankruptcy corporate reorganizations, and acquisitions of troubled businesses.

Mr. Fendrick has been appointed as a receiver for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In that capacity, he has taken over the management and liquidation of a business, the collection of assets and the pursuit of claims and recovery of monies for the creditors and investors of the business. He has represented receivers in state court receiverships involving Ponzi schemes and fraudulent business activities. Mr. Fendrick is a Florida Supreme Court certified Circuit Mediator.

Mr. Fendrick is a former director of the Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association. He has been a panelist at the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, and the Caribbean Insolvency Institute, and has spoken at seminars on Florida asset protection, fraudulent transfers, creditors' rights and remedies and bankruptcy law.

Representative Experience

  • Served as counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Committee of Unsecured Creditors in a multimillion-dollar mortgage Ponzi scheme. Worked with the trustee to avoid claw backs and conduct an orderly liquidation of the estate’s assets for some recover to all creditors
  • Served as counsel for a creditor that had underground storage unit issues with dozens of its stores in several states in a bankruptcy of a nationwide convenience store chain. Was the last holdout among the large creditors and after initially fighting confirmation agreed on treatment for our client that allowed the client to accept the debtors’ plan
  • Served as counsel for a nationwide real estate investment trust (REIT) in a bankruptcy of several related entities that owned more than 30 income producing properties. Worked with the debtors’ counsel as one of the last holdouts to negotiate terms and conditions acceptable to our client in order to gain our client’s support for the plan
  • Served as counsel for the Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the bankruptcies of companies involved in battery technology and manufacturing. Worked with the debtors’ counsel to achieve a plan supported by the committee
  • Served as debtors’ counsel for two companies that had manufacturing facilities in several southeastern states. Conducted several 363 sales and confirmed a liquidating plan of reorganization with a trust and liquidating trustee with the support of the Unsecured Creditors’ Committee
  • Served as counsel for lender on a $120 million facility for the purchase of an island in the Caribbean and the construction of a hotel, marina and private villas. After a week-long trial and two mediations, they reached consensus with the debtor on a plan of reorganization
  • Served as counsel for a nationwide financial institution in successfully defending it against claims of more than $27 million for lender liability and tying and obtained a judgment against the borrowers in excess of $18 million
  • Served as counsel for a nationwide financial institution in successfully defending it against claims of lender liability and obtained a multimillion-dollar judgment against the borrower and the guarantors

Credentials

Education
  • University of Houston Law Center, J.D.
  • Auburn University, B.A.
Bar Admissions/Licenses
  • Florida
Court Admissions
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida
  • U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Memberships
  • The Florida Bar, Grievance Committee, 13th Judicial Circuit, 2016 Chair
  • American Bar Association
  • American Bankruptcy Institute
  • Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association
  • Hillsborough County Bar Association
  • Federal Bar Association
Honors & Awards
  • Chambers USA – America's Leading Business Lawyers guide, Bankruptcy/Restructuring, 2013-2021, 2023
  • The Best Lawyers in America guide, Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights Law/Insolvency and Reorganization Law, 1999-2018, 2020-2023; Litigation - Bankruptcy, 2014-2023
  • Florida Super Lawyers magazine, 2006-2023
  • The Best Lawyers in America guide, Tampa Bankruptcy Litigation Lawyer of the Year, 2017
  • Florida Legal Elite, Florida Trend magazine, 2004-2009, 2013-2015, 2017

Publications

News