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Christopher J. Giaimo

Chris Giaimo’s practice focuses on financial restructuring and workout proceedings on behalf of financially distressed companies or their creditors, including representation of debtors, creditors and investors. He represents a vast number of clients in the enforcement of a broad spectrum of creditors’ rights in secured, unsecured, public or private, taxable and tax-exempt debt, through the representation of lenders, investor syndicates, individual creditors and official committees in Chapter 11 cases. In addition, he represents investors seeking to acquire distressed debt and assets of bankrupt and insolvent business ventures. Chris also represents the contractual interest of publicly traded companies in bankruptcy proceedings.

Chris also has extensive experience representing debtors, including the restructuring of large companies through the Chapter 11 process or conducting the orderly liquidation and comprehensive asset sales for small to multimillion-dollar companies, with a constant view toward balancing the maximization of recoveries for creditors with the protection of the debtor’s rights. His practice further includes the representation of trustees and receivers of distressed companies and their assets.

Client Work

Chris’s representations include, or have included, the following:

Official Committees of Unsecured Creditors

• The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Building Materials Holding Corporation, et al., in the District of Delaware
• The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Maxjet Airways, Inc., in the District of Delaware
• The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Earthshell Corporation in the District of Delaware
• The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Kleinert’s, Inc., in the Southern District of New York
• The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Tackley Mill, L.L.C., in the Northern District of West Virginia

Creditors and Trustees

• Fannie Mae as the primary secured lender in bankruptcy cases across the country
• Acacia Federal Savings bank as the primary secured lender in bankruptcy cases pending in the District of Maryland
• Wilmington Trust Company as indenture trustee with respect to its interests in certain Enhanced Equipment Trust Certificates in the ATA Holdings Corp. bankruptcy case in the Southern District of Indiana
• Wells Fargo, NA, as successor indenture trustee for certain senior secured notes in Pliant Corporation in the District of Delaware

Debtors in Possession

• Mattress Discounters Corporation as debtor’s counsel during its reorganization in the District of Maryland
• Lake Diamond Associates, LLC as debtor’s counsel in the Middle District of Florida 
• New York Medical Group, PC, as debtor’s counsel in the Southern District of New York
• Servervault, Inc., as debtor’s counsel in the Eastern District of Virginia

Investors and Contract Parties

• The investor group in Corecare Behavioral Health Management, Inc., in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• A national investment banker in a case pending in the District of New Jersey
• Transaction Network Services, Inc., as acquirer of distressed assets in bankruptcy
• Harman International Industries Incorporated in the General Motors and Chrysler bankruptcy cases in the Southern District of New York

Professional Activities

Chris is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Maryland Bankruptcy Bar Association. He is Chair of the Bankruptcy Committee of the Corporation, Finance & Securities Law Section of the Washington, D.C., Bar Association.

Publications, Presentations and Recognitions

• “Putting the Bankruptcy Puzzle Together: Treatment of Commodities and Forward Contracts in Bankruptcy,” Annual Meeting of the National Grain and Feed Association (March 2009)
• “Distressed Real Estate Hits the Equity Markets: The state of the distressed corporate debt market, opportunities in the secondary and bankruptcy markets for distressed loan investors, and trends in the recent investment activity of distressed asset investors,” Distressed Debt Conference (November 2009)
• “Bankruptcy Considerations for Multifamily Housing: A Presentation for Fannie Mae” (September 2007)