Claude D. Montgomery

Claude D. Montgomery is a partner in Salans' New York office. He has been a member of the Global Executive and Compensation Committees and is the past Managing Partner of the New York Office. He is the Global Head of the Reorganization, Restructuring, and Insolvency practice group and is a member of the Global Banking and Finance group.

Claude is an experienced litigator at both the trial and appellate level, and specializes in business reorganizations and hotel industry disputes. His business reorganization clients include lenders; debtors; official creditors and equity committees; indenture trustees; chapter 7 and 11 trustees; asset buyers; and committees of corporate directors and officers. His hotel industry clients have included owners, operators, leasees and franchisees of hotel properties.

Recent Experience:

• Representing Hong Kong energy company in Transmeridian Exploration reorganization case as bondholder, disputed creditor and competing Chapter 11 buyer for Kazakhstan assets
• Representing Russian space technology company in Sea Launch US reorganization case as investor and technology supplier
• Representing  China joint venture fund liquidator in fraud investigation of US manager 
• Representing  two Scandinavian Banks regarding Lehman Brothers in the US Reorganization and UK and Swiss Administration cases as creditors and OSLA and ISDA counterparties 
• Representing a Scandinavian Bank regarding enforcement of Master Whole Loan Repurchase Agreement from Chapter 11 seller 
• Representing a Scandinavian Bank regarding restructuring secured hotel/condominium projects 
• Representing the Turkish SDIF in insolvency planning relating to pursuit of assets of shareholders involved in a bank fraud
• Representing Telsim Telekomunikasyon by appointment from Turkish SDIF in Motorola v. Telsim regarding enforcement of Swiss Arbitration Award
• Representing Caribbean hotel and casino developer in debt work and partnership restructuring
• Representing Scandinavian bank in liquidity facility workout and structured finance termination
• Recent reorganization and bankruptcy cases: Sea Launch Company (investor and technology supply creditor); Transmeridian Exploration (Bondholder and potential asset purchaser); Lehman Brothers (ISDA and repurchase agreement creditors); Christian Bernard (parent company); Collins & Aikman (Supplier); Atlantic Gulf Communities Corp. (Lender Group); Owens Corning (Lender); Adelphia Communication (Lender); MSCP Holding (Equity Committee); Key3Media (Committee Member); Regal Cinema (Indenture Trustee); Pillowtex (Indenture Trustee); Cellnet (Indenture Trustee) 
• Recent appellate experience: Uzan v. Telsim (N.Y. App. Div., 1^st Dept); Kassover v. Gibson (2d Cir., 2004, 2002 and 2000); Dunes Hotel Associates v. Hyatt (4th Cir. 1997); Skopbank v. Hyatt (3rd Cir. 1998)
• Recent litigation experience: Uzan v. Vodafone (N.Y. Sup. Ct.); Uzan v. Telsim (N.Y. Sup. Ct.); Oxus Gold v. Barbanel (D. NJ); Hocking v. GECC (D. Del.); Eden Toys v. Miller (B.S.D.N.Y.); Renaissance Cruise Lines v. Flosse (B.M.D. Fla.); Cohen v. Forman (B.S.D.N.Y.); 800 Canal Street v. Sonesta (Arbitration); Dunes Hotel Assoc. v. Hyatt (Arbitration)
• Recent mediation experience: Ames Dept. Stores (B.S.D.N.Y.) (preference cases)

Career:

Claude joined Salans from Phillips Lytle Hitchcock Blaine & Huber where he was a member of the Governing Committee. He is currently Vice Chair of the Ethics Subcommittee for the ABA Business Bankruptcy Committee, Business Law Section and was the Vice-Chair and Chair of the European Working Group for the International Bankruptcy Subcommittee 2002-2004. Claude was also Vice-Chair of the Avoiding Power Subcommittee, ABA Business Bankruptcy Committee, Business Law Section from 1997-1999. He is currently a member of several professional organizations including the American Bankruptcy Institute, International Society of Hospitality Consultants, American Bar Foundation and the American Bar Association. From 1991-1993, Claude was also a member of the Committee on Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization, Association of the Bar for the City of New York. He is admitted in New York and Michigan and to the bar of numerous federal courts, including the US Supreme Court, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.

Author of numerous articles and presentations on business restructuring and hotel industry:

• "New Developments: Plan Process - Voting and Conformation," Practicing Law Institute, Current Bankruptcy Developments (2001)
• "Solicitation Under Section 1125 of the Bankruptcy Code: Century Glove and the First Amendment," 23, Seton Hall Law Review 1570 (1993)
• "The Impact of the Collective Bargaining Agreement On The Corporate Reorganization Process in Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code," 31 Labor Law Development § 7.01 (1985)
• "Rejection of Collective Bargaining Agreements During Chapter 11 Proceedings Under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code," Practicing Law Institute, ERISA and Bankruptcy (1983)

Frequent Speaker at conferences on business restructuring and hotel industry:

• International Society of Hospitality Consultants (Budapest, 2001)
• Association of the Bar of the City of New York (New York, 1993)
• Pacific Coast Labor Law Symposium, (Seattle, 1989)
• Practicing Law Institute, (New York, 1983; San Francisco, 1986; New York, 1994; New York, 2001)
• American Bar Association, Labor Section (Chicago, 1985)
• AFL-CIO Lawyers Conference (1981, 1982, 1986)

Education:

• Stanford University (J.D., 1978) 
• Brown University (B.A., double major in History and Economics, 1975)

Publications:

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  15 Nov 2007
  Warning To Securitization Investors, Indenture Trustees And Bank Sponsors