Bankruptcy
Since joining JAMS in 1989, Mr. Young has conducted over 1,250 complex or multi-party mediations and arbitrations in over thirty states and abroad, and has been appointed as a mediator or special master (for discovery management or settlement implementation purposes) by various federal, state, and bankruptcy courts. Mr. Young is a member of the CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution Panel of Distinguished Neutrals, an elected fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators and an elected “neutral” member of the College of Labor & Employment Lawyers. He is also a member of the Mediator Registry for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
Mr. Young has successfully mediated or otherwise served as a neutral in numerous bankruptcy and insolvency matters, including, most recently, in numerous matters brought by trustees or “litigation committees” against directors and officers of insolvent companies and others. In many such instances, he has had to mediate concurrently insurance coverage issues relating to the D & O coverage.
In addition to his bankruptcy-related mediation experience, at various times while in law practice, he represented creditors in bankruptcy proceedings. For example he represented an unofficial creditors committee - Big City Property Damage Creditors’ Committee - in the Manville reorganization. See Manville Corp. v. The Equity Security Holders Comm., 66 B.R. 517 (Bkrtcy. SDNY 1986). He has spoken regarding the use of alternative dispute resolution processes in bankruptcy cases at American Bankruptcy Institute and ALI-ABA conferences.
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Representative Matters
- Appointed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to mediate a dispute between the trustee of a Chapter 7 debtor, the creditors' committee and the principal of the debtor regarding the recovery of certain assets in Europe
- Appointed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to mediate plan negotiations in three reorganization proceedings, the first involving a $110 million cellular telephone company and the latter two being single asset cases, including one of the few instances in which a cooperative residential association has successfully emerged from Chapter 11
- Appointed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to resolve twenty large construction claims pending against US Home Inc. in a Chapter 11 proceeding, and has mediated other construction claims involving contractors or owners who have filed for Chapter 11 protection
- Appointed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in St. Louis to resolve approximately 400 asbestos personal injury claims in the Apex Oil Co. Chapter 11 proceeding
- Appointed to the Mediator Registry for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York and, at the request of the Chief Judge, conducted a mediation training program for the other members of the Registry, and is also a member of the Bank of Thailand's Corporate Debt Restructuring Mediation Panel
- Counseled large and mid-sized Chapter 11 debtors, as well as creditor groups, regarding alternative dispute resolution approaches to claims estimation or liquidation
- Designed and administered the dispute resolution process of the Manville Property Damage Settlement Trust, which is one of the claims handling trusts that evolved from the Manville Chapter 11 reorganization proceeding
- Mediated a claim by debtor (brought by the trustee and creditors’ committee) against the company that had purchased one of its divisions
- Mediated a fraudulent conveyance claim by the liquidating trustee of a Chapter 11 debtor against the leveraged buy-out firm which was one of its largest shareholders
- Mediated a post-closing dispute between the purchaser of the debtor's assets and the creditors' committee
- Mediated a variety of personal injury and other state law claims pending in Chapter 11 proceedings including the claims pending against two major department store Chapter 11 debtors
- Mediated an "avoidance" action brought by the trustee of a debtor owning real estate against the entity which sold it the property
- Mediated many different cases outside of the bankruptcy context involving parties that are insolvent or are otherwise in financial distress, including an airplane leasing dispute between a syndicate of European banks and a financially unstable airline (the mediation took place in Madrid and was partially conducted in Spanish)
