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Mr. Barney has extensive experience in all aspects of debtor/creditor relations, bankruptcy and insolvency litigation, and commercial and chancery litigation. With substantial trial and appellate experience, Mr. Barney leads the dedicated litigation team within the Financial Restructuring & Creditors’ Rights Group and also offers cost effective alternatives to litigation, through arbitrations, mediations, and alternative dispute resolution proceedings. He advises clients on all aspects of debtor/creditor disputes, workouts, and structured resolutions. He represents many of the firm’s secured and unsecured creditors and handles a wide variety of general commercial, corporate, and securities litigation.
Mr. Barney’s representative clients include The Bank of New York Mellon; Pacific Western Bank; The Unsecured Creditors Committee in the Chapter 11 case of R&S Parts and Service, Inc.; Vicinity Energy; the Veolia North America companies; Armstrong Flooring, Inc. and Armstrong World Industries, Inc.; Valor Equity Partners, L.P.; First Union National Bank; and a variety of private investors and lenders. He has also had substantial involvement in a number of the firm’s trustee/debtor/creditors’ committee cases, such as Molycorp, Inc.; DBSI, Inc.; Center City Healthcare LLC; Manhattan Bagel Company, Inc.; Mutual Benefit Overseas, Inc.; Emerson Electric Company; Herman’s Sporting Goods, Inc.; and Twin County Grocers, Inc.
Mr. Barney practices in the Superior Court of New Jersey, United States District and Bankruptcy Courts for the District of New Jersey, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, United States District and Bankruptcy Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and United States Bankruptcy Courts in other states.
Areas of Focus
Creditor Representation
Mr. Barney has represented creditor and other interests in many significant Chapter 11 cases over the past decades, including Center City Healthcare, LLC; Limetree Bay Holdings, LLC; Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC; Molycorp, Inc; Alpha Natural Resources, Inc.; Energy Future Holdings Corp.; Hovensa, LLC; Eastman Kodak Company; Lyondell Chemical Company; Tronox LLC; Autobacs Strauss, Inc.; BearingPoint, Inc.; Northwest Airlines, Inc.; Farmland Industries, Inc.; and Genuity, Inc.
Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims Against Corporate Directors and Officers
Mr. Barney has extensive experience, from both the plaintiff’s and defendant’s perspective, in directors’ and officers’ liability for breach of duty, negligence, and related claims brought by lenders, trustees, and committees seeking to recover losses arising from insolvency proceedings.
Complex Fraudulent Transfer and Preference Claims
Mr. Barney has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in all manners of complex fraudulent transfer and preference claims. He successfully defended a major telecom client in a $50 million preference claim and, on multiple occasions, has managed portfolios of hundreds of avoidance claims for trustees and debtors, most recently on behalf of the DBSI, Inc. trusts.
Ponzi Scheme Litigation
A growing focus in insolvency litigation has been the proof of Ponzi schemes as the basis for proving debtors’ actual fraud, thereby expediting the proofs in fraudulent transfer and securities fraud claims. Mr. Barney and the Financial Restructuring & Creditors’ Rights Litigation Team have been the vanguard of the firm’s efforts in this area.
Contested Chapter 11 Plan Confirmations
Mr. Barney is experienced in proving the requisites for confirmation of plans of reorganization in Chapter 11 cases, including all aspects of expedited discovery and expert proofs.
Credentials
Education
College of William & Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law (J.D.)
- President, Phi Alpha Delta, Wythe Chapter, 1985-1986
- Articles Editor, The Colonial Lawyer, 1986-1987
University of Virginia (B.A.)
Professional Admissions
State of New Jersey
United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
United States District Court for the Northern District of New York
United States District Court for the District of Colorado
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Professional Activities
American Bar Association
Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Sections
Garden State Credit Associates