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Practice Areas:

Business Transactions	Banking & Finance	Restructuring & Insolvency

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Jonathan Young is a partner in the law firm of Wildman Harrold. A skilled and creative restructuring attorney, Jonathan is equally adept in the litigation, transactional, and counseling aspects of his practice. He regularly appears on behalf of his clients in federal, state, and bankruptcy courts throughout the country and currently serves as lead counsel to the Litigation Trustee appointed in the Comdisco bankruptcy cases, leading a team that has filed 65 lawsuits on behalf of the Trustee in the federal and state courts of Illinois. He has developed substantial appellate experience, most recently winning an appeal to the Supreme Court of Alabama of a summary judgment against his client. He has handled engagements in the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Third, Seventh and Eighth Circuits, the Bankruptcy Appellate Panels for the Sixth and Ninth Circuits, as well as the Illinois Appellate Court. In addition, he has represented public and private companies in a variety of restructuring and workout contexts, including advice and representation in connection with the restructuring of numerous complex credit facilities. As a counselor to his clients, Jonathan focuses on developing timely, workable strategies that pay equal attention to both the legal and business issues involved. He is skilled in the interplay between the Bankruptcy Code and complex programs of insurance law and regularly advises both insurers and insureds in connection with restructuring driven disputes. He has also advised a number of professional services firms in connection with their rights and duties as retained representatives of the bankruptcy estate in pending Chapter 11 proceedings. Jonathan is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell.  Jonathan is also the Chair of Wildman Harrold's Recruiting Committee.

Representative Experience:

• Currently represents the Publicis Groupe agencies in the history-making Chapter 11 proceedings of General Motors Corporation and its affiliates. The combined entity was the sixth largest creditor and the single largest trade creditor in the GM bankruptcy case.
• Currently serves as lead counsel to the Litigation Trustee appointed in the high-profile Chapter 11 cases of Comdisco, Inc. and its affiliates, representing the Trustee in 65 cases filed in the federal and state courts of Illinois against Comdisco’s former senior management. These engagements involve the Trustee’s enforcement of more than $74 million in promissory notes executed by senior management. The defendants seek to attack the enforceability of these notes and have raised numerous substantive and procedural defenses to the claims, many of which are novel. The dispute is being heard in multiple jurisdictions, with three appeals already filed and more likely. In re Comdisco, Inc., Costello v. Haller et al., Costello v. Vallone et al.
• Successfully represented Threshold Entertainment, the producer of the blockbuster Mortal Kombat movie series, in connection with the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of Midway Games, Inc. We objected to the sale of Midway's assets, and brought an adversary proceeding to adjudicate the scope and extent of Threshold's interest in the intellectual property rights to be sold. We raised a number of novel theories, including the argument that our client's substantial development of the Mortal Kombat characters gave Threshold ownership rights to the characters.
  
• Successfully represented Continental Casualty Company, one of the CNA Insurance Companies, in its pursuit to draw a clean, irrevocable letter of credit issued for its benefit by SouthTrust. The bank had denied the draw on the theory that the address on the draw documentation did not match the address on the letter of credit. Successfully appealed the trial court’s ruling against CNA on the premise that CNA had strictly complied with the terms of the letter of credit and that the bank’s argument to the contrary jeopardized the reliability and usefulness of these instruments under Alabama law. The Supreme Court of Alabama reversed the judgment against CNA, and the trial court ultimately ordered summary judgment in CNA’s favor. Continental Casualty Company v. SouthTrust Bank, N.A.
• Defended a substantial servicer of bankruptcy claims in a putative class action filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. The case addressed the level of due diligence required in the secondary bankruptcy claims market prior to filing or accepting an assignment of a proof of claim. The case was ultimately settled on terms acceptable to all parties, with no class certified. Knievel N. Porter et al. v. Resurgent Capital Services, LLC
• Successfully defended a secured creditor in a motion to subordinate a substantial judgment taken against the Debtor shortly before the filing of the Chapter 11 case. At issue was that the judgment, which was based on alleged oppression of a non-controlling shareholder, was no different from a claim for securities fraud or any other claims based upon an equity interest in the Debtor. Achieved favorable result from the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, which subordinated the claim, and then successfully defended this position in the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, which affirmed the subordination order. These rulings made new law as to the interpretation of the Bankruptcy Code’s subordination provision. In re Pre-Press Graphics, Inc.
• Represented Equity Residential in five Chapter 11 cases filed by a major East Coast developer in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland as well as five companion adversary proceedings filed in the same court. Both the bankruptcy cases and the adversaries sought to resolve whether Equity Residential and the developer reached an oral agreement to contribute five of the developer’s properties to Equity Residential’s real estate investment trust. Following extensive litigation, the cases were settled on mutually acceptable terms, and the parties confirmed consensual Chapter 11 plans in each case. In re Paradise Ridge et al.
• Represented the petitioning creditors in an involuntary Chapter 11 case filed against a single asset real estate Debtor in the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The Debtor consented to an order for relief under Chapter 11 and waived its exclusive right to file and confirm a plan of reorganization. Thereafter, three competing plans were filed, including a plan by one of the client-creditors, and the plan proponents were ultimately able to harmonize their competing proposals into a single plan, which was confirmed on a consensual basis. In re 201 N. Wells Investors, Inc.
• Represented Paribas and two other secured lenders in an adversary proceeding filed in connection with the Chapter 11 case of an energy company in the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The adversary proceeding addressed whether the Debtor had allegedly reached an oral joint venture agreement with an Illinois energy operator. Had the joint venture been found to exist, the value of the Bank Group’s collateral would have been cut by a third to a half. Following extensive briefing and litigation, the case was settled on terms acceptable to all parties. In re: Alma Energy Corp.
• On a pro bono basis, represented an indigent criminal defendant in the appeal of his murder conviction to the Illinois Appellate Court and won a new trial for the defendant based on the admission of prejudicial evidence by the trial court. People v. Goldsberry

Education:

Northwestern University School of Law, J.D. 1990
Yale University, B.A. 1986, cum laude

Reported Decisions:

• Continental Casualty Company v. SouthTrust Bank, N.A., 933 So.2d 337, Ala. 2006
• In re Pre-Press Graphics Co., Inc., 307 B.R. 65, N.D. Ill. 2004
• Costello v. Haller, 2006 WL 1762131, N.D. Ill. 2006 (available on Westlaw)
• In re MEI Diversified, 106 F.3d 829, 8th Cir. 1997
• People v. Goldsberry, 259 Ill. App. 3d 11, Ill. App. Ct. 1994

Publications And Presentations:

• Co-author, "Redemption Song," The Deal, July 2010.
• Author, "Restructuring Strategies and Alternatives in a Time of National Economic Crisis," Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Law 2009, Aspatore Books, 2008.
• Co-author, "The Risk Of Equitable Subordination, Post-Enron," Bankruptcy Law360, December 2008.
• Author, The Roles and Motivations of Key Players in Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Reorganization Situations, Aspatore Books, Spring 2007.

Professional Associations:

American Bar Association

American Bankruptcy Institute

Treasurer, Member, Board of Directors, Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms

Chair, Wildman Harrold Recruiting Committee

Wildman Harrold Diversity Committee

Bar Admissions:

Illinois

Supreme Court of Illinois

U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Second, Third, Seventh and Eighth Circuits

U.S. District Court for the Northern and Central Districts of Illinois

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana

U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin

U.S. Supreme Court

Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals