Case Studies

Restructurings, followed closely.

Each case study takes a single company and traces its restructuring from the first signs of distress through to how the value was ultimately divided — and what it teaches.

Primer · Absolute Priority & Its Exceptions

How Equity Survives an Absolute Priority Cramdown

The absolute priority rule says creditors get paid before owners keep anything. So how do owners sometimes hold onto a stake? An examination of the new-value exception — one of the most contested and frequently litigated doctrines in restructuring.

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§1129(b)
The cramdown provision at issue
1939 → 1999
From Los Angeles Lumber to 203 North LaSalle
13 min
Read time
Case Study · Retail · Explained Simply

When a Company Can't Pay Its Debts: The West Marine Story

A boating-supplies chain owed half a billion dollars it couldn't pay. A plain-language walk through what it did about it — written for anyone, no background needed.

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$549M
Debt owed at filing
Developing
Ongoing Chapter 11 case
~200
Stores at filing
In the works
Liability Management · Uptier

The uptier exchange that split a creditor class in two

How a majority lender group raised new money ahead of existing debt — and what courts have begun to say about it.

Coming soon
Cramdown · Valuation

The valuation fight that decided everything

In a cramdown, enterprise value is the whole ballgame. How two experts, hundreds of millions apart, get reconciled.

Coming soon
Cramdown · Valuation

The valuation fight that decided everything

In a cramdown, enterprise value is the whole ballgame. How two experts, hundreds of millions apart, get reconciled.

Coming soon
Subchapter V · Small Cap

The new-value exception in a small business

How the 2019 small-business track changed the calculus for owner-operators trying to keep their equity.

Coming soon