Focuses on commercial litigation.
Concentration in complex bankruptcy matters, mergers and acquisitions disputes, partnership/investor disputes, trade secret disputes and insurance matters.

David has served as lead trial counsel in numerous high-stakes, multifaceted bankruptcy proceedings. He represents a variety of financial restructuring clients, including official creditors’ committees, ad hoc committees, debtors and individual creditors including hedge funds and institutional investors.

Among his notable successes, he most recently led a team that won confirmation of a hotly contested plan following a four-day trial on behalf of an offshore oil drilling company in the District of Delaware Bankruptcy Court. He also served as lead trial counsel to the principal creditor or creditor groups in the chapter 11 proceedings of Tribune, Lyondell, Rescap, NII, Chemtura and Stone Energy. He currently serves as lead counsel to the Tribune post-reorganization Litigation Trust in pursuing claims totaling several billion dollars.

Representative Work

Bankruptcy:

Served as lead trial counsel to UMB Bank, N.A. Trustee to the Junior Secured Noteholders, rejecting claims of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) to recover alleged preferences and avoid liens, and to characterize original issue discount (OID) arising out of a fair value exchange as unmatured interest.
Acted as lead trial counsel to Aurelius Capital, second largest unsecured creditor, in NII bankruptcy litigation respecting the settlement of threatened estate and individual claims.

Commercial Litigation:

Acted as lead counsel to the defendant, a hedge fund in class action litigation alleging commodities manipulation, antitrust and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claims in connection with New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) futures contracts. Obtained a precedent-setting order dismissing the complaint based on its reference to a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) consent settlement.
As lead counsel, represented the indenture trustees in a $3 billion nationwide shareholder clawback litigation arising out of the Tribune leveraged buyout.

Insurance Litigation:

Served as co-counsel to the leading excess insurer in coverage litigation arising out of the failure of Bank One Corp. Obtained a summary judgment based on an exhaustion clause and an insured below-limits settlement with the underlying excess carrier.
Acted as counsel to a leading financial institutions insurer in connection with fidelity claims arising out of a major Ponzi scheme.