Bankruptcy, insolvency, creditors’ rights, and commercial litigation are Reuel’s areas of concentration. In businesses as diverse as real estate, retail, construction, manufacturing, and restaurants, he represents individuals and corporate debtors, creditors’ committees, and secured creditors in Chapter 11 reorganizations and liquidations. Reuel has presented cases in bankruptcy courts and state courts throughout the region. His expertise and experience include dischargability litigation and other bankruptcy adversary actions, sales and purchases of assets from bankruptcy estates, composition agreements, and non-bankruptcy workouts. Reuel also has experience litigating a variety of commercial and consumer-based disputes on behalf of financial institutions. He is also experienced at litigating and negotiating credit card disputes among merchants and lending institutions. Since 2006, Reuel has annually been named a “Leading Lawyer” in a survey of lawyers by Cincy magazine and has achieved the highest ranking, AV Preeminent®, from Martindale-Hubbell®. Reuel is also an Ohio Super Lawyer.

 A highly significant ruling involving fraudulent transfers recently decided by the Eleventh Circuit could have a far-reaching impact on distressed lending and investing.   In Senior Transeastern Lenders v. Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (In re TOUSA, Inc.), 2012 WL 1673901 (11th Cir. May 15, 2012), the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district

            As the filing of Chapter 11 cases continues to be rare, state court alternatives for liquidation of assets continue to grow in popularity. State court alternatives typically provide a more expeditious and less expensive forum for secured lenders to direct the liquidation of their collateral—for example, state court receivership sales avoid the United States Trustee

A recent case from the Sixth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, In re Buttermilk Towne Center, LLC, 2010 Bankr. LEXIS 4563 (BAP 6th Cir. 2010), appears to have strengthened the undersecured lender’s hand in single asset real estate Chapter 11 cases. An undersecured lender is one whose collateral is worth less than the amount the debtor

Ohio is one of the few remaining states that still enforce cognovit provisions in promissory notes and other loan documents. A cognovit provision allows a creditor to take judgment immediately against a borrower upon the borrower’s default without having to endure the time, expense, and risk of a lawsuit. Cognovit provisions are only enforceable in