06-F Tax Proposal - McCreary - Laserfiche WebLink

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D. BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS McCreary, Veselka, Bragg & Allen has an excellent bankruptcy department capable of providing the finest representation to our clients in this important area of practice. The seven-person staff of the MVBA bankruptcy department is trained in bankruptcy law, and their efforts are devoted exclusively to bankruptcy matters. Bankruptcy litigation is administered by three attorneys, P. Michael Reed, D. Kirk Swinney and Lee Gordon, who are licensed to practice before each of the federal courts in Texas, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. Our attorneys make more personal appearances before bankruptcy judges than the attorneys of any other law firm engaged in property tax collections. They aggressively assert the tax claims and priorities and defend the tax liens of our clients in the Bankruptcy court. To handle the large number of bankruptcy cases, the Firm has made use of a computerized tracking system since 1986. That system has been updated within the last year to provide the most capable and efficient bankruptcy tracking system available. Upon notification of a bankruptcy affecting a client, we generate and file a claim for current and delinquent taxes and a Notice of Appearance. The Appearance notifies participants in the bankruptcy of the need to provide us with copies of all relevant documents so that we may respond appropriately on behalf of our clients. From that point, various measures, both defensive and offensive, may be in order. If the situation warrants, we move for a modification of the automatic stay, which would otherwise bar our pursuing the taxes by suit. When we are able to do this, we may subsequently seek the payment of the taxes due in a state court action. Additionally, we find that taxing units frequently are vulnerable to impairment of their tax liens by not protecting their interest when a Chapter 11 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan of reorganization is drawn. Therefore, we monitor all bank- ruptcy reorganization plans to determine that the provisions contained in those plans provide the full legal redress available to our clients. Additionally, we carefully monitor and respond to other bankruptcy transactions which jeopardize recovery, including sales of property, motions for relief of automatic stay filed by other creditors, and lien claims, as well as defending any challenges made to the tax claims of our clients. We negotiate with debtors, trustees, and other competing creditors to protect the property tax liens and obtain priority payment of taxes. We attend hearings in Bankruptcy Court to litigate any objections filed by debtors to tax claims. Our goal is to maximize the return of tax dollars to our clients in every bankruptcy case. Additionally, we have procedures for carefully following up after a bankruptcy has been concluded. We determine the status of taxes which were a part of a bankruptcy proceed- ing, to determine any remaining liability for those taxes, and pursue the liable parties in the collection of those taxes. Our diligence and aggressive legal actions in the area of bankruptcy results in the timely collection of the taxes due to our clients which otherwise might be lost or inordinately delayed. McCreary, Veselka, Bragg & Allen 17