If you are considering bankruptcy or have already filed a case, you should examine whether any of the following issues create further problems for you.  You should employ an experienced bankruptcy trial lawyer for these matters because they are too complicated to handle yourself.

• Preferential transfer cases - payments or transfers to a creditor not long before a bankruptcy filing can, under certain circumstances, be recovered by the trustee and distributed among all the creditors.

• Fraudulent transfers - if a debtor (a business or an individual) transfers property to another for less than the fair market value of the item, the bankruptcy court may avoid (or undo) the transfer.

• Discharge claims - interested parties can object to the discharge of the debtor based on a number of grounds, including failure of the debtor to disclose all of his property or to disclose important financial information as well as acts by the debtor to destroy financial records, to knowingly make a false oath or to fraudulently transfer property.  These types of cases can result in the debtor not obtaining any of the bankruptcy relief intended to result from the bankruptcy case.

• Dischargeability claims - creditors may successfully object to the discharge of all or part of the debt owed to them by a bankruptcy debtor if they can prove that the debtor incurred the debt by engaging in fraud or providing false financial information, by engaging in fraud while in a fiduciary capacity or by willfully and malicously injuring the creditor or the creditor's property.

• Substantial Abuse of the Bankruptcy Code claims - a debtor's income and expenses may suggest to the United States Trustee that the debtor has the ability to repay a significant portion of his or her's unsecured debt; such claims can force the debtor to dismiss their bankruptcy case or convert it to a Chapter 13 case so that a repayment plan can be established.  Substantial abuse cases are difficult, fact-driven problems.

• Debts Incurred in the Course of a Divorce - Bankruptcy cases after divorces can result in the bankrupty debtor alleging that a divorce-related debt should be discharged; under Chapter 13, it is possible to discharge non-support related debts incurred in the course of a divorce unless the non-filing spouse objects.

In addition to all of the above cases, I have handled allof the following types of business disputes:

• Business fraud - intentional misrepresentation in connection with business dealings of material facts upon which a person reasonably relies and which cause damages.

• Breach of fiduciary duty - breach of a duty of care and loyalty owed by someone in a position of trust.

• Intentional intereference with business advantage - this business tort can take many forms.

• Trade Secrets - allegations of theft of business customers, customer lists and other confidential trade secrets.

• Alter ego theory - litigation arising when a plaintiff attempts to prove that a corporation is a front for a single person or a group of people. This can destroy the protection the defendant may have tried to create by forming the corporation.

• Partnership dissolution disputes - these cases are essentially business divorces in which the parties dispute the amount each should receive as part of the the sale or winding up of the entity.

• Misrepresentation in connection with the purchase and/or sale of an existing company.

• Securities fraud - allegations under either federal or state law of selling unregistered securities or selling securities without a license.

James R. Chadderdon, P.C. serves clients from all parts of Colorado, but we focus on Colorado Springs, Pueblo and the Pikes Peak area.

Local Counsel

When an out-of-state corporation is brought into Colorado in a local trial matter, the company may need knowledgeable Colorado counsel.  I have worked with many out-of-state corporations in such litigation.