Gerard S. Catalanello
Partner
Duane Morris LLP
1540 Broadway
New York, NY 10036-4086
USA
Phone: +1 212 692 1037
Fax: +1 212 672 1173
Email: gcatalanello@duanemorris.com

Gerard S. Catalanello practices in the area of bankruptcy and creditors' rights law, representing debtors, creditors, creditors' committees, financial institutions, liquidation trusts, equity holders, trustees and acquirers of assets of troubled companies in formal bankruptcy proceedings as well as in out-of-court workouts.

Mr. Catalanello has also served as counsel to official committees of unsecured creditors in various chapter 11 cases and has represented various institutions in connection with the negotiation and sale of millions of dollars of claims in major chapter 11 cases. He has represented liquidation and creditor trusts in connection with analyzing and prosecuting chapter 5 causes of actions, including fraudulent conveyance and preferences claims under confirmed chapter 11 plans of liquidation.

Mr. Catalanello is a member of the American and New York State bar associations. He is the author of several articles on creditors' rights and bankruptcy topics and has been published in the Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice, the New York State Bar Journal, the Health Law Journal and the New York Law Journal.

Mr. Catalanello is a 1996 graduate of Fordham Law School (LL.M.), a 1992 graduate of Touro Law School (J.D.), where he was research editor of the Law Review, and a graduate of Adelphi University (B.A.).

Areas of Practice

• Bankruptcy Law
• Creditors' Rights Law

Representative Matters

• Represented an affiliate of Sleepy's LLC in its winning bid to acquire 100% of the membership interests in Mattress Discounters Group, LLC, an 80-store mattress chain in Virginia, for $11.9 million.
• Special counsel to Chemtura Corporation, one of the largest publicly traded specialty chemical companies in the United States, in connection with its chapter 11 proceedings.
• Counsel to CDO manager as a member of the official committee of unsecured creditors in the General Growth Properties, Inc. chapter 11 proceedings involving one of the largest mall owners and operators in the United States.
• Counsel to the official committee of unsecured creditors in the Orleans Homebuilders, Inc. chapter 11 proceedings, involving one of the oldest residential builders in the Northeast.
• Counsel to the CDO manager as member of the official committee of unsecured creditors in the Tarragon Corporation chapter 11 proceedings, involving a publicly traded residential real estate developer with assets of approximately $1 billion.
• Counsel to collateral manager of CDO assets in excess of $6 billion in connection with the prosecution of claims and interests in numerous bankruptcy proceedings, workouts and restructurings, as well as related federal and state court litigation.
• Counsel to one of the largest specialty retailers in the Northeast in connection with multiple acquisitions of assets of troubled retailers in chapter 11 and chapter 7 cases.
• Counsel to secured lender in connection with multimillion-dollar contested confirmation hearing concerning a retail shopping center in upstate New York.
• Counsel to certain members of the Rigas family, founders of Adelphia Communications Corp., in connection with their defense of claims and actions totaling more than $3 billion brought by the Adelphia bankruptcy estate, including the negotiation of a triparte agreement among the Rigas family, the Department of Justice and the Adelphia bankruptcy estate for the establishment of a $750 million fund.
• Counsel to Devon Mobile Communications, L.P., an owner and operator of PCS licenses throughout the Northeast, in connection with the sale of substantially all of its assets to major telecommunications companies and the confirmation of a chapter 11 plan.
• Counsel to a parent company in connection with the restructuring of a publicly traded subsidiary that manufactured and distributed over-the-counter generic pharmaceuticals.

Professional Activities

• American Bar Association
• New York State Bar Association

Admissions

• New York
• New Jersey

Education

• Fordham University School of Law, LL.M., 1996
• Touro Law Center, J.D., 1992
• Adelphi University, B.A., 1989