James Ehrman
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For more than thirty five years Jim has concentrated his practice on legal problems arising out of troubled commercial and financial relationships. As a court-appointed receiver and counsel to fiduciaries, secured and unsecured creditors, owners, purchasers of assets and other entities, he has successfully navigated complex insolvency situations, including acting as counsel to three affiliated Canadian companies in their Ohio Chapter 15 bankruptcy cases. Jim likes the challenge of a non-standard legal question, helping companies through the reorganization process by crafting creative solutions to issues. He has prosecuted and defended involuntary bankruptcies, fraudulent transfers, and the non-dischargeability of debts in bankruptcy.
Jim's experience includes representation of:
Partner of a debtor-in-possession as they fought for control of the most valuable asset in their respective estates
A lender secured by adjacent land in staving off a land grab by a debtor-in-possession, its senior lender, and the asset purchaser
A major creditor of a debtor-in-possession whose entire business had been built on a financial fraud
Three Canadian companies in the filing and prosecution of their Chapter 15 cases in the Northern District of Ohio
A lender defrauded by two unrelated businesses as it sought recovery in and defended accusations of lender liability through a state court receivership, four bankruptcy cases, two adversarial proceedings and one appeal to the Sixth Circuit
A small chain of restaurants through a successful reorganization during the simultaneous reorganization of the owner/guarantors of the corporate debt
A steel service center through its sale as a going concern fifteen days after filing its Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition
An Ohio-based air cargo handler as it kept a Chapter 11 debtor in Texas financially viable long enough to perform due diligence and acquire the debtor’s profitable operation
Alleged insiders in defending recovery by an estate of payments made during the extended reach-back period
A hospital after the landlord that stored its records filed for bankruptcy
A municipality negotiating to retain the headquarters operations of a company whose major assets had been sold in a 363(b) sale
A Virginia-based ostrich farm fighting an involuntary bankruptcy petition filed as part of an internal struggle for control
The acquirer of the U.S.-based assets of a Canadian company through its Chapter 15 bankruptcy estate
Receiver of a company that became dysfunctional after the corporate divorce of its principals, successfully operating the business, selling assets, and paying all creditors
The equity-holder, who had been displaced by a state court receiver a year earlier, in his successful filing of a bankruptcy case to displace the receiver
Education
University of Pennsylvania, J.D., 1974
Harvard College, A.B., 1971
Memberships/Associations
Admitted to the United States District Courts of the Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Ohio Supreme Court
American Bankruptcy Institute
Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association
Awards/Honors
Martindale-Hubbell® AV® Preeminent™
2004 – 2006, 2008 - 2023 Ohio Super Lawyers®
