Partner

Eric W. Sleeper

609.203.5788 esleeper@bartonesq.com
Partner

Eric W. Sleeper

609.203.5788 esleeper@bartonesq.com
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Eric Sleeper, for more than thirty years, has focused his practice on creditor-debtor rights, workouts, restructurings, reorganizations, corporate bankruptcy, bankruptcy-related litigation, corporate insolvencies, and commercial foreclosures. Eric has represented each of the significant constituencies in workouts, insolvency matters and bankruptcies including secured creditors, lenders, hedge funds, corporate debtors, creditor committees, institutional investors, trustees, receivers, landlords and lessors, buyers and sellers of assets and claims from distressed entities, investment advisors and funds, and other primary interested parties.

He has practiced before courts throughout the country, including regionally in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware and has represented businesses in a variety of industries including real estate, hospitality, health care, retail, trucking, automotive, airlines, general manufacturing and finance.

Eric’s practice also encompasses commercial litigation and general corporate legal advice. Additionally, Eric’s practice has expanded into the field of cannabis law. As the legalization of cannabis, and the corresponding significant growth of cannabis-related businesses, has flourished the legal and regulatory aspects of the legal cannabis arena and their complexity have grown exponentially. Barton LLP seeks to maintain a full understanding of the very fluid legal and regulatory aspects of the cannabis market and how those affect our clients and their businesses within this high-growth industry. Eric is a member of the Cannabis Practice Group leadership team for Primerus, a network of nearly 200 independent, boutique law firms across 40 countries.

At Emory University School of Law, Eric was the Editor-in-Chief of the Bankruptcy Developments Journal. He has authored several articles and lectured on bankruptcy and creditor rights issues.

https://www.avvo.com/attorneys/10170-ny-eric-sleeper-876494.html

 

Practices
Industry Experience
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Bankruptcy, Creditors’ Rights and Restructuring
  • Represented Internationally-Known Designer as a Creditor
    • Represented an internationally-known designer as the only creditor to successfully challenge a retail debtor’s broadly proposed releases, claim waivers, and plan injunction in advance of the debtor’s confirmation of its plan, which allowed our creditor-designer client to continue to pursue multi-million-dollar IP-related claims against the debtor and other insider third parties.
  • Successfully Compelled Rejection of Trademark License Agreement
    • Represented a well-known celebrity branding company in compelling the rejection of a trademark license agreement of a retail debtor, thus freeing up the mark from the debtor’s estate and allowing the branding company to pursue other opportunities with it, while also preserving the company’s claims against the debtor.
  • Successfully Opposed Developer of 45-Story Hotel Worth $100 Million
    • Represented a New York-based commercial real estate construction management firm against a developer-debtor of a 45-story luxury hotel and residential mixed-use complex in mid-Manhattan valued in excess of $100 million. Aggressively and successfully opposed its fast-tracked plan confirmation process so that the client’s multi-million-dollar trust fund-related claims were allowed in full, and the funds for the same were carved out of the estate and set aside as part of the debtor’s plan confirmation.
  • Counsel to Education Business Debtor in Chapter 11 Case
    • Represented an education business debtor in its Chapter 11 case as one of the largest corporate entities, with annual revenues of more than $60 million, developed under the federal “No Child Left Behind” law to provide special education services principally to urban school districts throughout the United States.
  • Represented Creditors’ Committee in Chapter 11 Case
    • Represented the creditors’ committee in the Chapter 11 case of a regional furniture retailer and discovered vital information regarding the debtor and its institutional lender that significantly leveraged the unsecured creditors’ position. This resulted in a return to creditors well above that expected at the outset of the case.
  • Managed Chapter 11 Case for Manufacturer with $100 Million Annual Revenue
    • Represented the creditors’ committee in the Chapter 11 case of a leading designer and manufacturer in the plastics industry with annual revenues in excess of $100 million.
  • Represented Chapter 11 Committees in Various Industries
    • Represented several other official and ad hoc trade creditor, bondholder, and equity security holder Chapter 11 committees, including in the cases of Oskar Huber Fine Furniture (retail), HPG International (manufacturing), Lakeview Subacute Care (healthcare), Southmark Corporation (real estate), Circle K Corporation (retail), Merry-Go-Round Enterprises, Inc. (retail), and Zale Corporation (retail).
  • Represented Investment Funds in Distressed Financing Situations, Bankruptcy
    • Represented investment funds in several distressed corporate financing and bankruptcy situations, including with respect to bankruptcy-related discovery and litigation.
  • Counsel to Trustee in Crazy Eddie Electronics Bankruptcy
    • Represented one of the officially appointed trustees in the Crazy Eddie consumer electronics chain bankruptcy cases. Successfully pursued millions of dollars of claims against members of the Antar family.
  • Represented Creditor-Defendants Against Fraud Allegations
    • Represented a number of creditor-defendants in threatened—as well as pursued—bankruptcy case-related alleged preference payments and fraudulent conveyance actions.
  • Represented Lenders, Investors, and Creditors in Chapter 11 Cases
    • Represented lenders, investors, and/or other creditors and interested parties in the Chapter 11 cases of: Calpine Corporation (utilities), WorldCom (telecommunications), Exide Technologies (manufacturing), Dana Corp (automotive), Bally Total Fitness (health clubs), Refco (financial services), Pliant Corp (packaging), Nellson Nutraceutical (health foods), Advanced Marketing/Publishers Group (book distributing/publishing), Earth Biofuels Inc. (alternative fuels), American Home Mortgage (financial services), KB Toys (retail), Marcel Paper Mills (paper manufacturing), Bayonne Medical Center (healthcare), Barnert Hospital (healthcare), DOBI Medical (healthcare), Kara Homes (real estate), Solomon Dwek (real estate), New Jersey Affordable Homes (real estate), Rockaway Bedding (retail), Levitz Furniture (retail), Jazz Photo Group (retail), Kiwi and UAL Airlines (airline industry)