Attorneys

Richard M. Goldberg concentrates in bankruptcy, creditors' rights, workouts, and commercial litigation. He has achieved favorable results for debtors, creditors’ committees and trustees in numerous large corporate reorganizations, Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 proceedings, and out-of-court workouts. Mr. Goldberg has considerable experience representing financial institutions, developers, retail chains, homebuilders, commercial landlords, specialty lending institutions, trustees, and government agencies in all aspects of Chapter 11 reorganization cases, Chapter 11 liquidations, and large Chapter 7 liquidations. He has also successfully represented numerous parties seeking to acquire assets from bankruptcy estates.

In addition to his experience in traditional bankruptcy areas, Mr. Goldberg represents parties in commercial litigation matters, including disputes regarding commercial transactions and the Uniform Commercial Code, in state and federal courts, the appellate courts of Maryland and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Widely respected for the depth of his knowledge, he has declared and testified as an expert witness on commercial transactions, commercial litigation, and the reasonableness of attorney fees in commercial litigation and transactions.

Representative Matters

In 2008 Mr. Goldberg and his partner Joel I. Sher successfully represented Fieldstone Mortgage Company, obtaining approval of its Chapter 11 plan. The client became one of the only mortgage lenders to survive bankruptcy proceedings in the wake of the credit crisis.

Mr. Goldberg serves as regular bankruptcy counsel to GEICO, handling bankruptcy-related matters facing the insurer, including disputes with debtors under various contractual agreements.

As counsel to the unsecured creditors committee in the Chapter 11 case of PhyAmerica Physician Group, Inc., a physician practice management company, Mr. Goldberg and the Shapiro Sher bankruptcy team engineered a hostile takeover of the debtor companies that resulted in a payout of 75 percent of the creditors’ claims, an unusually favorable outcome for unsecured creditors.

Mr. Goldberg represents the Chapter 11 trustee in a series of complex bankruptcy cases concerning several related satellite companies owned by Nader Modanlo. Mr. Goldberg’s client has prevailed in every contested matter, including three appellate decisions.

Deeply experienced in the real estate industry, Mr. Goldberg now assists in representing homebuilder Caruso Homes, Inc., in its Chapter 11 case. Previously, Mr. Goldberg represented the Chapter 7 trustee of Regency Homes Corporation and 12 subsidiaries in the liquidation of the companies. Regency Homes had been one of the largest homebuilders in Maryland and Virginia. Upon filing, Regency had more than $50 million in claims against it, including approximately $35 million in secured debt. Mr. Goldberg negotiated and consummated several sales of Regency Homes’ assets that resulted in the reduction of secured and unsecured claims of approximately $35 million.

In 2008 Mr. Goldberg helped engineer a $1.53 million settlement between Paul Nochumowitz, a Baltimore landlord and ground rent owner, and the trustee in Nochumowitz’ bankruptcy case. In this matter, Mr. Goldberg served as counsel to an attorney representing numerous plaintiffs who had brought and obtained multi-million dollar lead paint claims against Nochumowitz.

Mr. Goldberg also represents clients in cases that involve government contracting. He is counsel to the Chapter 7 trustee in the bankruptcy of Information Networks, Inc. (d/b/a Infonetics), a contractor that provided technology services to several federal agencies. This ongoing matter involves factoring agencies and a host of administrative law issues. Additionally, Mr. Goldberg represents his partner Mr. Sher, who is trustee in the bankruptcy of government contractor Knight Protective Services.

Mr. Goldberg represents the U.S. Small Business Association in connection with failed Small Business Investment Companies in which the SBA made debt or equity investments pursuant to the Small Business Investment Act. For the SBA, he has successfully navigated disputes involving several franchisees of prominent national restaurant and retail chains, such as Popeyes Chicken, Friendly’s Ice Cream, and Party Land. These disputes have focused on the value and ownership of the equity interests and the respective rights of the debt and equity players.

News & Publications

For the past two years, Richard M. Goldberg has been named in the "Super Lawyers" list of the top attorneys in the state of Maryland. In 2007 and 2008, the lists were published in the January issue of Baltimore Magazine and in Maryland Super Lawyers Magazine.