Louis J. Cisz, III
Partner

Practice Areas

Experience

Louis J. Cisz is an experienced bankruptcy lawyer and litigator with a nationwide bankruptcy practice in Bankruptcy Courts throughout the U.S. and a statewide commercial litigation and trial practice in Federal and State Courts throughout California.

Mr. Cisz’s clients include lenders, manufacturers, vendors, contractors, health care companies, insurers, indenture trustees, and business entities in a large cross-section of industries in commercial disputes, commercial loan workouts, and creditor representations in bankruptcy cases.  He also represents buyers and sellers of distressed assets and regularly provides creditor’s remedies and enforcement advice to numerous businesses.

Mr. Cisz has been recognized as a "Super Lawyer" by the publishers of the Northern California Super Lawyers magazing for 2009. Inclusion in Super Lawyers is based on a peer-review survey.

Representative cases

• Secured and unsecured creditors in the following recent and significant Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases: Circuit City; Mervyn’s; Copia; Equa-Chlor; Lorber Industries;  Enron Corp.; Pacific Gas & Electric Company; House2Home; Tri Valley Growers; Dillingham Construction Company; Applied Magnetics; Philippine Airlines; Guy F. Atkinson Construction Co.; P.I.E.; Montgomery Ward; Standard Brands Paint Co.; and Bruno's.
• Parties seeking to acquire assets under Bankruptcy Code section 363 sales.
• A tomato producer seeking to recover two million dollar deposit on sale that never closed;
• A contractor that stepped into the shoes of the Chapter 7 Trustee in order to prosecute claims against debtor and third parties on behalf of the estate;
• Special counsel to Chapter 7 trustee in successful prosecution of insider preference action;
• A life insurance company, lenders, engineering firm, and consulting firm, among others, in prosecuting nondischargeability actions;
• Real and personal property lessors, equipment lessors, and counter-parties to executory contracts seeking orders compelling the debtor to assume, reject, or assign such executory contracts and unexpired leases;
• Creditors, such as Del Monte and Weyerhaeuser, seeking to enforce their reclamation rights and, in some cases, obtaining critical vendor orders allowing full payment of their pre-petition claims
• The former owner of a cheese company in bankruptcy and state court litigation including two-day confirmation trial.
• An automobile insurance company in obtaining money judgment of over $1 million (including punitive damages) and permanent injunctive relief in a trade libel matter, following a six-month jury trial (case was pending at Sacramento County Superior Court);
• An airline company in repossession of two commercial aircraft (successfully obtained writ of possession to recover two 727 jets);
• An automobile paint manufacturer in the successful defense of multi-million dollar fraudulent transfer action concerning purchase and sale of an affiliated company (case was pending in Federal Court in Central District of California);
• A health care provider in obtaining writ of possession to recover critical health care publications (case was pending in Los Angeles Superior Court and subsequently removed to Maryland Bankruptcy Court);
• An aircraft lease advisor in a breach of fee agreement and fraudulent conveyance case (case was pending in San Francisco Superior Court-client obtained full recovery through mediation);
• Secured creditors in out-of-court negotiations and/or foreclosures for repossession of collateral (such as CD-ROM titles, Zoob Toys, and related intellectual property, and Fab Facility equipment used to manufacture semiconductor chips);
• Innkeepers in defense of a foreclosure action (case was pending in Sonoma County Superior Court-successfully avoided lender's efforts to force Inn into a receivership);
• Verdict for guarantor to recover over a million dollars in default interest and attorneys’ fees following two-week jury trial in Riverside, California;
• Verdict for automobile insurance company of over $1 million (including punitive damages) and permanent injunctive relief in a trade libel matter, following a six-month jury trial in Sacramento Califonia;
• Judgment for plaintiff, a charitable foundation, in connection with disputed promissory note assigned to plaintiff as a charitable donation.  Judgment rendered following a three-day bench trial in San Francisco, California.

Publications and presentations

• "When Tenant or Landlord Files Bankruptcy," Sterling Education Services CLE Program, Oakland, April 2009 (Speaker and Panelist);
• “Protecting Your Rights as a Creditor,” Nixon Peabody’s 4th Annual California MCLE Symposium, January 2009;
• “Economic Squeeze Pushes Local Governments Toward Chapter 9,” The Journal of Corporate Renewal (TMA, June 2008);
• “Basics in Bankruptcy” program presented by Sterling Education Services, San Francisco, February 2004 (Speaker and Panelist).

Admissions

Mr. Cisz is admitted in California; the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Central, Northern, and Southern Districts of California; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Education

S.J. Quinney College of Law

The University of Utah, J.D.

University of Notre Dame, B.A., English

Affiliations

Mr. Cisz is a member of the Commercial Law and Bankruptcy section of the Bar Association of San Francisco and is on the Board of Directors of the Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum. He was also a member of the Insolvency Subcommittee of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of California (2000 to 2003).  He is a member of the California Receivers Forum, Bay Area Chapter, and the Membership Committee of the Turnaround Management Association.