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Circuit City Unplugged: Why Did Chapter 11 Fail to Save 34,000 Jobs?
Four ABI Members Testify before House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law
On March II, 2009, the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law held a hearing on "Circuit City Unplugged: Why Did Chapter 11 Fail To Save 34,000 Jobs?" The witnesses were: Richard M. Pachulski, Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP in Los Angeles; Harvey R. Miller, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in New York; Daniel B. Hurwitz, president and COO of Developers Diversified Realty Corporation in Beachwood, Ohio; Todd J. Zywicki, professor of law at George Mason University School of Law in Arlington, Va. ; Isaac M. Pachulski, Stutman, Treister & Glatt Professional Corporation in Los Angeles; and Jack Williams, ABI's current Robert M. Zinman Resident Scholar and professor of law at Georgia State University College of Law in Atlanta. This Legislative Update column features excerpts from the written testimony of Richard M. Pachulski, Todd J. Zywicki, Isaac M. Pachulski and Jack Williams, all of whom are ABl members. For their full testimony and for the testimony of the non-ABI member witnesses, please go to http://judiciary.house.gov/ hearings/hear _0903 11 _1 .html. ABI is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. The statements of these ABI members reflect their views and/or positions, not those of ABI.
Testimony of Richard M. Pachulski
Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP
Los Angeles
rpachulski@pszyjw. com
I commend the Subcommittee for focusing on how the provisions of the Bankruptcy Code relating to chapter 1 1 can be improved and for trying to better understand the reasons so many retailers, including Circuit City, have had to liquidate in the past year, causing the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. I present the following comments in my capacity as a restructuring lawyer for almost 30 years, specializing in the representation of corporate debtors and creditors' committees of such debtors. In that regard, I am presently lead counsel to the creditors' committee (the Creditors' Committee) of Circuit City Stores Inc. and affiliates (Circuit City or Debtor or the Company), though I am here providing this testimony on my own behalf and not on behalf of the firm [Pachulski Stang...