Penelope Parmes is a partner with Rutan & Tucker in its Costa Mesa office, where she is the chair of the Bankruptcy/Financial Practice Group.
Ms. Parmes' practices business bankruptcy law emphasizing representation of secured creditors, landlords, buyers and sellers and trade creditors, as well as creditors or other parties in interest affected by financial insolvency whether in or outside of a bankruptcy case. Her experience encompasses issues arising out of debtor-creditor relationships and lender liability cases including: receiverships, prejudgment remedies (writs of attachment, possession, turnover orders), wrongful foreclosure defenses, fraudulent transfer and preference litigation, enforcement of notes and guarantees, obtaining injunctive and declaratory relief, and the collection of debts and judgments.
A substantial portion of Ms Parmes' practice over the years has included representation of lenders regarding adequate protection and cash collateral litigation, valuation issues, preference and fraudulent conveyance litigation. Ms. Parmes practices in local, regional and national matters in bankruptcy cases of all sizes.
She is a long-time board member and former president of both the California and Los Angeles bankruptcy bar associations, a founding member and former president of the Warren J. Ferguson American Inn of Court, and has served as a lawyer representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference.
Ms. Parmes has been named a Southern California Super Lawyer, in the areas of bankruptcy and creditors' rights, in 2005-2009. She is a certified mediator for the Bankruptcy Court of the Central District of California. She has been honored on two occasions for having successfully resolved the largest cases mediated in the Central District, and for three years has been acknowledged as the most frequently chosen mediator. She received her J.D. from San Francisco Law School, with highest honors, in 1982. Ms. Parmes is admitted to practice in the E.D. Michigan.
MS. PARMES HAS REPRESENTED PARTIES IN VARIOUS TYPES OF MATTERS INCLUDING, FOR EXAMPLE
· Counseling board of directors on duties of officers and directors pre- and post-FDIC receivership, and overseeing ultimate bankruptcy filing by a bank holding company, after seizure of the bank by the FDIC.
· Numerous representations of institutional lenders in workouts, receiverships and other enforcement actions regarding a variety of loan relationships such as: home builders, guarantors, technology companies, service providers, retailers and suppliers.
· Numerous representations of suppliers and landlords in workouts, collection actions and bankruptcy matters (including reclamation claims, preference and fraudulent conveyance defenses and critical vendor negotiations).
· Business and individual clients in connection with creditors rights issues that arise in bankruptcy cases, including negotiations to restructure indebtedness and legal issues affecting the restructuring or reorganization of business operations.
· Substantial nonbankruptcy and creditors' rights litigation practice involving debtor-creditor and bankruptcy litigation issues, including disputes involving prejudgment and postjudgment remedies.
· Representation of national real estate franchisor and lender regarding residential real estate brokerage business - including workout negotiations, foreclosures of personal property interests such as membership interests and intellectual property rights, as well as bankruptcy litigation relating to cram down and valuation disputes.
· Representation of corporate debtors in non-bankruptcy workout negotiations with secured creditors in oil and gas and ethanol industries.
· Counsel for equity holders of major ISP provider liquidating via Assignment for Benefit of Creditors.
· Bankruptcy co-counsel in class action against former officers and directors of liquidating Chapter 11 public company alleging RESPA and TILA violations.
· Bankruptcy co-counsel in approximately 60 coordinated arbitrations sought by former employees of failed public company against officers and directors alleging violations of wage and hour laws.
· Lead counsel for the involuntary petitioning creditors in a Ponzi scheme, resulting in consensual plan providing for contribution of all trust, corporate and virtually all personal assets to be liquidated for the benefit of creditors.
PUBLICATIONS/SEMINARS
· Lecturer and Contributing Author for Continuing Education of the Bar, Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum, Orange County Bankruptcy Forum, Orange County Bar Association, American Bankruptcy Institute and Rutter Group.
· Contributing Author for Aspatore Books' Inside the Minds and Thought Leadership series including: Structuring and Negotiating Reorganization Plans; Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Law 2009 (Top Lawyers on Trends and Key Strategies for the Upcoming Year); West First Focus: The Buyout of Bear Stearns (Aspatore Books)
PRACTICE GROUPS
· Bankruptcy/Financial Practices
MEMBERSHIPS/ADMISSIONS
· Supreme Court of California
· U.S. District Courts for all Districts in California
· Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, Lawyer Representative (1998 to 2002)
· California Bankruptcy Forum (2003-04 President, Board of Directors)
· Warren J. Ferguson American Inn of Court (President 2002-03)
· Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum (President 1997-1998)
· Panel of Approved Mediators, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Central District
· American Bar Association (Sections on Commercial Law and Bankruptcy
· Los Angeles County Bar Association (Sections on Commercial Law and Bankruptcy)
· Orange County Bar Association (Sections on Commercial Law and Bankruptcy)
COMMUNITY/AFFILIATIONS
· Wellness Community Member, (Board of Directors 2002 - 2004)
· Marconi Foundation for Kids (Board of Directors)
AWARDS & HONORS
· Southern California "Super Lawyer" 2005-2009