John Kozyak is a Fellow in both the American College of Bankruptcy and the American College of Trial Lawyers, and recognized as a “Bet The Company” litigator. He has played a major role in bankruptcy cases across the nation, representing business owners, lenders, creditors’ committees, trustees and major creditors.  He has also been appointed a trustee and receiver.  John has frequently written and lectured on bankruptcy and workout issues in many states.  He enjoys strategizing about all aspects of bankruptcies and litigation.  He is eager to help clients and younger lawyers achieve the best possible outcome.

John was lead bankruptcy lawyer representing the Asbestos Property Damage Claimants Committee in Celotex for the past 20 years. He and the firm have considerable experience in other product liability bankruptcy cases.

John has a particular expertise in real estate.  He has represented special servicers of mortgage-backed securitizations in bankruptcies across the country.  He has represented Marriott International and Ritz-Carlton, as well as other franchisors, owners, and lenders in hospitality-related bankruptcies.

John served as Trustee and Criminal Restitution Receiver in a viatical-based Ponzi scheme case, which was one of South Florida’s biggest frauds, Financial Federated and has experience in several criminal forfeitures and bankruptcy issues.

John is very active in the community and has received numerous awards for his work on diversity, inclusion and mentoring.  He co-founded the Kozyak Minority Mentoring Foundation and helped thousands of minority students with judges and lawyers.  He is the Immediate Past Chair of the Parkinson’s Foundation, and has been a active member of its board for 15 years.  He recently joined the board of the Fresco Parkinson Institute in Florence, Italy.

Results

John was appointed Receiver for the Signature Entities, in a matter where one 50% equity holder killed his partner and then himself. He sold the operating business and successfully managed several highly contentious litigation matters.

Financial Federated Title & Trust, Inc., was a large Ponzi scheme and John was Chapter 11 Trustee and criminal restitution receiver. There were more then 3500 creditors, the losses exceeded $130 million and the recovery was in excess of 30%.

Charles Bray was the majority equity holder in Bray & Gillespie Holdings, which owned and 26 operating hotels and more than 50 other development sites in the Daytona Beach area.  John had a major role in developing a plan which was approved by all secured creditors and provided broad releases for Mr. Bray.

John represented the Flight Attendants Medical Research Institute (“FAMRI”), a non-profit foundation formed as part of class action settlement between former, non-smoking, flight attendants and tobacco companies, when a few flight attendants and a large number of lawyers sought to dissolve FAMRI.  The petitioning lawyers were all disqualified due to conflicts and the petition and subsequent class action were dismissed with prejudice.