Handling the Non-Profit Workout/Bankruptcy

On April 15, 2005, one of the largest not-for-profit bankruptcy cases ever filed, <i>In re: The National Benevolent Association of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) et al.</i>, (Bankr. W.D. Texas), Case No. 04-50948 (RBK), came to an extraordinary conclusion when the joint plan of reorganization of the Debtors and the Unsecured Creditors' Committee became effective. Under the Plan, all of the Debtors' creditors were paid the full amount of their pre-petition principal and interest, plus a stipulated amount of post-petition interest, together with reimbursement of the full amount of their pre- and post-petition legal fees. After paying their creditors in full on the effective date, the Debtors, a separately constituted arm of the Disciples of Christ Church, retained certain of their assets and will continue their charitable mission. This unusual outcome, in which creditors were paid in full and the Debtors continued certain of their operations, marked the end of a process that began with the Debtors' unsuccessful attempts to negotiate a substantial write-down of their debts outside bankruptcy, was followed by a year-long bankruptcy case in which the Debtors argued that their charitable status and mission should take priority over their bankruptcy law duty to maximize creditor recovery, and was finally resolved when the Debtors were compelled to sell the bulk of their real estate assets in order to fund full payment to creditors.