Christopher J. Battaglia is the managing member of Halperin Battaglia Benzija, LLP (“HBB”) and has been a bankruptcy practitioner since 1996, and became a member of HBB in 2003. Before his relocation to New York in 1999, Mr. Battaglia worked for ten years (the latter three as an associate attorney) at Gordon & Wise, LLP, one of Boston’s most respected bankruptcy boutiques.

Prior to his admission to the bar, Mr. Battaglia gained an understanding of the bankruptcy process from his work as a senior law clerk, and insight into the management and financing of a business from his subsequent role as the law firm’s business manager. After his admission to the bars of New York and Massachusetts in 1996, Mr. Battaglia specialized in debtor representations for Gordon & Wise, LLP, and became well versed in sophisticated bankruptcy reorganization and appellate issues, as well as complex commercial litigation and transactional matters.

Since joining Alan Halperin in 1999, Mr. Battaglia has focused his energies on creditors’ rights and the representation of official and unofficial committees of unsecured creditors, representing Committees in the PetroRig, Dana Corporation (Conflicts Counsel), MFS Fabrikant (Conflicts Counsel), RMA Management Services, Inc., Alpha Star Insurance, Standard Automotive, Turner Steel, Wards Products,  Tender Loving Care Healthcare Services, Inc., Newington Health Care, Hitachi Seiki USA, de V&P, Insite Services, Homemaker Industries, Vanns Stores and RMM Records & Video chapter 11 cases. Mr. Battaglia has also represented trustees of liquidation/litigation trusts in all aspects of administration, litigation and liquidation (including litigation of mass Chapter 5 fraudulent conveyance and preference actions relative to liquidation trusts of Oakwood Homes Corporation, Green Field Energy Services Inc., Eastman Kodak Company, and Fedders North America, Inc.). Litigation and Liquidation Trust representations also include, but are not limited to, various Opioid Trusts in the Mallinckrodt, PLC, Endo International, PLC and Rite Aid cases, as well as Briggs & Stratton, Diocese of Rockville Center and Madison Square Boys & Girls Club cases.  His immersion in creditor representations, when combined with Mr. Battaglia’s prior experience as the manager of a business and then as an advocate for debtors, provides HBB and its clients with an invaluable versatility and depth of experience.

Mr. Battaglia has represented interests in virtually every major Chapter 11 case filed in the Southern District of New York (and other districts) and has represented clients in all aspects of bankruptcy law and in a myriad of industries, including but not limited to, auto, steel, manufacturing, retail, real estate, furniture, healthcare, nursing, insurance, business/financial services, information technology, intellectual property, music and entertainment, jewelry, food services and restaurants, garment, and oil and gas industries.

Mr. Battaglia is a Certified Mediator by the New York City Bar Association (February 2015) and sits on the Official Panel of Certified Bankruptcy Mediators for both the Southern District of New York and the District of Delaware and provides high level mediation services in commercial litigation matters.

Mr. Battaglia was a Court appointed mediator in the Astria Health, et al. Bankruptcy Cases pending in the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Washington and the Remington Outdoor Company, Inc., et al., Bankruptcy Cases pending in the Northern District of Alabama. Mr. Battaglia is/was also a Court appointed mediator in the Celsius Network LLC, SunEdison, Inc., et al., Sears Holdings Corporation, et al. and Sizmek, Inc. Bankruptcy Cases pending in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York; in the Aliera Healthcare, Inc. et al. and Brookstone Holdings Corp. et al. Bankruptcy Cases pending in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware; in the Gordmans Stores, Inc., et al. Bankruptcy Cases pending in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nebraska; and in the Southern Foods Group, LLC, et al. Bankruptcy Cases pending in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Mr. Battaglia has also been a Court appointed mediator in several singular disputes in commercial, real estate and bankruptcy cases pending in the United States District Courts and  Bankruptcy Courts for the Southern & Eastern Districts of New York and District of Delaware, as well as cases pending in New York Supreme Court.

In addition, Mr. Battaglia has participated in thousands of formal Court ordered mediations as both counsel to plaintiffs and defendants in a variety of matters and cases involving commercial/bankruptcy disputes.  Further, Mr. Battaglia has represented parties in both the defense and prosecution of over 5000 mass avoidance actions in a myriad of jurisdictions.

Mr. Battaglia is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School (cum laude, 1996) and holds an undergraduate degree from Tufts University (1989). He is admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the District of Massachusetts, including the Bankruptcy Courts within those jurisdictions, and the United States Court of Appeals for the First and Second Circuits. Mr. Battaglia is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute (“ABI”) and the ABI Mediation Committee and co-authored seminar materials for the ABI’s Fifth Annual Northeast Bankruptcy Conference on the subject of litigating dischargeability (July, 1998). Mr. Battaglia is also a member of the Boston Bar Association (Business Law/Bankruptcy Section), the Massachusetts Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York

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