The Cooley Godward Kronish Bankruptcy & Restructuring group has represented numerous employee and retiree committees, including, most notably, the United Airlines ESOP Committee, the Enron Employee Related Issues Committee, the Bonwit Teller Retiree Committee and the LTV Retiree Committee.
In Enron, we were instrumental in obtaining a $28.8 million severance package for 4,500 employees who were terminated by Enron one day after the bankruptcy filing. As a result of our efforts, severed employees received a minimum of $13,500 per person; some employees were paid in full on their severance claims. We also recovered $14 million in bonuses that Enron paid its top executives days before filing for bankruptcy court protection and is currently pursuing an additional $30 million in recoveries for severed employees. In addition, we negotiated an arrangement whereby severed employees could continue their medical and health benefits at an 80% reimbursement rate, an extraordinarily high rate compared to other bankruptcy proceedings. These accomplishments have cushioned the severe blow that former Enron employees have suffered as a result of the company’s collapse.
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