Bankruptcy goes on beyond life of company. Long after a well known company has gone out of business, its bankruptcy case continues. Bankruptcy lawyers go on while earning large amount of fees. Nortel used to be a profitable telecommunications company. The company was headquartered in Canada. They had operations all over the world. The technology field changes rapidly. You can be on top one minute. Then be at the bottom the next minute. Nortel could not keep up with changes in the field. They had to get the counsel of bankruptcy attorneys. That resulted in a bankruptcy filing. Not only in Canada. Throughout the world. Bankruptcy lawyers all over the world were consulted. Bankruptcy filings followed. The company no longer exists. The bankruptcies were filed in 2009. The businesses were all sold. A fight then ensued on how to divide up the money obtained in the sales. As the fight on dividing up the money has gone on, the bankruptcy cases remain active. The legal fees continue to pile up as well. In the United States bankruptcy alone, Nortel has spent $169 million on the bankruptcy case just this year. That does not even count the legal fees to bankruptcy lawyers in the other cases throughout the world. The United States bankruptcy since 2009 has run up a total of $480 million in legal fees. Mediation after mediation to divide up the money has been tried. All the attempts at mediation have failed. Legal fees worldwide are estimated to be over $1.3 billion. The lesson here is something everyone can learn from. You have to look at the big picture. It is also wise to listen to the advice of your bankruptcy lawyer. If the company had just settled their differences, this case would have been over a very long time ago. Instead, bankruptcy cases filed over five years go on. The legal fees keep mounting. The bankruptcy lawyers continue to work. All for a company that no longer exists.
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