BARNEYS’ LAWYERS DO THE LATE SHOW
NEW YORK — In a race against a foreclosure deadline, attorneys for Barneys Inc. raced to the home of the chief clerk of the bankruptcy court late Wednesday evening to make the Chapter 11 filing.
An emergency filing is a rarity in New York but far from unique. Cecelia Morris, the chief clerk, said Thursday that with emergency filings, attorneys have to justify the exigent nature of the filing.
John Campo, at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & McCrae, counsel to Barneys, arrived at Morris’s Pleasantville, N.Y., home after 10 p.m. and had completed the official filing shortly before 11 p.m.
According to Morris, the Barneys attorneys first contacted her at 3 p.m. Wednesday to alert her to a filing that might not be ready by the court’s regular 5 p.m. closing time.
“Can you make it by 5:30 p.m.?” Morris asked.
Campo told her he most likely wouldn’t be able to make it by 5:30 and that he would probably have to file it at her house that evening.
“Will you need a judge?” she asked, referring to the possible need for immediate injunctive relief. Campo said a judge wouldn’t be necessary. She told Campo to arrive by 10 p.m.
Campo made it to the Westchester town shortly after 10 p.m. and the filing was stamped at 10:56 p.m. With the filing official, Isetan cannot prosecute foreclosure proceedings.