Debtor Creditor Law


Fowkes Rodkey lawyers have substantial experience in representing creditors to them protect and secure their collateral having successfully litigated many actions in replevin in many counties across Western and Central Pennsylvania.  Joe Rodkey has represented numerous commercial clients (including major mall owners and operators and lenders) in obtaining confession of judgments on breached leases, loan agreements and contracts and in securing a landlord’s right to re-possession of its real property.

Whether it be an inventory of heavy construction or mining equipment, cars, motorcycles, horse trailers, or an entire factory of sewing machines or other merchandise, if a financing or loan agreement has been breached or the debtor is out of trust and the collateral is at risk, the lawyers at Fowkes Rodkey know how to quickly engage the legal system to secure your collateral.

In one case, Joe Rodkey obtained a prejudgment injunction on behalf of a major bank with millions at risk to shut down a U.S. subsidiary of a foreign debtor company and freeze its bank accounts just before the foreign parent corporation was set to drain the U.S. bank accounts and wire all the money overseas out of the jurisdiction.  In another case, Joe Rodkey successfully used admiralty law to obtain an arrest of a tugboat on the Monongahela River for failure to pay fuel bills.

Even if the debtor has filed for bankruptcy to stall collection efforts, Joe Rodkey has represented many clients in obtaining relief from the bankruptcy stay so that the secured creditor can immediately recover and sell the collateral securing the loan.

After the collateral has been seized and sold and when the account is still short, the lawyers at Fowkes Rodkey know how to obtain deficiency judgments against debtors and have represented scores of clients helping them to execute on judgments won in court.  For instance, Joe Rodkey has chased deadbeat debtors in counties all over the state, using every legal procedure in the book to find a debtor’s assets, attach them and liquidate them for his creditor clients.  In one case, Joe coordinated the simultaneous execution, levy and sheriff sale of several million dollars worth of a debtor’s personal property located in numerous counties across the state to return millions to corporate bondholders.

In addition to chasing debtors, Joe Rodkey has also served as a court appointed Receiver under Pennsylvania’s Receivership Law to marshal, protect and preserve encumbered assets for creditors.

  • Bankruptcy Litigation

Bankruptcy litigation is often fast and furious. Attorney Rodkey has extensive experience in litigating high profile, high stakes bankruptcy litigation in federal bankruptcy courts throughout the country. Most recently, Attorney Rodkey served as co-counsel for the lender in the widely publicized and extensively litigated case involving the former Pittsburgh Hilton Hotel property (now known as the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh) in In re: Shubh Hotels Pittsburgh, LLC, No. 10-26337 (Bankr. W.D.Pa.). Attorney Rodkey was a member of the trial team representing the secured bondholders in In re: Weirton Steel Corporation, No. 03-01802 (Bankr. N.D. W.Va.). The Weirton Steel bankruptcy trial was one of the largest bankruptcy trials ever in W.Va. Attorney Rodkey was also part of the litigation team representing MCI WorldCom in the case In re: World Access, Inc. et al., No. 01—14633 (N.D. Ill.), Adv. Proc. No. 01-A-1219.