Mr. Atkinson provides a variety of financial advisory, consulting, expert witness and fiduciary services to debtors, lenders, unsecured creditors, post-confirmation trusts, plan administrators, boards of directors and avoidance action defendants. He has served as financial advisor, expert, or accountant with respect to bankruptcy and restructuring issues, including business stabilization, cash flow improvement, financial projections, strategic business plans, debt restructuring, reorganization plan development, analysis, feasibility and negotiation, pension issues, fraud investigation, solvency analyses, business valuation, detailed liquidation and payout analyses, substantive consolidation issues, asset liquidation, preference actions and claims analyses. Mr. Atkinson has previously served as Chief Restructuring Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Trustee to troubled companies. He has vast experience in a wide range of industries including pharmaceuticals and healthcare, restaurants, retail, grocery and supermarkets, convenience stores, hospitality, food distribution, manufacturing, energy, telecommunications, equipment leasing, utilities, construction, mining, wholesale distribution, publishing, real estate and insurance.
Mr. Atkinson has significant expertise in mass tort cases including in Rite Aid, Purdue Pharma, Mallinckrodt, Endo International, Insys Therapeutics (opioids), Boy Scouts of America (sexual abuse), HONX/Hess (asbestos), Cyprus Mines (supplier of talc to Johnson & Johnson), Aearo (3M subsidiary/earplugs), Juul Labs (e-cigarettes), Whittaker Clark & Daniels (asbestos), Barretts Minerals (talc/asbestos), Tehum (medical malpractice), Exactech (medical devices), Avon (talc) Water Gremlin (TCE), Kidde (PFAS), Mosaic Companies (silica) and PG&E (wildfires). He has served as claims expert or consultant for the estimation of asbestos-related claims including talc claims, mesothelioma, opioid-related claims and sexual abuse claims, among others.
In Aearo, Mr. Atkinson served as claims expert for the official tort claimants committee related to Combat Arms Version 2 Earplugs to estimate claims against Aearo and its non-debtor parent, 3M Company. He has also estimated claims across ten distinct opioid creditor classes in Insys, Mallinckrodt, Purdue and Endo, including in the context of an expert report. In Boy Scouts, Mr. Atkinson prepared a dynamic model to estimate liability on a claim-by-claim basis across the National Boy Scouts of America, its ~250 local councils, the thousands of affiliated sponsoring organizations and the insurers.
In Whittaker Clark & Daniels, Cyprus Mines, Avon, Exactech, Honx, Boy Scouts and Barretts Minerals, Mr. Atkinson served as claims expert to either the future claims representatives or official committees (or both) which entailed (1) analyzing the claims projection of the counter-party experts and preparing rebuttals reports, (2) provide a projection of future claims filings and (3) provide a calculation of the Debtors’ liabilities. Mr. Atkinson submitted an expert report in Whittaker Clark & Daniels and Exactech.
Mr. Atkinson has led over 100 creditors’ committee cases and debtor cases in his career. He has served as financial advisor in large, complex bankruptcies including Revlon, Nine West, Gymboree, Alpha Natural Resources, Health Diagnostic Laboratory, Circuit City, Linens ‘n Things and Erickson Retirement Communities.
Mr. Atkinson has represented over 30 post-confirmation trusts including those of Toys “R” Us Property Company I LLC, Chi-Chi’s, ATA Airlines, Murray’s Inc. and United Petroleum and is currently serving as trustee of the Opioid Master Disbursement Trust II of Mallinckrodt, overseeing the distribution of funds for the benefit of hundreds of thousands of opioid creditors.