Mary Whitmer
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A certified public accountant, Mary has wide-ranging experience in commercial litigation, including actions to recover fraudulently transferred assets, preference recoveries, successor liability and the marshalling of liens. She has represented receivers and trustees, secured and unsecured creditors, creditors’ committees, debtors, and those seeking to purchase assets out of bankruptcy estates. A past president of the Commercial Law League of America as well as the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, Mary served as a panel trustee in the Northern District of Ohio, overseeing Chapter 7 bankruptcies from 2012 to 2018. As in-house general counsel to the Dottore Companies, she completes the full-service profile of a leading receivership and mediation firm, uniting practical business intelligence and accounting assistance with legal sophistication.
Mary's experience includes representation of:
Trustee-Assignee in an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors for a Cleveland steel fabricating company
Receiver for a Delaware publicly held international executive search firm, litigating validity of a UCC-9 secured party sale in Chancery Court
Chapter 7 Trustee in the private auction sale of significant oil and gas real estate in two Ohio counties, paying all secured lenders as well as a substantial dividend to unsecured creditors
An equity owner of a Chapter 11 debtor with substantial oil and gas interests in the sale, through bankruptcy, of company assets
Chapter 11 Trustee for a ski/golf resort which included a hotel, several restaurants, a convenience store and a spa, resolving several environmental issues and selling the property free and clear of liens in 78 days
A stalking horse purchaser of assets in the Delaware bankruptcy of a regional patio furniture retailer, resulting in continuation of the business and retention of jobs
Canadian foreign representative of a manufacturer/distributor of flexible polyurethane foam products in a Chapter 15 cross-border bankruptcy case which resulted in a stay of litigation, allowing sale in Canada to proceed
Receiver in a Federal Trade Commission action against a bogus debt consolidator/mortgage modification enterprise, accomplishing simultaneous seizures of assets in Florida and Ohio and sale of assets of the company and its owners, including art work
Equity holder of two insolvent hotel properties and a water park in Sandusky, Ohio in bankruptcy and receivership proceedings, filing Chapter 11 case and plan that successfully competed with Section 363 sale offer and paid 100 percent to creditors
An Ohio bank in an action to recover payment on a loan, tried to a verdict in which United States District Court found actual fraud in the formation of a new, transferee entity and imposed successor liability; upheld by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
Chapter 7 Trustee of an injection molding manufacturer, resulting in sale of commercial real property, machinery and equipment that paid secured creditor in full and a dividend to unsecured creditors
State court receiver structuring the sale of substantially all assets of a not-for-profit university, satisfying approximately 80 percent of outstanding debt
State court receiver, defending an effort to displace him through filing a Chapter 11 case, achieving a favorable result at expedited trial as to whether the bankruptcy case was a bad faith filing
A lender in the defense of retaliatory lender liability counterclaims in multiple lawsuits, all concluded successfully
A bank, in a jury trial to recover damages caused by the fraudulent transfer of millions of dollars of assets from accountants who assisted in the transfer
Debtor with multiple millions of dollars of asbestos personal injury liability in the filing of a Chapter 11 reorganization in the Northern District of Ohio
State court receiver for a 55-acre industrial land parcel with five acres under roof
State court receiver operating and completing the sale of a commercial printing company
State court receiver for an eight-story commercial building, managing the property and returning it to owners after legal issues resolved
A trustee in bankruptcy, successfully recovering assets fraudulently transferred by a husband to a wife pursuant to bogus marriage dissolution
An automobile industry manufacturer in bankruptcy court liquidation of the company through sales free and clear of liens
A purchaser of assets pursuant to a sale under Article 9 of the UCC against claims of fraudulent transfer and successor liability
A Fortune 500 manufacturing company in insurance coverage litigation, achieving a substantial settlement
A Fortune 500 company in a jury trial and multiple appeals regarding a mainframe computer lease
Education
Case Western Reserve University, J.D., 1975
Certified Public Accountant, Ohio, 1978
Case Western Reserve University, B.A., 1972
Memberships/Associations
Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association (President, 2009-2010; Treasurer, 1999-2002; Chair, Bankruptcy and Commercial Section)
Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Foundation (President 2008-2009; Treasurer, 1999-2004)
Commercial Law League of America (President, July 2004-2005; Member and Past Chair, Bankruptcy Section)
Ohio Society of CPAs
Admitted before the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
Awards/Honors
Martindale-Hubbell® AV® Preeminent™
2005 - 2023 Ohio Super Lawyers®
2007, 2008, 2009, and 2012, Top 50 Women Ohio Super Lawyers®; Top 25 Women Super Lawyers®, Cleveland
