Eric Macey and Richard Miller have prevailed on a key motion brought on behalf of two affiliates of Synapse Group, Inc. -- NewSub Magazine Services LLC and Gift Services, LLC. Synapse and its affiliates are in the business of marketing and selling merchandise and magazine subscriptions through inserts in credit card statements. They have been pursuing their rights as creditors of various related individual and corporate debtors in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The Debtors had been seeking to delay the outcome of the bankruptcy proceedings and spend the assets of the bankruptcy estate. Macey and Miller joined forces with counsel for another creditor, Vertrue incorporated, and brought a joint motion seeking to convert the case from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, controlled by the debtors, to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, controlled by an impartial trustee appointed by the Court.

On August 21, 2006, the Honorable A. Benjamin Goldgar issued an 18 page opinion granting the motion. The Court found that the debtors were "hoping merely to stave off' the day when the creditors take control of their property by liquidating their assets to pay their counsel and then living on the remainder. Accordingly, the motion was granted and a trustee was subsequently appointed. Judge Goldgar has made his opinion available on the website for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Novack and Macey LLP is a litigation firm that concentrates on complex commercial cases. For further information about this case, please contact Eric Macey, Esq. at 312-419-6900 or by e-mail at emacey@novackandmacey.com.