Want to live in an 8-bedroom mansion at Sugarloaf Country Club, once owned by a superstar NFL quarterback, complete with a movie theater and a 4-car garage? It can be yours for $4.1 million.

As part of a plan to sell his assets to pay off debts, former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is selling his Sugarloaf mansion. The sale of the Gwinnett County mansion, along with more houses, cars, yachts, sport-fishing boats, horses and more, was part of a reorganization plan filed on Wednesday in federal bankruptcy court by Vick’s lawyers, Crowell & Moring partners Peter R. Ginsberg and Michael Blumenthal.

Vick is serving a 23-month sentence in federal prison in Kansas for bankrolling a dogfighting ring in rural Virginia. He is scheduled to be released July 20. Although Vick remains on the Atlanta Falcons roster, Falcons owner Arthur Blank has said that he expects Vick will return to the NFL, but not with the Falcons.

Among the many disclosures found in the filing made in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia:

* In early 2007, before he was indicted, Vick gave his younger brother, former Miami Dolphins wide receiver Marcus Vick, about $450,000 worth of jewelry as a gift. However, the bling, which includes a Breitling watch and diamond stud earrings, may not have been Vick’s to give. It’s unclear whether Vick made payments on the merchandise to Atlanta jeweler Aydin & Co., or whether Aydin gave Vick the jewelry to wear as a promotion for the company.

“There is an issue as to who owns the jewelry,” the Crowell & Moring lawyers wrote in the court filing.

* With his multimillion-dollar contract with the Atlanta Falcons and endorsement contracts with Nike, Rawlings and others, Vick financially supported his mother and siblings, his son, his son’s mother, his fiancée, Kijafa Frink, and the two children he has had with Frink, a 10-month-old and a 3-month-old. Vick allowed his family to live in homes he purchased and drive his cars while he also paid their living expenses.

* Vick’s family and fiancée drove nicer vehicles than he did. Vick gave his brother, Marcus, a 2007 Land Rover. He gave his mother two Cadillacs, and his fiancée a 2007 Infiniti. But Vick himself drove a 2007 Ford F-150 truck.

* Vick paid Sutherland partner Billy Martin $500,000 for defending him against the federal dogfighting charges. Vick paid Atlanta criminal defense lawyer Daniel R. Meachum $200,000, according to Meachum spokeswoman Monica Wood.

* Vick gave his former personal manager, David Talbot, a 2008 Mercedes and $35,000 in cash as part of his compensation. Vick’s bankruptcy attorneys later learned, however, that Talbot had filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection on three separate occasions, and also had had multiple legal judgments filed against him. Additionally, shortly after Vick filed for bankruptcy protection, New Jersey state officials filed a complaint against Talbot alleging civil securities fraud.

* After he was convicted and sent to federal prison, some of Vick’s memorabilia from his football career was left behind at the Sugarloaf mansion. These items are being held for safekeeping by Vick’s former Falcons teammate Demorrio Williams, now with the Kansas City Chiefs.

About a year ago, Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz partner Robert Brazier settled patent-infringement litigation that had been filed against his client, River’s Edge Pharmaceuticals LLC. Now, Brazier said he has negotiated a new marketing deal for his client.

River’s Edge in August signed a non-exclusive patent license agreement with DUSA Pharmaceuticals Inc., which allows the Suwanee, Ga., company to manufacture and market a prescription product similar to DUSA’s Nicomide acme medication. In exchange, DUSA will receive a share of the sales of the River’s Edge product, according to a regulatory filing made by DUSA. Reed Smith advised DUSA on the patent license agreement.

In conjunction with its patent license agreement with River’s Edge, Wilmington, Mass.-based DUSA announced that it was exploring options to sell Nicomide and its related patent. Nicomide is available in cream, gel and tablet form.

The patent license agreement came after DUSA had sued River’s Edge, claiming that the company had infringed its Nicomide patent. That suit was settled in October 2007. Brazier and Baker Donelson of counsel Joshua Tropper represented River’s Edge in the litigation.

In separate litigation, Graceway Pharmaceuticals LLC filed a suit against River’s Edge in March, claiming false advertising. Graceway argued that River’s Edge falsely promotes its benzoyl peroxide gel products as being “generically equivalent” to its own Benziq acne medication, according to a news release. That case, in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, is ongoing. Brazier and Tropper are representing River’s Edge in that litigation. Arnall Golden Gregory partners Andrew Flake and Clark Sullivan are representing Graceway.

A court-reporting and legal-technology company founded in Atlanta just got a lot bigger—both in the size of its workforce and in the size of its capital accounts.

In a series of transactions, Accel-KKR acquired an equity stake in Alexander Gallo Holdings LLC of Atlanta. Subsequently, Gallo Holdings acquired Hobart West Group Inc. of Florham Park, N.J. Terms were not disclosed for either of the deals.

The Accel-KKR investment allowed Gallo Holdings to acquire Hobart West, company founder Alex Gallo said. Hobart West had operations in more than 20 states, boosting Gallo Holdings’ total number of offices to more than 60. Gallo will remain president and chief executive of the combined company.

Gallo Holdings’ offerings include court reporting, legal video, trial presentation and staffing professionals. It operates under several trade names, including Brown & Gallo and Jack Daniel Court Reporting.

Accel-KKR is a joint venture that focuses on technology companies and involves two of the most influential investment firms. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. of New York, also known as KKR, is one of the world’s biggest private equity funds with more than $50 billion under management. Accel Partners of Palo Alto, Calif., is a venture capital fund that has invested in Facebook, Real Networks and UUNet.

Gallo Holdings becomes Accel-KKR’s 12th company in its portfolio, including current and past investments. Accel-KKR’s other investments have included CRS Retail Systems and iTradeNetwork.

Powell Goldstein partner Stuart Johnson and associate Hannah Crockett were Gallo Holdings’ local counsel on the transactions, Gallo said. Johnson declined to comment on the deal.

The New York law firm Wollmuth Maher & Deutsch was legal adviser to Gallo Holdings on the merger agreement, Gallo said. Kirkland & Ellis advised Gallo Holdings on issues related to the financing of the deal. Andrews Kurth advised Accel-KKR. Hunton & Williams lawyers in Richmond, Va., were counsel to Hobart West.

Lawyers from Hartman, Simons, Spielman & Wood and Sutherland are the legal advisers on the bankruptcy court-approved sale of a Georgia natural gas marketer.

Sutherland partners Tom Byrne and Knox Dobbins advised MXenergy Inc. on its agreement to acquire Catalyst Natural Gas LLC for about $2 million. Hartman Simons partners Sam Arden and Joe DeLisle were counsel to Catalyst on the deal. The sale has received approval from U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Joyce Bihary and from the Georgia Public Service Commission.

Catalyst, of Atlanta, filed for Chapter 11 protection on Oct. 1 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Catalyst was a natural-gas marketing company that had served 34,000 customers in Georgia. MXenergy, of Stamford, Conn., provides natural gas and electricity in the U.S. and Canada.

In addition to the sales agreement, a host of Atlanta-area attorneys are advising clients in the Catalyst bankruptcy proceedings.

Jones & Walden partners Leon Jones and Denise Dotson are bankruptcy counsel to Catalyst, while Powell Goldstein partner Robert Mercer is legal counsel to the official committee of unsecured creditors to Catalyst.

Cohen Pollock Merlin & Small partner Gus Small is representing interested party Gas South LLC, which said in a court filing that it estimates that it’s owed about $1.5 million by either Atlanta Gas Light or by Catalyst. That debt is a result of Catalyst under-supplying the natural gas system shared by the state’s gas-marketing companies, Small wrote in a court filing on behalf of natural-gas marketer Gas South.

McKenna Long & Aldridge partners Gary Marsh and Craig Dowdy and associate David Gordon are counsel to creditor Atlanta Gas Light Co.

Rogers & Hardin partners Kimberly Myers, Tony Powers and Robert Remar are representing creditor Georgia Natural Gas, a unit of SouthStar Energy Services.

King & Spalding partner Paul Ferdinands is counsel to creditor SCANA Corp.

Morris, Manning & Martin partners Becky Patrick and David Rabin are counsel to Infinite Energy Inc. on litigation it filed against Catalyst. Hartman Simons partner David L. Pardue is defending Catalyst in the Infinite Energy litigation.

Scroggins & Williamson partners Robert Williamson and Hayden Kepner are counsel to interested party Constellation Energy Commodities Group Inc. McDermott Will & Emery partners Nathan Coco in Chicago and Robert Stephens in Houston are also advising Constellation Energy.

The star-crossed run of a Gwinnett County order-fulfillment company appears to be nearing a close.

Innotrac Corp., of Duluth, announced on Oct. 6 that GSI Commerce Inc. would acquire the company for $62 million in cash, stock and assumed debt. The merged company, which will retain the Innotrac name, combines Innotrac’s business of fulfilling customer orders for Target and AT&T with GSI Commerce’s business of operating web sites for American Eagle Outfitters, Toys “R” Us and other retailers.

Kilpatrick Stockton partners David Stockton and David Eaton in Atlanta advised Innotrac. Blank Rome partner Francis E. Dehel in Philadelphia advised GSI Commerce.

For Innotrac, the deal represents more than a strategic combination with a rival. It allows Innotrac to untangle itself from a criminal probe of a Ponzi scheme that was not of its own doing. A federal judge and a court-appointed receiver have both concluded that Innotrac was not involved with the operation of the Ponzi scheme and was not at fault.

More...

Alternative newspaper publisher Creative Loafing Inc. filed for bankruptcy on Monday.

Jennis & Bowen partner David S. Jennis of Tampa, Fla., is representing Creative Loafing in the Chapter 11 case, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida. Foley & Lardner partner Mark J. Wolfson in Tampa is also advising Creative Loafing on related litigation filed in bankruptcy court against Creative Loafing's lenders.

The Tampa-based company listed assets ranging between $10 million and $50 million and liabilities in the same range.

Creative Loafing publishes weekly newspapers in Atlanta, Chicago, Washington and Sarasota, Fla.

Read the story in the Sept. 30 issue of the Daily Report for more on the Creative Loafing bankruptcy.

Amid the carnage on Wall Street, two Atlanta law firms—Sutherland and Rogers & Hardin—may be keeping a particularly close watch on Bank of America’s surprise acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

Both Sutherland and Rogers & Hardin have historically performed a “significant” amount of work for Merrill in the area of broker-dealer arbitration, said RobbinsLaw founding partner Richard Robbins, who in May left Sutherland after 27 years. Robbins said he has represented Merrill in litigation, but that the Wall Street firm isn’t a current client.

It will probably be at least a year before Bank of America reviews the law firms that conduct work for Merrill, Robbins said, because Bank of America will have higher priorities in managing the integration of Merrill.

Sutherland partner Terry Weiss, who chairs the firm’s broker-dealer litigation and arbitration practice group, declined to comment on the Bank of America-Merrill deal or on how it might affect his law firm. Rogers & Hardin managing partner Steve Leeds could not be reached for comment.

Sutherland has represented Merrill in at least 44 broker-dealer arbitration cases, according to a news item on the law firm’s Web site.

In one case, Sutherland defended Merrill in a $6 million claim brought by a retired lawyer against Merrill and Smith Barney. A New York Stock Exchange panel denied all of the retired lawyer’s claims. Sutherland said it was the firm’s “44th zero result” for Merrill. Goodfriend v. Merrill Lynch, No. 2004-015309 (NYSE, Jan. 9, 2007).

Additionally, lawyers from Sutherland’s Washington office have advised Merrill on securities offerings and in regulatory matters concerning life insurance and annuity products, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

As for Rogers & Hardin, a partner at that firm, Brett Rogers, represented Merrill in a 2007 case in which a profit-sharing plan trustee and a shareholder of the plan filed a tort action against Merrill. Hedquist v. Merrill Lynch, No. A06A1785 (Ga. Ct. of Appeals).

The volume of work in the area of broker-dealer arbitration tends to trail the market by a couple of years, with a bear market producing an increased number of cases and vice-versa, Robbins said.  Thus, the level of activity in broker-dealer arbitration is currently low, reflecting the last bull market. But the current bear market should produce an up-tick in broker-dealer cases in coming years, he said.

“When people lose money, they blame their broker,” Robbins said.

One of the biggest U.S. coal-mining companies tapped Troutman Sanders to provide advice on two securities sales.

Troutman Sanders partners David Carter and David Meyers are lead counsel to Massey Energy Co. on the planned transactions. Carter works out of Troutman’s Atlanta and Richmond, Va. offices; Meyers is in Richmond. Partners Mason Bayler and Jamie Canup in Richmond and associates Heather Ducat, Bo Griffith and Erica Jackson in Atlanta were also involved.

Massey Energy, based in Richmond, is selling at least $850 million in common stock and convertible debt in two separate offerings. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is advising the lead underwriters on the securities sales, UBS Securities and J.P. Morgan Securities.

Massey Energy said that proceeds could be used for two purposes, to repurchase about $335 million in debt, or to cover legal fees. The fees stem from a July 2007 jury decision to award about $220 million in damages to Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. In 2005, Wheeling-Pittsburgh had sued a Massey Energy subsidiary related to disagreements over a coal-supply contract. In May 2008, the West Virginia Supreme Court declined to hear Massey Energy’s appeal of the jury awards. Massey Energy has since said it will petition the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.

Massey Energy’s securities sales come as the company’s stock has been soaring. Through Aug. 8, Massey Energy’s stock has climbed about 234 percent in the past 12 months, one of the largest gainers in the S&P 500 Index, according to Bloomberg News. Massey Energy has said that it plans to increase annual production about 25 percent to 50 million tons, up from 39.5 million tons in 2007, to take advantage of soaring coal demand and prices.

Massey Energy operates coal mines in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. The company is the fourth-largest U.S. coal miner, and the largest operator of coal mines in central Appalachia.

One of the creditors listed in Michael Vick’s bankruptcy-reorganization filing is one of a small number of players in the world of selling memorabilia autographed by famous athletes.

Radtke Sports Inc. operates a Web site that sells balls, hats, helmets, jerseys, photos and other items hand-signed by professional athletes. Radtke, which also operates a store in Marietta, has an exclusive agreement with Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre to sell his hand-signed merchandise.

Radtke Sports also had an exclusive agreement with Vick . But Vick’s conviction on federal dog-fighting charges last year, and subsequent sentencing to a two-year-long stint in federal penitentiary, changed all that, said Radtke Sports’ counsel, Kimbrell & Burgar partner P. Darrell Kimbrell in Atlanta.

“You don’t ever anticipate anything happening like what happened with Vick,” Kimbrell said.

Vick listed Radtke Sports as one of his 20 largest unsecured creditors in a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, estimating that he owes the company about $550,000. But Kimbrell said that figure doesn’t include the full amount that his client requested in separate litigation he filed last year in Cherokee County (Ga.) Superior Court.

After his sentencing, Radtke Sports sued Vick when he “failed to provide autographs” pursuant to the terms of his agreement, Kimbrell said. Vick was obligated to provide a certain number of autographs per year; these signatures would have been produced in person  at collectors’ trade shows or in private signings, Kimbrell said.

Only a few athletes have exclusivity agreements with autographed merchandise resellers, Kimbrell said. Indianapolis Colts quarterback  Peyton Manning and New York Yankees shortstop Derek each has an exclusive deal with Steiner Sports Marketing & Memorabilia Inc. of New York. Former Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens and former Auburn Tigers football star Bo Jackson have deals with TRISTAR Productions Inc. of Houston. But many players, such as John Smoltz, have never agreed to sell their autographs exclusively through a reseller.

“There aren’t that many athletes who have exclusive agreements,” Kimbrell said. “There isn’t that big of a demand for it.”

Even with the exclusivity deals, athletes still sign autographs for fans at no charge when they are exiting the field or playing court at a stadium or arena, Kimbrell said.

An attorney who prosecuted Centennial Olympics Park bomber Eric Rudolph—King & Spalding partner Phyllis Sumner—is now trying to help the Atlanta Falcons recover a $3.75 million signing bonus from Michael Vick.

Vick, the former Falcons quarterback who was jailed last year for bankrolling a dog-fighting ring, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Vick said in the filing that his debts total somewhere between $10 million and $50 million.

Sumner, a litigation partner at King & Spalding in Atlanta, is listed as counsel to the Falcons in the bankruptcy papers. While an assistant U.S. Attorney in Atlanta, Sumner was involved in the prosecutions of Centennial Olympics Park bomber Rudolph and former Atlanta mayor Bill Campbell.

Sumner declined to comment on the Vick case.

In a court filing Vick’s attorneys blamed his bankruptcy filing on a suit filed against him by his former agent, Andrew Joel of Richmond, Va. In the suit Joel claims Vick reneged on an endorsement deal; Joel subsequently sued the football star for $45 million. Vick’s largest debt in his bankruptcy filing is the $4.5 million that he estimates he owes to Joel Enterprises Inc. of Richmond.

“The Debtor’s goal was to avoid bankruptcy and work out consensual resolutions with each of his creditors who, other than Joel, have been quite cooperative,” a court filing said.

Vick’s attorneys also wrote in the filing that “the bankruptcy case may provide a mechanism for the Debtor to recover assets from certain third-parties who may have taken advantage of the Debtor during the pre-petition period.”

Vick’s filing lists Hunton & Williams partners Hill B. Wellford Jr. in Richmond and Arthur E. Schmalz in McLean, Va. as counsel to Joel Enterprises. Wellford and Schmalz couldn’t be reached for comment.

Two law firms are advising Vick on his bankruptcy reorganization: Crowell & Moring in New York and Kaufman & Canoles in Norfolk, Va.

Some of Vick’s debts arise from his defaulting on loans as a result of his imprisonment. Vick was ordered in May to pay $1.1 million to Wachovia after he defaulted on a loan he used to open Atlantic Wine & Spirits and the Tasting Room restaurant in College Park. Smith, Gambrell & Russell partner Thomas Barton and associate Aaron Tady in Atlanta are counsel to Wachovia Corp. Vick also agreed to repay a $2.5 million loan to Royal Bank of Canada. Poyner & Spruill partner Lisa Sumner in Raleigh, N.C., is counsel to the Canadian bank.