Two Atlanta-area attorneys and a Chicago lawyer were the primary legal advisers on last month’s multimillion-dollar sale of a Decatur megachurch. The sale came four months after the death of the church’s founder, Earl Paulk.

In the transaction, Chapel Hill Harvester Church Inc. sold its Cathedral at Chapel Hill building for $17.6 million to Greater Travelers Rest Baptist Church Inc. The sale includes the church’s 300,000-square-foot, 6,000-seat auditorium and other facilities. The sale includes the 50 acres surrounding the cathedral. The church is located on Flat Shoals Parkway in south DeKalb County.

Burroughs Johnson Hopewell partner Robert Burroughs in Lithonia was outside counsel to Greater Travelers Rest Baptist Church. Burroughs is a real estate attorney and has handled transactions involving residential, commercial and multifamily properties. Burroughs’ law partner, Mereda Davis Johnson, is married to U.S. Rep. Henry C. “Hank” Johnson Jr.

Matthew Wilkins of King & Yaklin in Marietta advised Chapel Hill Harvester Church, according to Brandi Paulk, executive administrator of the Cathedral at Chapel Hill. Wilkins, a litigator, serves as general counsel to Chapel Hill Harvester Church and the church did not hire an additional real estate attorney for work on the sale, Paulk said.

Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg partner Peter Barrow in Chicago advised the lead lender on the deal, Herring Bank of Amarillo, Texas.

Paulk, who died of cancer on Mar. 29 at the age of 81, founded Chapel Hill Harvester Church in 1972. The church experienced rapid growth and constructed its new building in 1991.

However, Paulk soon became ensnared in multiple accusations of sexual misconduct. In one case, Mona Brewer alleged that Paulk manipulated her into having an affair with him from 1989 to 2003 by telling her it was her only path to salvation and leading her to believe she was called to be in a sexual relationship with him in order to keep him and his ministry alive. Brewer sued Paulk, his brother, Don, and Chapel Hill Harvester Church.

In Feb. 2008, DeKalb Superior Court Judge Mark Anthony Scott dismissed Brewer’s claims and ordered her to pay $1 million in attorney fees to the Paulks. But in February of this year, the state Court of Appeals reversed the lower court ruling.

American International Group Inc. wants its money back, or at least some of it.

The federally bailed-out insurance behemoth, which has been under extraordinarily heavy criticism from President Obama, Congress, TV talk show hosts and just about the entire American public, sued the U.S. government to recoup some money. The money at issue is $306 million in tax payments, some involving offshore entities that AIG controlled.

Filing the complaint on behalf of AIG last month were ten Sutherland attorneys from Atlanta, New York and Washington. According to the federal court docket, the Sutherland lawyers handling the matter are partners Jerry Cohen, Tom Cullinan, Joe DePew, Kent Jones, Jerome Libin, Dan Schlueter and Lewis Wiener, and associates Julie Bowling, Larry Dany and Jeffrey Starkey. All of the attorneys are in Sutherland’s tax, tax litigation or litigation practice groups. Wiener is listed as the lead attorney on the complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan.

The New York Times makes the observation that AIG is essentially suing its majority owner, since the U.S. government owns about 80 percent of AIG.

AIG says the U.S. government illegally assessed and collected from it $306,102,672 in income taxes, penalties, interest and additions.

In the aftermath of last summer’s closing of dozens of locations of the Bennigan’s Grill & Tavern chain, a legal fight has erupted between the new owners of the Bennigan’s name and former Bennigan’s franchisees. 

A team from Smith, Gambrell & Russell comprised of corporate lawyers and litigators is advising Bennigan’s Franchising Co., a private equity fund-controlled outfit that owns the rights to the Bennigan’s dining concept and plans to re-launch the brand later this year.

The roots of the dispute lie in last July’s bankruptcy filing by S&A Restaurant Corp., the former parent company of Bennigan’s and Steak & Ale. When S&A filed for Chapter 7 to liquidate its assets, it also shuttered about 240 company-owned locations of Bennigan’s and Steak & Ale.

But more than 100 franchisee-owned locations of Bennigan’s remained open, according to court documents. These franchisees secured an agreement through the bankruptcy court for the new owners of Bennigan’s to continue to provide marketing and other support services to their locations.

Therein lies the disagreement. Some of those 100 franchisee-owned locations feel that the new owner of the Bennigan’s name—the Smith Gambrell client, Bennigan’s Franchising—reneged on its promise to continue to market the Bennigan’s brand and support programs like a Bennigan’s gift card.

Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick partner Peter R. Silverman in Toledo, Ohio, representing a group of those franchisee-locations, sent a letter to Bennigan’s Franchising Co., saying it had defaulted on its obligations under its franchisor agreement, according to court documents.

Bennigan’s Franchising’s counsel, Smith Gambrell partner John Spillman, responded with a letter saying that the franchisees were to blame. Spillman wrote that Bennigan’s Franchising had abided by all its obligations; furthermore, the franchisees violated their end of the bargain by not paying royalty fees to Bennigan’s Franchising.

Bennigan’s Franchising followed up Spillman’s letter by filing a suit in federal court in Texas against the franchisees.

Smith Gambrell litigation partner Jason Bell and associate John Autry are working with Spillman on advising Bennigan’s Franchising. Lynn Tillotson Pinker & Cox lawyers in Dallas are local counsel to Bennigan’s Franchising.

Bennigan’s Franchising is owned by an affiliate of Atalaya Capital Management, a private equity firm with offices in New York and Atlanta.

With the largest motor homes selling in the low-to-mid six figures, it’s no wonder that RV manufacturers would see slumping sales in this economy.

An Oregon RV maker, Country Coach LLC, has been hit hard by the recession and late last year mothballed its operations and terminated many of its employees. Now Country Coach is being sued by a creditor in federal district court seeking to recover a loan. But Country Coach’s majority-owners are trying to block that litigation through an involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding.

Greenberg Traurig partner David Kurzweil in Atlanta is representing the suing creditor, Wells Fargo Bank.

Last week, the equity investors of Country Coach filed an involuntary Chapter 11 proceeding against Country Coach in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon. Those investors include majority-owner Riley Investment Management LLC, which had acquired Country Coach in 2007.

The move by Riley Investment Management is aimed to block recovery attempts by Wells Fargo, according to the Associated Press. Wells Fargo has a suit pending against Country Coach, which it filed on Jan. 28 in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon.

Wells Fargo Business Credit, a unit of Wells Fargo Bank, said in a Monday bankruptcy court filing that it holds “first-priority perfected security interest in substantially all of Country Coach’s … personal property assets.” Country Coach owes it at least $8.5 million, Wells Fargo said.

Country Coach, headquartered in Junction City, Ore., ceased operations and terminated its staff in December, according to Wells Fargo’s court filing.

Greenberg Traurig’s Kurzweil is being assisted in the matter by associate John Dyer, also in Atlanta. Muhlheim Boyd partner Wilson “Bo” Muhlheim in Eugene, Ore., is co-counsel to Wells Fargo. Kurzweil, Dyer and Muhlheim are advising Wells Fargo in both cases in bankruptcy and district court.

Stoel Rives and Hershner Hunter are counsel to Country Coach. Foster Pepper is advising Riley Investment Management.

Riley Investment Management of Los Angeles acquired Country Coach from National RV Holdings Inc. in Feb. 2007 for $52 million. National RV itself filed for Chapter 11 in Nov. 2007, after it sold off Country Coach. National RV later transferred its bankruptcy case to a liquidation proceeding.

Country Coach makes Allure, Inspire and Magna-brand recreational vehicles. A Country Coach-manufactured RV, the Magna Van Gogh 525, was priced at $299,900 on Tuesday on the Web site of RV retailer Camping World of Chattanooga.

More than a dozen attorneys from Atlanta, New York and Wilmington, Del., were involved in hammering out a settlement between Home Depot Inc. and HD Supply Inc. over how much the home-improvement retailer would pay to its former subsidiary.

HD Supply split its legal work between Atlanta firm Rogers & Hardin and the New York-based giant firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, according to a document in Delaware Chancery Court. Home Depot divvied up its assignments between the Delaware firm Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell and New York-based lawyers from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges.

Per the terms of the settlement, Home Depot will pay HD Supply $22 million in cash, along with other non-cash considerations, according to a Feb. 2 news release. In the companies’ original Aug. 2007 merger agreement, Home Depot sold its HD Supply unit to a group of private equity funds for $8.5 billion. That price, however, was subject to adjustments after the deal closed, based on HD Supply’s working capital.

However, once Home Depot and the three private equity funds that bought HD Supply tried to work out the post-closing purchase price adjustment, they couldn’t come to an agreement. HD Supply’s new owners ended up suing Home Depot in Delaware Chancery Court in Aug. 2008. HD Supply’s primary argument was that purchase-price adjustment issues that Home Depot wanted submitted to an arbitrator were instead contractual issues and not subject to arbitration. Home Depot filed a motion to throw out HD Supply’s suit and submit the issues to the arbitrator, Ernst & Young.

In October, Delaware Chancery Court Chancellor William B. Chandler III ruled in favor of HD Supply, saying the case could proceed. Home Depot and HD Supply then began the discovery process; the $22 million settlement was reached during discovery and before the matter went to trial.

Rogers & Hardin corporate partner Alan Leet, litigation partner Dan Laney [photo, right] and associate Leah Epstein, all in Atlanta, were co-counsel to HD Supply on the settlement. They worked with HD Supply general counsel Ricardo Nuñez, who is based in Orlando.

Skadden partners Paul Lockwood in Wilmington and Jay Kasner, Christopher Malloy and Scott Musoff in New York were also co-counsel to HD Supply.

Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell partner Martin Tully and associate Kevin Coen in Wilmington, and Quinn Emanuel partners Steve Neuwirth, Kevin Reed and Deborah Brown [photo, right] in New York advised Home Depot.

Terms of the settlement were not made public; Leet and Laney declined to comment.

HD Supply, headquartered in Atlanta and Orlando, distributes building materials and maintenance and industrial supplies to professional contractors. HD Supply was created in 1997 and was greatly expanded by former Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli through multiple acquisitions.

Three private-equity funds, Bain Capital, The Carlyle Group and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, own a majority stake in HD Supply, while Home Depot retains a 12 percent stake in its former subsidiary. Home Depot said in a news release that it will take a pre-tax charge of $163 million for a write-down of its investment in HD Supply, according to Home Depot. The charge “reflects a lower valuation for its investment in HD Supply,” Home Depot said.

Federal securities regulators in Atlanta on Thursday accused an Alpharetta currency trader of running a $25 million Ponzi scheme.

The Securities and Exchange Commission have accused CRE Capital Corp. and James G. Ossie with violating federal securities laws. The SEC said CRE Capital and Ossie, the firm’s president, promised investors 10 percent profits per months on currency trades in the U.S. and Japan. At least 120 investors bought into the Ponzi scheme, the SEC said in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

“CRE does not generate sufficient returns from currency trading to pay the promised returns,” the SEC said in a court filing. “The investment program is a Ponzi scheme and returns to investors are paid from funds contributed by new investors.”

Taylor English Duma attorney Bill Leonard is representing CRE Capital and Ossie.

Bryan Cave Powell Goldstein partners Thomas S. Richey and Jennifer D. Odom and associates Jason R. Curles, Stacey G. Evans, all in Atlanta, are representing the court-appointed receiver, GlassRatner Advisory & Capital Group LLC managing director Michael Fuqua.

Handling the matter for the SEC are District Trial Counsel William P. Hicks, Senior Trial Counsel Alana R. Black and attorney W. Shawn Murnahan.

University of Connecticut law school professor Steven M. Davidoff, writing in his “Deal Professor” column for The New York Times on Tuesday, had some choice words for the special committee of independent directors of Landry’s Restaurants Inc.

Landry's owns Golden Nugget Hotels and Casinos in Las Vegas, Rainforest Cafe and other restaurants.

A look at Landry's recent history, however, shows that recent events, including hurricanes damaging its properties, the global credit crisis, and a dispute with its bondholders, had put the company in a tough spot.

Earlier this week, Landry’s called off its plans to be taken private by affiliates of the company’s chief executive, Tilman Fertitta, in a $1.3 billion deal. Instead, Landry’s said it will refinance about $400 million in debt with Jefferies & Co.

Landry’s deep-sixed the deal because the Securities and Exchange Commission was asking the deal’s lenders—Jefferies and Wells Fargo Foothill--to disclose material that Landry’s and the lenders deemed confidential.

In addition to criticizing Landry’s version of the events that led to the scrapping of the deal, Davidoff kept his sharpest knives for the company’s special independent committee. Davidoff said that the independent directors failed Landry’s shareholders by failing “to negotiate a standstill with Mr. Fertitta and allowed Mr. Fertitta to obtain majority control of this company while this failed deal was pending … depriving [shareholders] of a change-of-control premium and leaving them with unreimbursed substantial transaction expenses.”

Read Davidoff’s full column here.

King & Spalding partner Jack Capers was counsel to the special independent committee, along with two New York-based King & Spalding partners. Capers declined to comment.

Proskauer Rose advised Jefferies on Landry’s go-private talks. Haynes and Boone counseled Landry’s executives. Olshan Grundman Frome Rosenzweig & Wolosky advised Landry’s chief executive Tilman Fertitta.

Numerous events over the past three years led to Landry’s consideration of a deal to take itself private.

Back in 2007, Landry’s bondholders had threatened to force the company to repay its debt early because Landry’s had not made timely filings of its audited financial statements with the SEC, according to the Houston Chronicle. If Landry’s didn’t pay up early, the bondholders would force Landry’s to declare bankruptcy. Landry’s CEO Fertitta [photo, below] countered by suing the bondholders, claiming they were trying to extort millions of dollars from the company.

Landry’s and the bondholders reached a settlement that resulted in higher borrowing costs for Landry’s.

More recently, Landry’s business operations in Texas and Louisiana were hit hard by Hurricanes Gustav, Hannah and Ike and by Tropical Storm Eduard. When Hurricane Ike struck the Gulf Coast in September, “several of our restaurants in Galveston and Kemah sustained significant damage,” Landry’s said in its third-quarter earnings release. Landry’s took a pre-tax asset impairment charge of $24.4 million as a result of the hurricane damage, although some of that will be recouped through insurance.

Throw in last fall’s collapse of the global credit markets, and Jefferies’ and Wells Fargos’ ability to finance Landry’s go-private deal may have been fatally compromised. That last part is unknown, however, since Landry’s lenders declined to file certain information with the SEC.

Landry’s operates several restaurant chains, including Rainforest Café, Saltgrass Steak House, Landry’s Seafood House and The Chart House. Landry’s sold the Joe’s Crab Shack chain to J.H. Whitney & Co. in 2006.

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.