Dawn Cica, partner with Fox Rothschild LLP, was part of the team that represented the State of Nevada in the Tronox, LLC bankruptcy. A settlement agreement which was negotiated in 2010 among the various state and federal government agencies to allow Tronox to confirm a reorganization plan in the Tronox bankruptcy gave the state of Nevada 22 percent of any recovery in Tronox's lawsuit against Kerr-McGee Corporation a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum.

The lawsuit settled for $5.15 billion, the largest environmental cleanup settlement in history and was recently approved by the bankruptcy court in the Southern District of New York . Cica, who served as restructuring counsel to Nevada's Department of Environmental Protection, helped to secure 22 percent of the $5.15 billion payout for the state, which was the largest sum given to any one state. The rest of the funds will be distributed to the 41 other affected state governments and EPA trusts for future and past cleanup costs.

The litigation stemmed from pollution left behind by the Kerr-McGee Corporation, which was acquired by Anadarko in 2006. The legacy environmental pollution dates back to at least 1928. The polluted Kerr-McGee sites include a former manufacturing facility in Henderson, Nevada, where hexavalent chromium and perchlorate were produced. Pollution from that site threatens Lake Mead, which flows into the Colorado River and is a major source of drinking water for Southern California.

Parent company Kerr-McGee created the Tronox subsidiary in 2006 as part of a plan to separate its successful oil and gas counterparts from the legacy environmental liabilities. The legacy environmental liabilities were transferred to Tronox, which was left insolvent. Tronox couldn't pay the costs of the environmental cleanup and went into bankruptcy in 2009.

This $1.1 billion is in addition to approximately $81 million already distributed to the site trust on behalf of the State of Nevada as part of the 2011 bankruptcy settlement. "This result was crucial for the state and ensures that Nevada will be able to take the necessary steps to fully clean the water system and help the residents who were harmed by Tronox and Kerr-McGee," said Cica. "Without this decision, the funds would not have been available to clean up the site," she noted.

Cica has more than 25 years of experience working on transactional aspects of bankruptcy and creditor's rights, including workouts, restructurings, settlements and asset sales. She is well-versed in the complex details surrounding all transactional matters related to restructuring and bankruptcy, such as negotiating and documenting strategic resolutions, debtor-in-possession financings and asset sales.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.