Receivership News had the privilege of interviewing Thomas Coleman, a member of the board of directors and former officer of the Los Angeles/Orange County Chapter of the California Receivers Forum.

Tom’s father (Henry) was born in Texas in 1905. However, when only 20 years old and seeking more temperate weather, he drove a Model T Ford from sweltering Houston to the hopefully more temperate San Francisco. He soon learned the accuracy of Mark Twain’s aphorism that the coldest winter he ever endured was a summer in the City by the Bay.

Finding the Bay Area too chilly, Henry drove south, to the milder climate of Hollywood, where he secured employment with an insurance agency on Sunset Boulevard. Tom’s mother, Betty, who grew up in Missouri, later came to work in the same office, and, eventually, she and Henry married.
A few years later, Henry transferred to the newly-established, Santa Monica Office of the same insurance agency, and he and Betty moved to Santa Monica — and — eventually, to Brentwood.

Tom came into the world on December 12, 1940. His earliest education was at a private school in Brentwood, followed by the local public elementary school. Subsequently, Tom graduated from Santa Monica schools: Lincoln Junior High and Santa Monica High. When he was nine years old, his interest took a musical turn with three years of violin lessons that provided him with passable ability in junior and senior high school orchestras.

Despite his fondness for music, Tom gravitated to science and engineering. By the time he was 11, he held a General License as an amateur radio operator. Aside from devastating the reception of the few nearby television sets (devices weighing hundreds of pounds with 5-inch screens), Tom communicated with other “ham” radio operators sometimes thousands of miles away. Their medium was not the voice, but rather Morse Code.

Tom built his own “ham” radio equipment. These undertakings truly demanded tremendous concentration and attention. He followed schematic diagrams which were accompanied by instructions always written in the most arcane terms. One wrong step in the construction process would render all efforts ineffectual. On occasion, his electronic projects departed from amateur radio. One such effort was the construction of a Tesla Coil that produced a two-inch bolt of electricity. (The wizard Nicola Tesla envisioned giant versions of this device that would wirelessly supply electricity on a commercial basis, but this dream never materialized.) Tom’s crowning achievement was that he almost electrocuted himself, but survived.

Although he lost some of his interest in ham radio and electronic construction projects during his later teen years, he benefited from the tremendous learning value in a discipline that did not admit to any error.

Despite adoring the technical world of electronics, Tom concluded while growing up that the practice of law held more promise for a lucrative career. After graduating from Santa Monica High School in 1958, Stanford in 1962, and UCLA Law School in 1965, Tom was admitted to the California Bar in January 1966, and remains an active member to this date. At the time of his Bar Admission, the United States Attorney General appointed him an Assistant United States Attorney, based in Los Angeles.

During his four year stint in the U. S. Justice Department, Tom was involved with many unique cases, including representation of the U. S. Government in complex litigation arising from the blowout of an undersea oil well off the Santa Barbara Coast, alongside high level Justice Department lawyers. He also handled complex litigation involving title disputes between the United States Government, the States of Arizona and California, and private interests, involving water rights and real estate bordering the Colorado River. Several defendants in interesting cases Tom brought included Country and Western legend Johnny Cash, whose RV overheated and caused a fire that burned thousands of forest acres in the Los Padres National Forest in Ventura County. Mr. Cash settled with the government for about 50 cents on the dollar for the damages sought. Tom also successfully sued to eject a radio evangelist doing business as Zzyzx Mineral Springs from 10,000 acres of government land in and around a remote dry lake in the Mojave Desert.

In 1970, Tom left government employment and entered private law practice with Don Smaltz, a fellow alumnus of the U. S. Attorney’s Office. Eventually, Don and Tom became partners in the Los Angeles office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, one of the world’s largest law firms.

Additionally, and most importantly, 1970 brought Tom the greatest of life’s gifts: He met the lady of his dreams, who became his wife. Arlene and Tom came to each other via an introduction by mutual friends, and in just a year, they tied the knot. Two years later, their first child, Colin, was born, followed three years later by Justin. Colin lives in Los Angeles, where he has for years enjoyed a career in the hospitality industry, while Justin is a Professor of Psychology at City University of New York, making his home in Queens, where he lives with his wife Jamie and their two-year-old daughter, Parker. Even though Tom and Arlene are separated by a Continent from Justin and his family, Skype at least keeps all of them in visual communication.

After a number of years of private law practice that included large corporate bankruptcies, Tom’s focus turned away from bankruptcy practice, to receiverships initiated by securities enforcement agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the California Department of Corporations. His bankruptcy experience helped him in receiverships involving real estate or other assets located in multiple states, beyond the jurisdiction of the California Superior Courts. For instance, the California Department of Corporations nominated Tom as Receiver of a fraudulent investment company with thousands of investors in commercial buildings throughout the United States. While each building was to be owned by a separate limited partnership, investors’ funds were instead comingled to the extent that it was not possible to trace invested funds to each property. Tom therefore sought and obtained from the California Receivership Court an order authorizing him to place each of the separate entities in Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in one federal judicial district: The Central District of California, based in Los Angeles. Tom acted as the debtor-in-possession on behalf of each. He subsequently obtained an order from the Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles, which substantively consolidated the interests of the entire pool of investors, pursuant to the Bankruptcy Code.

Ensuing years brought him more receiverships initiated at the requests of government agencies. However, he came to specialize in receivership cases initiated by private individuals and businesses that became embroiled in irreconcilable feuds which could only lead to total annihilation unless a court ordered a takeover by the steadying intervention of an official custodian, such as a receiver.

During the last 30 years, Tom has continuously served as Receiver of operating businesses, including real estate developers, construction companies, landlords, mortgage brokers, finance companies, electronics, information technology, medical equipment, meat packing, food processing and various manufacturing endeavors. Additionally, he has served in analogous capacities – for example, as a Delaware Chancery Court Liquidating Trustee. He has also served as the receiver of assets in family law cases.

Tom’s professional affiliations include the California Receivers Forum, Los Angeles/Orange County Chapter, of which he has been a Director from 2008 to present and an Officer from 2009 to 2013; the Turnaround Management Association, Southern California Chapter (of which he was a Director from 1994 to 2000, including President from 1998); Los Angeles County Bar Association (1966 – present): Chair, Judicial Appointments Committee, (1987-89); Chair, Continuing Education of the Bar Committee (1968 – 1972); Chair, Law Day Committee (1969). Tom was the founder of Coleman Law & Receivership firm.