Ann Marie Uetz

Ann Marie Uetz is a partner and trial attorney with Foley & Lardner LLP, and is vice chair of the firm’s national Litigation Department. Practicing for nearly three decades, she represents upper and middle market businesses in their contracts and business disputes, as well as debtors, creditors and secured and unsecured lenders in all facets of financing and restructuring. Ann Marie focuses on the manufacturing industry – chiefly suppliers in the automotive and defense industries – and advises her clients on acquisitions, procurement and supply contracts and disputes that arise within the supply chain. She is one of the authors of “Accelerating Trends: Assessing the Supply Chain in a Post-Pandemic World,” Foley’s recent report analyzing trends and future developments in the supply chain. Ann Marie is recognized by the National Law Review as a 2020 Go-To Thought Leader in the area of “COVID-19: Manufacturing Impact.”

Ann Marie heads Foley’s Coronavirus Task Force and is co-founder of the firm’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Ann Marie is also a member of the firm’s Automotive Industry Team and served as a founder and co-chair of its national Automotive Crisis Response Team, comprised of more than 50 attorneys across the firm in various disciplines, representing more than 100 automotive suppliers. Chambers USA recognized Foley’s Automotive Industry Team as a leading national practice for 2017, based on confidential in-depth interviews with clients and attorneys from across the country, scoring on technical legal ability, client service, diligence and other qualities most valued by clients.

Ann Marie focuses her practice on business litigation and bankruptcy, two of Foley’s practice areas recently ranked by U.S. News—Best Lawyers® as “national First-Tier” practices in recognition of excellence in client service. Ann Marie works with an extensive network of business leaders and professionals, and in 2015 was included in Crain’s Most Connected list, highlighted as one of the 100 most connected businesspeople in metro Detroit.

Ann Marie Uetz is an exceptional attorney, and has been pivotal in the support of our organization. . . . Bright, insightful and focused, and an extremely valuable extended member of our team.

— a Foley manufacturer client, quoted in
Best Lawyers in America ©

Bankruptcy and Business Litigation Practice

Ann Marie is former chair of the Litigation Department in Foley's Detroit office and former vice chair of the firm’s national Bankruptcy & Business Reorganizations Practice. She provides clients who are working in distressed business situations with practical and creative representation to protect their interests and achieve their business goals. Foley's Bankruptcy & Business Reorganizations Practice provides a wide range of representation, including that of borrowers and chapter 11 debtors, protecting creditor’s rights in insolvency and advising on asset acquisition. BankruptcyLaw360 has fittingly ranked this practice as one of the top ten bankruptcy practices in the nation.

Ann Marie represents clients in restructuring, bankruptcy and business disputes in federal bankruptcy and district courts across the country. She frequently represents debtors, secured lenders, creditor committees, indenture trustees and trustees in chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. She has also advised clients on the strategic sale and acquisition of distressed assets, both inside and outside of the court process. Ann Marie splits her practice between distressed debt workouts and contract/supply chain work for manufacturers, and often her work intersects these two areas. She provides counsel to customers and suppliers regarding their contracts and their best business position both prior to and after a bankruptcy filing by one of their suppliers or customers.

Ann Marie has extensive and unique knowledge of the manufacturing supply chain, including manufacturing and technology agreements. This includes supply contract negotiations, drafting supply contracts, surcharge and capacity issues, stop-ship situations and pricing disputes. These transactions often include tripartite agreements among the troubled supplier, its significant customers and its secured lenders to solidify the commitments of each party to keep the supplier operating while the workout (or bankruptcy) is progressing. These agreements commonly consist of access and accommodation agreements and subordinated participation agreements. Through an accommodation agreement, the customers may provide (often as a group) accommodations that solidify the lenders’ collateral base through protections on inventory and receivables, commitments to continue sourcing of existing parts to the troubled supplier and limitations on setoffs, while the lender agrees to provide working capital financing and not to foreclose. An access agreement permits the customer, under certain circumstances threatening production and only as a last resort, to access the supplier’s plant to produce parts pending transfer of the contract or facility to a healthier supplier. Ann Marie has negotiated these agreements routinely in troubled company situations and is deeply familiar with them and the underlying issues.

Ann Marie brings to the manufacturing sector a unique combination of knowledge and experience under the Uniform Commercial Code (i.e., the UCC), the Bankruptcy Code, as well as significant trial experience. She is thus able to advise her clients regarding their existing rights and legal obligations as well as counsel how those rights and obligations might be affected by the threatened insolvency or actual bankruptcy filing by her clients’ customers or suppliers. This provides her clients with the tools they need to gain traction in contract negotiations and best leverage their position in this evolving economic environment. She provides personal and remote training to her clients to help them manage their contracts and other risk.

Ann Marie is also a member of Foley’s Finance & Financial Institutions and Real Estate Practices. Much of Ann Marie's work focuses on distressed debt workouts, representing borrowers, receivers and CROs in all phases of workouts. She provides training for her clients and ensures that they retain all of their legal and equitable rights in the event of a default. Ann Marie and her team negotiate and draft loan documents, forbearance agreements, related real estate documents and all documents necessary to protect the client's security interest in collateral securing loan obligations.

Peer Recognition and Awards

Ann Marie has established herself as a go-to business counselor and litigator who partners with her clients. Her work stands apart from many of her peers, and she has been well recognized for her superior legal skills and client service.

• Most notably, Ann Marie has been honored since 2013 in The Best Lawyers in America© for her work in commercial litigation, and since 2018 for her work in bankruptcy and creditor/debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization law.
• Ann Marie has also been recognized by Leading Lawyers: Top Lawyers in Michigan, including in 2020, in the following areas: bankruptcy & workouts, commercial litigation, and creditor’s rights.
• She has been honored since 2008 in the Michigan Super Lawyers® lists for her work in the areas of business litigation, bankruptcy and real estate, following a rigorous selection process involving peer reviews and independent research.
• She has been named to DBusiness Magazine’s list of Top Lawyers in the areas of bankruptcy, business law and real estate law – a list that draws nominations from over 21,000 attorneys.
• Ann Marie was selected by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as one of its 20 Women in the Law for the year 2012.
• She has been Peer Review Rated as AV Preeminent®, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ system.
• She was named to Crain’s Notable Women Lawyers in Michigan in 2017.
• She was recently named to Crain’s Most Connected List, representing the 100 most connected businesspeople in metro Detroit.

Illustrative Current and Recent Representations  

• Lead counsel to the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the chapter 11 bankruptcy case of Loves Furniture Inc. pending in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
• Lead counsel to the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the chapter 11 automotive bankruptcy case of Shiloh Industries pending in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware
• Represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the chapter 11 case Capitol Bancorp Ltd., a bank holding company which owns banks across the country (Plan of Reorganization confirmed, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan)
• Represented the lender and stalking horse purchaser of assets through a 363 sale in the automotive chapter 11 case of Jack Cooper Holdings, Co. (sale approved, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia)
• Represents a Tier 1 automotive supplier to one of the Detroit 3 OEs in connection with customer and lender support for continued operations through a note sale and new loan agreement, sale of part of the supplier’s operations, and ongoing supply to the customer
• Counsel to the debtor in multiple automotive chapter 11 cases, including Venture Industries, Blue Water Automotive Systems, Noble International, Intermet Corporation and Metaldyne Corporation
• Lead counsel to a large automotive supplier adverse to its OE customer concerning obligations under a long-term supply agreement, resulting in a settlement with net economic gain to the client in excess of $50 million
• Lead counsel to Tier 1 automotive supplier to two of the Detroit 3 OEs in connection with customer and lender support for continued operations through accommodation and other agreements
• Lead counsel to government defense contractor to recover goods from a distressed supplier, assess compliance with production requirements and onboarding a new supplier without interruption to its production
• Lead counsel to government defense contractor managing the wind down of its supplier and onboarding a new supplier without interruption to its production
• Represents Tyco Fire Products and Chemguard, in the case Attorney General Dana Nessel and the State of Michigan v. Chemguard, et al., pending in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan (defending against claims for personal injury, property damage, natural resource damages, or other harms from exposure to certain chemicals contained in AFFF—per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”), including perfluorooctanoic acid (“PFOA”) and perflurooctanesulfonic acid (“PFOS”))
• Represented the Trustee of the Successor Liquidation Trust to Velsicol Chemical Corporation, in the case City of St. Louis, Michigan and United States of America v. Velsicol Chemical Corporation, et al. (United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Northern Division) (defending claims seeking damages under NREPA due to the alleged presence of para-Chlorobenzene Sulfonic Acid (“p-CBSA”) in municipal wells)
• Counsel to large physician group of unsecured creditors in the chapter 11 filing, University Physician Group, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
• Lead counsel to special servicer in obtaining a receiver appointment over commercial property pending a foreclosure, and enforcing its assignment of rents even post-redemption. Obtained a favorable decision from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, affirmed by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, enforcing Michigan’s Assignment of Rents and Non-Judicial Foreclosure statutes, and holding that, even though an assignment of rents and the underlying mortgage were extinguished by a redemption payment, the lender’s property right in the pre-redemption rents had already vested and could not be undone by the redemption; WBCMT 2003-C9 Island Living LLC v. Swan Creek Limited Partnership, Case No. 17-2374; http://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/18a0302n-06.pdf
• Lead counsel to the court-appointed receiver for Wilbanks Energy Logistics, which operated as a full-service energy logistics company until being placed into receivership due to adverse market conditions affecting the oil and gas industry. Less than sixty days after the appointment of her client as the receiver for Wilbanks, Ann Marie led and completed the $15 million dollar sale of the assets of Wilbanks and its affiliates, which included a fleet of vehicles, heavy machinery and equipment
• Lead counsel to secured lender in the loan workout of a west Michigan manufacturing company, including the negotiation of an access and accommodation agreement with one of the Detroit 3 OEMs, forbearance agreement and eventual refinancing to take out and pay her client in full
• Lead counsel to secured lender regarding the default of a company located in Ohio and Michigan which owned several nursing homes and a related prescription medication service provider. Negotiated and finalized an agreement to take out and pay her client
• Lead counsel to secured lender regarding the default of a failed skilled nursing facility in Wisconsin, where Foley is headquartered
• Lead counsel to senior secured lender in the chapter 11 case In re A.M.S., in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio
• Lead counsel to Fortune 500 manufacturer to secure its contained supply of parts from Royal Oak Industries, which was subject to a court-appointed receiver. Before ROI liquidated its assets, Ann Marie negotiated and secured a five-party access and accommodation agreement in favor of her client to ensure the continued supply of parts in the context of an orderly wind down/sale of assets
• Lead counsel to senior secured lender in a commercial single-asset foreclosure/bankruptcy case, successfully defending against the debtors’ attack on a claim based on a nonrecourse loan, resulting in new precedent in the Seventh Circuit holding that § 1111(b) treats an otherwise nonrecourse loan as a recourse loan in bankruptcy regardless of whether there is any equity in the real estate securing that loan. In re B.R. Brookfield Commons No. 1 LLC, 735 F.3d 596 (7th Cir. 2013)
• Lead counsel for an automotive supplier with more than $2 billion in annual sales, in successfully defending and defeating a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) in Akron Circuit Court (Akron, Ohio), which had sought to continue shipments to a tier 1 supplier under a series of alleged requirements contracts
• Counsel to a government-sponsored enterprise in more than 40 class action lawsuits filed in Michigan and across the country involving exemption from payment of real-estate transfer taxes (Published Appellate Decision in favor of Foley’s client: County of Oakland and Andrew E. Meisner; Genesee County and Deborah Cherry, Michigan Department of Attorney General and Michigan Department of Treasury v. Federal Housing Finance Agency, et al., 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 10032, Nos. 12-2135/2136 (6th Cir. May 20, 2013))
• Lead counsel to a government-sponsored enterprise in connection with the receiver appointments and completed non-judicial foreclosures, and related guaranty litigation, for more than ten properties included in a $300MM national loan portfolio, including the largest multi-family receiver appointment and foreclosure on record in the state of Michigan
• Lead counsel for numerous tier 1 automotive suppliers in connection with all of their supply chain matters, including in particular their supply contracts
• Lead counsel to a Fortune 500 secured creditor (defense industry contractor) in connection with a license and IP contract held with a debtor in bankruptcy
• Counsel to numerous creditors in the Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corporation chapter 11 bankruptcies, overseeing Foley’s team which filed appearances on behalf of more than 80 automotive suppliers in these two cases

Over the course of her nearly 30 year career, Ann Marie has tried many jury cases, bench trials and arbitrations. She has argued numerous cases in both state and federal courts. Ann Marie has extensive experience litigating contested matters, claims and adversary proceedings in bankruptcy courts. She has obtained and avoided preliminary injunctive relief in state, federal district and bankruptcy courts and has avoided class certification in federal courts. She has considerable experience in appellate litigation, having briefed and argued appeals from bankruptcy court orders and cases before the Michigan and Sixth Circuit Courts of Appeal.

Lectures and Publications

• Co-author, “Choice of law: Insights from Foley & Lardner LLP” National Association of Manufacturers Legal Advisory Council Update (February 3, 2021)
• Quoted, “COVID Prompts Supply Chain Strategy Rethink” Automotive World (January 25, 2021)
• Co-presenter, “Global Supply Chain Disruption and Future Strategies Update,” Original Equipment Suppliers Association (OESA) Chief Purchasing Officers Council Meeting (November 12, 2020)
• Panelist, National Directors Institute NDI Reimagined webcast: “Ready, Set, Zoom: How COVID-19 is Impacting Business Litigation” (November 11, 2020)
• Co-presenter, Association of Corporate Counsel-Michigan webcast: “Restructuring and Managing Financially Troubled Suppliers, Vendors or Customers” (November 5, 2020)
• Quoted, “Nonprofit off to a running start thanks to Midwest legal team” Michigan Lawyers Weekly (November 3, 2020)
• Co-author, “Supply Chain Strategy Trends: COVID-19 is Prompting Executives to Reconsider Resilience” Supply Chain Management Review (November 2, 2020)
• Quoted, “Did COVID-19 poke a hole in just-in-time manufacturing?” Automotive News (October 19, 2020)
• Quoted, “Sound bites from an industry in transition“ Automotive News (October 18, 2020)
• Co-author, “Michigan Supreme Court Sets Limits on Emergency Powers of Governor: Impacts on Residents and Businesses” Foley’s Coronavirus Resource Center: Back to Business (October 4, 2020)
• Co-author, “Accelerating Trends: Assessing the Supply Chain in a Post-Pandemic World” Foley’s Coronavirus Resource Center: Back to Business (September 29, 2020)
• Author, “Calculation of Labor Value Content Under the USMCA” Manufacturing.net (August 27, 2020)
• Co-author, “Working with Distressed Automotive Suppliers” Industry Today (August 14, 2020)
• Co-author, “Strategies for Acquisitions of Distressed Companies” Foley’s Coronavirus Resource Center: Back to Business (July 15, 2020)
• Author, “Top Considerations for Accommodation Agreements with Distressed Suppliers” Foley’s Coronavirus Resource Center: Back to Business (June 10, 2020)
• Author, “Top Considerations for Dealing with Financially Distressed Suppliers” Foley’s Coronavirus Resource Center: Back to Business (June 9, 2020)
• Quoted, “In a Pandemic, Food, Booze and Guns Retain Value Best” The Wall Street Journal (May 6, 2020)
• Co-author, “Reopening the Automotive Industry in Mexico: Rules of the Road” Foley’s Coronavirus Resource Center: Back to Business (April 29, 2020)
• Interviewed, “Coronavirus Q&A: Foley & Lardner's Task Force Head” Law360 (April 21, 2020)
• Quoted, “Speed key as GM, suppliers align on ventilators” Automotive News (April 20, 2020)
• Presenter, Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Webcast: “Managing the Commercial Impact of the Coronavirus: What Claims and Liabilities In-House Counsel Should Expect in the Near Term” (April 16, 2020)
• Quoted, “Automakers Will Need Months to Get Factories Back Up and Running” Bloomberg News (April 15, 2020)
• Co-author, “How to Protect Your Supply Chain in Times of Economic Turbulence” Supply Chain Best Practices (April 14, 2020)
• Presenter, gener8tor Webinar “Federal Relief and Stimulus Programs for Small Businesses During the COVID-19 Crisis” (April 6, 2020)
• Quoted, “Ford and GM are undertaking a warlike effort to produce ventilators. It may fall short and come too late” The Washington Post (April 4, 2020)
• Quoted, “Bankruptcy Lawyers Gear Up for Surge in Filings Due to Coronavirus Fallout” The Wall Street Journal (April 2, 2020)
• Presenter, OESA 2020 Webinar “Managing Business During the COVID-19 Pandemic” (March 26, 2020)
• Quoted, “Automakers' Shift to Med Supplies Comes with Legal Hazards” Law 360 (March 25, 2020)
• Quoted, “Lowe's is open, but the flooring store is not. Call it the toilet paper loophole.” Crain's Detroit Business (March 24, 2020)
• Co-author,“Managing the Commercial Impact of the Coronavirus: What Claims In-house Counsel Should Expect in the Near Future” Foley's Coronavirus Resource Center (March 17, 2020)
• Author, “Coronavirus: Considerations for an Emerging Supply Chain Response Plan” Supplychainbrain.com (March 9, 2020)
• Co-author,“Managing the Commercial Impact of the Coronavirus: An Effective Supply Chain Response Plan” Foley's Coronavirus Resource Center (February 27, 2020)
• Co-author, “GM's Planned Cuts Require Action by Its Suppliers” The National Law Review (December 6, 2018)
• Co-author, “Protecting Your Supply Chain in the Face of Potential Auto Industry Challenges in 2018” Foley & Lardner LLP Dashboard Insights (March 5, 2018)
• Moderator, “2016 Middle Market M&A Outlook: Are Tides Changing?” Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) 9th Annual M&A Conference, Detroit, Michigan (June 14, 2016)
• Author, “For Pope Francis, It’s a Jeep Thing” Foley & Lardner LLP Dashboard Insights (September 3, 2015)
• Co-author, “Monitor Financial Distress in Your Supply Chain” Foley & Lardner LLP Manufacturing Industry Advisor (August 19, 2015)
• Co-author, “Protecting and Maximizing a Manufacturer’s Business Through Distress” Industry Today (June 23, 2015)
• Co-author, “Manufacturing Contracts in Distress” Foley & Lardner LLP Dashboard Insights (June 22, 2015)
• Presenter, “Emergency Manager Laws as an Alternative to Bankruptcy in Local Government” American Bar Association Annual Meeting (August 10, 2013, San Francisco, California)
• Author, “Leveraging Critical Vendor Status and Assumption of Contracts to Obtain More Favorable Commercial Trade Terms in Supply Contracts” Inside the Minds, Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and Restructuring Strategies, 2010 Ed. (Aspatore Books, a Thomson Reuters business)
• Author, “Seller, Beware: Delivery of Goods Post-Petition May Cost You” The Bankruptcy Strategist (Volume 27, Number 9, July 2010)
• Presenter, “Action Checklist for Chapter 11s,” Association of Corporate Counsel/ACCA (April 2010, Novi, Michigan)
• Lecturer regarding avoidance actions under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, at conferences hosted by the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) and the National Association of Credit Managers (NACM)
• Instruction at National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) programs, on Trial, Motion and Deposition Practice

Academic and Business Leadership, and Board Memberships

Ann Marie graduated, with distinction, from the University of Michigan (B.A., political science) in 1989. Ann Marie graduated, magna cum laude, from Wayne State University Law School in 1993, where she received the Eugene Driker Award for achieving the highest grade point average (4.0) in her class. Ann Marie was also selected for the Order of the Coif and served as an associate editor of the Wayne Law Review. Ann Marie is a graduate of the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Leadership Detroit XXV.

Ann Marie is admitted to practice before all federal and state courts in the state of Michigan, various federal district and bankruptcy courts throughout the country, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and before the United States Supreme Court.

Ann Marie has held leadership positions on the boards of several professional organizations, including as past chair, officer and board member of MIWIRC (the Michigan Network for International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation). She is a member of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) and the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI). She has served as a Barrister lecturer by the DMBA Inns of Court program. Within Foley, Ann Marie is committed to mentoring young attorneys, and was honored in 2009 with Foley’s Carl Hitchner Mentor of the Year Award.

A lifelong Detroiter, Ann Marie also dedicates her time to philanthropic and artistic endeavors in Southeast Michigan.

• Recently appointed as a Director of First Tee of Greater Detroit, whose mission is to impact the lives of young people by providing educational programs that build character, instill life-enhancing values and promote healthy choices through the game of golf.
• Served as a director on the board for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 2008 through 2014, which tenure included the organization’s overall debt restructuring and reorganization.
• Pro bono work for Cap & Conquer, a non-profit startup whose mission is to raise funds to help subsidize Cold Caps, a scalp cooling technology to reduce hair loss during chemotherapy treatment, for those who cannot afford the treatment.
• Pro bono work for the Institute on Public Policy for People with Disabilities in Chicago, Illinois, a non-profit voluntary association of organizations supporting services to persons with developmental disabilities.
• Pro bono work for Affirmations, a non-profit organization that promotes the acceptance and empowerment of the LGBT community in the metro Detroit area.
• Ann Marie is also a member of the Saugatuck Yacht Club in Saugatuck, Michigan.