Charles R. Powell III

As a creditors’ rights attorney, I focus on commercial collections for corporations and other business entities and, at times, for individuals. My work often finds me in bankruptcy courts throughout New England as well as other states. I am the chair of Devine Millimet’s Insolvency and Restructuring team and I have also served as the chair of the Federal Practice Institute Bankruptcy Section. An active healthcare practice keeps me busy advising long-term care facilities with admissions agreements, intake procedures, and collections. Although much of my time is spent counseling clients to improve their business practices to avoid the need for collection actions altogether, I have more than twenty-five years of experience in state and federal courts, enforcing the right to payment where other efforts have failed.
 
Clients of all types come to us for help in collection actions. I have served as co-counsel for official committees of unsecured creditors and for major creditor entities in several of the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases ever filed in New Hampshire. In my healthcare practice, my clients include nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and hospitals, for which I often serve as a de facto general counsel. My work with long-term care facilities often involves administrative proceedings. In addition, I have been involved in two groundbreaking legislative initiatives for healthcare facilities. I drafted RSA 151-E:19 which creates causes of action for negligent failure of a fiduciary to apply for Medicaid or for failure to pay the patient liability amount. That statute also creates a cause of action against recipients of transfers resulting in an "asset transfer disqualification" under Medicaid. I was also a co-drafter of RSA 151-I:1-2, which provides nursing facilities and hospitals with the authority to request the expedited appointment of a "special Medicaid representative" to complete and to prosecute a Medicaid application to successful conclusion.
 
I own a farm, Thistle Grange, where we raise various livestock and grow, among other things, blueberries, elderberries, and blackberries. Serving as a director on the board of the 4-H Foundation of New Hampshire allows me to help the youth of this state reach their full potential. My family and I spend as much time as possible outside on the farm, where I enjoy riding my horse, Dorle, and exploring the surrounding mountains. I also am an avid fan of the ballet.    

Representative Matters

• Counsel to hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities in legislative matters, collection actions, drafting of admission applications and agreements, and discharge and other administrative matters.
• New Hampshire counsel to international construction contractor in multi-million dollar litigation.
• Counsel to United States and Canadian-based companies in commercial litigation before state and federal courts of, among others, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Illinois, including adversary proceedings before federal bankruptcy courts.
• Counsel to regional financial institutions in creditor's rights matters.
• Representation of primary secured lenders and official committee of unsecured creditors in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

Publications

• "An Improved, Expedited Process for Hospitals to Seek Guardianships During the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Emergency Expedited Guardianship Petition Over an Adult Person," Devine Millimet E-Alert, April 9, 2020
• "Involuntary Discharge from a Care Facility for Nonpayment - Best Practices," Devine Millimet Healthcare E-Alert, May 10, 2017
• "The Pending Sale of Parkview Adventist Medical Center," Devine Millimet Healthcare E-Alert, August 4, 2015.
• "The Doctrine of Necessaries - A Secondary Means to Collect Costs of Care," Devine Millimet Healthcare E-Alert, March 27, 2015.
• "SB 138 - Aid for Overburdened Long-Term Care Facilities," Devine Millimet Healthcare E-Alert, February 14, 2014.
• "Pitfalls of Proofs of Claim in Bankruptcy," Business NH Magazine, August 2012.
• "What Does a Nursing Home or Assisted Living Facility Do When Cooperative Efforts Fail and a Collections Lawsuit is the Only Remaining Option," Devine Millimet Healthcare E-Alert, May 15, 2012.
• "A Look at Scenarios and Possible Defenses Related to a Bankruptcy Debtor's Transfers," New Hampshire Business Review, April 20, 2012.
• "Can Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Facilities Get Paid and Not (Necessarily) be Perceived as the Bad Guy?," Devine Millimet Healthcare Newsletter, December 20, 2011.
• "You Mean I Really Might (Not) Have to Pay it Back? (Defending and Even Avoiding Preference Actions)," NHS CPA Connection, October/November 2005.

Speaking Engagements

• “Ground-Breaking Healthcare Laws for Hospitals and Nursing Homes—A Primer on SB 127 (RSA 151-I:1-2) and SB 138 (RSA 152-E:19),” New Hampshire Hospital Association Special Seminar for Hospitals and Nursing Homes, November 29, 2016.
• “The Interplay Between the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act & the Bankruptcy Code,” New Hampshire Bar Association’s Federal Practice Section, October 6, 2016. 
• "SB127 (RSA 151-I:2) What It Does and How You Use It,” New Hampshire Health Care Association Conference, September 14, 2016.
• "Resident Intake and Admission Agreements:  A View from the Collections Perspective," presented to the New Hampshire Health Care Association, September 9, 2014.
• "Long-Term Care and Collections Laws: New and Tried and True Solutions," presented to the New Hampshire Health Care Association, November 8, 2013.
• "The Impact of Bankruptcy on Civil Litigation - Pitfalls and Possibilities,"  New Hampshire Bar Association's Federal Practice Section, May 14, 2013.

Community Involvement

• 4-H Foundation of New Hampshire, Director, October 2013 to present.
• Franco American Centre, President Emeritus, June 2004 to June 2005; President, June 2002 to June 2004; Board of Trustees, 1996 to 2005; Board of Incorporators, 1996 to 2005