Professor Katherine C. Pearson serves as panelist for national webinar on continuing care communities

CARLISLE, Pa.—Professor Katherine C. Pearson was part of a recent panel discussion for a national webinar on “Finding Stability: Understanding Governance and Risk in Continuing Care Communities.” She spoke about what insolvency means and what can happen when a senior living community, such as a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) or a life plan community, becomes insolvent.

The program was hosted by the National Continuing Care Residents Association (NaCCRA) and included presentations by Professor Yvonne Troya, clinical professor and legal director of the Medical-Legal Partnership for Seniors Clinic at University of California Law San Francisco, and A.V. Powell, one of the best-known consulting actuaries for CCRCs and similar enterprises.

Pearson’s task was to explain the use of Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code to facilitate management of debt in order for the community to reorganize as an ongoing enterprise, via a Bankruptcy Court-approved Plan for Reorganization. Residents may be protected through negotiations, as part of a Committee for Unsecured Creditors, when considering whether and how a new “owner” for the community will recognize and honor their residency contracts.

You can access her slides for the webinar here.

Professor Katherine C. Pearson teaches courses on contract law and elder law and is also the Arhtur L. and Sandra S. Piccone Faculty Scholar for Penn State Dickinson Law. She recently completed a Fulbright Fellowship at University of Ottawa in Canada researching comparative approaches to access to justice.