On April 20, 2024, the American Bankruptcy Institute Asset Sale Committee honored Dentons for its work on behalf of Borrego Community Health Foundation (Borrego) with the Asset Sale of the Year – Healthcare award. This accolade recognizes Dentons' efforts in successfully representing Borrego in its chapter 11 bankruptcy case, which recently resulted in plan confirmation in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California. Borrego was a federally qualified healthcare center (FQHC), which provided medical services to almost 100,000 low income and rural patients annually through 18 clinics in Southern California.

This recognition underscores Dentons' effective handling of complex healthcare and regulatory challenges within bankruptcy proceedings, showcasing innovative legal strategies and skillful application of the Bankruptcy Code. Led by Los Angeles partners Samuel Maizel and Tania Moyron, the Dentons team executed a strategic approach that successfully halted a threatened Medi-Cal payment suspension of payments for patient services, which would have forced the closure of Borrego’s facilities, leaving many patients with little or no alternatives for treatment. The Dentons team then negotiated a favorable settlement with the California Department of Healthcare Services (DHCS), which oversees the Medi-Cal program, ensuring that there were sufficient funds to pay all creditors, other than DHCS, in full. All this paved the way for a competitive and ultimately successful sale of Borrego’s assets to DAP Health, another FQHC, which ensured continuity of culturally competent care for Borrego’s patients, continued employment for hundreds of Borrego’s employees and the smooth transfer of the clinics to another financially stable FQHC. Notably, the sale's profound impact on saving lives was acknowledged by the Bankruptcy Court.