Coats, Douglas Turner

Doug ensures that his clients take full advantage of tax saving opportunities.

I believe in explaining complex tax issues in a way that clients can understand them.

Doug chairs the Firm's Tax Practice and has significant experience in the planning and structuring of sophisticated business and tax transactions for companies involving corporations and flow-through entities (including LLPs, LLCs and S corporations). He has advised and represented clients in connection with the sale of their companies, in the form of both asset and equity transactions, and has also represented clients in business acquisitions. Doug advises clients of all sizes with respect to various types of tax matters. Doug has also represented both individual and business taxpayers in matters before the Internal Revenue Service and state taxing authorities.

Doug is an integral part of the Energy and Environmental team where his work includes:

drafting, reviewing and negotiating solar power purchase agreements, including issues related to appropriation of funds by governmental entities
drafting, reviewing and negotiating PILOT agreements (“payment in lieu of taxes” agreements) with respect to Maryland property taxes
analyzing tax issues, including issues related to the transfer of property by electricity generators to public utilities under IRS Notice 2016-36

Doug joined Gordon Feinblatt in November of 2015. Prior to joining the Firm, Doug was counsel with Rosenberg Martin Greenberg in Baltimore, and, an associate with Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP in Wilmington, Delaware, and Venable, LLP in Baltimore. Prior to practicing law, Doug was a senior tax consultant with Deloitte & Touche, LLP in Baltimore.

Representative Matters

Represented Indalex Holdings, a U.S. aluminum-extrusion company, in connection with the $150 million sale of its assets to Sapa Holdings, a Sweden-based aluminum extrusion company, in a complex transaction that involved approval from the U.S. bankruptcy court, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice, due to anti-trust issues that arose from a Hart-Scott-Rodino filing. Indalex had six plants in the U.S., employed 1,800 workers, and had annual sales of $900 million.

Represented Trade Secret and its affiliates, a retail seller of hair-care and beauty products, in connection with the sale of substantially all of their assets and the dissolution of their corporate entities, which involved approval from the U.S. bankruptcy court. Prior to the sale, Trade Secret operated several hundred beauty salons in shopping malls.

Represented Coastal Supply Company, Inc., a Delaware-based soil and mulch manufacturer, in connection the acquisition by Harvest Power, a Massachusetts-based leader in producing renewable energy, soil and mulch products from organic materials, of one hundred percent of Coastal Supply Company, Inc.

Represented a Delaware-based leader in the sale of durable home medical equipment in connection a sale of substantially all of the equity interests in the company.

Represented Lang Holdings, Inc. and certain of its affiliates, a leading supplier of calendars, greeting cards and stationery, in connection with the $25 million sale of substantially all of its assets.

Testified as an expert witness before the Delaware Court of Chancery with respect to partnership tax provisions of an LLC operating agreement in the matter of Borin v. Rasta Thomas, LLC, (5344-CC, 2010).

Professional and Civic Involvement

Member, American Bar Association

Adjunct Professor, Stevenson University, 2013 to present

Publications and Lectures

Education

J.D., magna cum laude, University of Baltimore School of Law, 1999
B.A., Loyola College, 1989

Court Admissions

U.S. Tax Court

Bar Admissions

Maryland, 1999
Delaware, 2009

Douglas Turner Coats, Counsel