The U.S. Supreme Court handed down three bankruptcy rulings to finish the current Term. The decisions address the validity of nonconsensual third-party releases in chapter 11 plans, the standing of insurance companies to...more
8/6/2024
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Bankruptcy Trustees ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 7 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Creditors ,
Debt Restructuring ,
Debtors ,
Trustees ,
U.S. Treasury
Section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code's "safe harbor" preventing avoidance in bankruptcy of certain securities, commodity, or forward-contract payments has long been a magnet for controversy. Several noteworthy court rulings...more
8/5/2024
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Bankruptcy Trustees ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 7 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Safe Harbors ,
Securities Contracts
Established in 2015 as a trusted neutral forum to meet increasing demand for effective transnational dispute resolution, the Singapore International Commercial Court (the “SICC”) is a division of the General Division of the...more
3/29/2024
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure ,
Restructuring
One year ago, we wrote that 2022 would be remembered in the corporate bankruptcy world for the “crypto winter” that descended in November 2022 with the spectacular collapse of FTX Trading Ltd., Alameda Research, and...more
2/8/2024
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 7 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Fraudulent Transfers ,
Restructuring ,
Securities Contracts ,
Trustees ,
UFTA
In a 2021 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit revived nearly 100 lawsuits seeking to recover fraudulent transfers made as part of the Madoff Ponzi scheme. In one of the latest chapters in that resurrected...more
2/5/2024
/ Affirmative Defenses ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Bernie Madoff ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Fraudulent Transfers ,
Motion to Amend ,
New York ,
Securities Fraud ,
Setoff Rights ,
SIPA ,
Trustees ,
Unjust Enrichment
Section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code’s “safe harbor” preventing avoidance in bankruptcy of certain securities, commodity, or forward-contract payments has long been a magnet for controversy. Several noteworthy court rulings...more
10/3/2023
/ Article III ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 7 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Fraudulent Transfers ,
Safe Harbors ,
Securities Contracts ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
Standing
There is longstanding controversy concerning the validity of third-party release provisions in non-asbestos trust chapter 11 plans that limit the potential exposure of various nondebtor parties involved in the process of...more
7/28/2023
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Bankruptcy Preferences ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 13 ,
Chapter 15 ,
Chapter 7 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Consumer Bankruptcy ,
Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Restructuring ,
SCOTUS
A bankruptcy trustee's ability to avoid and recover pre-bankruptcy preferential transfers is essential to preserving or augmenting the estate for the benefit of all stakeholders. In 2019, however, the Bankruptcy Code was...more
7/28/2023
/ Affirmative Defenses ,
Avoidance ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Bankruptcy Trustees ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 7 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Debtors-in-Possession ,
Delaware ,
Due Diligence ,
Preferential Transfers
Section 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code provides that the reversal or modification of an order approving a sale or lease of assets in bankruptcy does not affect the validity of the sale or lease to a good-faith purchaser or...more
To prevent landlords under long-term real property leases from reaping a windfall for future rent claims at the expense of other creditors, the Bankruptcy Code caps the amount of a landlord's claim against a debtor-tenant for...more
Lawyer Spotlights: Genna Ghaul and Nicholas J. Morin -
The Year in Bankruptcy: 2022 -
A brief chronicle of the year's notable developments in corporate bankruptcy and restructuring, including business bankruptcy...more
Perhaps given the relative rarity of solvent-debtor cases during the nearly 45 years since the Bankruptcy Code was enacted, a handful of recent high-profile court rulings have addressed whether a solvent chapter 11 debtor is...more
On October 14, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a long-awaited ruling on whether Ultra Petroleum Corp. (“UPC”) must pay a $201 million make-whole premium to noteholders under its confirmed chapter...more
Whether claims have been discharged in bankruptcy is a frequently litigated issue. This is particularly so in chapter 11 cases involving mass tort claims that may have technically "arisen" when the debtor manufactured or sold...more
Bankruptcy and appellate courts disagree over the standard that should apply to a request for payment of a break-up fee or expense reimbursement to the losing bidder in a sale of the debtor’s assets outside the ordinary...more
On June 6, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a much-awaited decision, Siegel v. Fitzgerald, No. 21-441, __. U.S. __, 2022 WL 1914098 (U.S. June 6, 2022), holding unconstitutional certain aspects of Congress’s 2017 amendment...more
Large employers intending to lay off a significant number of their employees are required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 (the "WARN Act") to give the targeted employees 60 days' advance...more
FIFTH CIRCUIT WEIGHS IN ON BANKRUPTCY ASSET SALES FREE AND CLEAR OF LEASEHOLD INTERESTS -
The ability of a trustee or chapter 11 debtor-in-possession (“DIP”) to sell bankruptcy estate assets “free and clear” of competing...more
The ability of a bankruptcy trustee or chapter 11 debtor-in-possession ("DIP") to avoid fraudulent transfers is an important tool to promote the bankruptcy policies of equality of distribution among creditors and maximizing...more
MODIFICATION OF SECURED LOAN UNDER CRAMDOWN CHAPTER 11 PLAN WARRANTED DUE TO PLAN FEASIBILITY THREAT -
Many recent court rulings concerning the treatment of secured creditors under a chapter 11 plan have focused on...more
3/31/2022
/ Absolute Priority Rule ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Certiorari ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 15 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Cramdown ,
Denial of Certiorari ,
Foreign Bankruptcies ,
Hertz ,
Make-Whole Premium ,
Reorganizations ,
SCOTUS
Perhaps surprisingly given the rarity of such cases, a handful of high-profile court rulings recently have addressed whether a solvent chapter 11 debtor is obligated to pay postpetition, pre-effective date interest ("pendency...more
New York Bankruptcy Court Rules That Good Faith Is Not The Gatekeeper To Chapter 15 -
Despite the absence of any explicit directive in the Bankruptcy Code, it is well understood that a debtor must file a chapter 11...more
11/10/2021
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 15 ,
Chapter 7 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Good Faith ,
Insolvency ,
Leveraged Buyout
In yet another chapter in the tortured saga of the fallout from the failed 2007 leveraged buyout ("LBO") of media giant The Tribune Co. ("Tribune") in a transaction orchestrated by real-estate mogul Sam Zell, the U.S. Court...more
11/10/2021
/ Bankrtupcy Code Section 550 ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Breach of Duty ,
Chapter 11 ,
Citigroup ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Common Stock ,
ESOP ,
Fraudulent Transfers ,
Leveraged Buyout ,
Merrill Lynch ,
Section 548 ,
The Tribune Company ,
Unregistered Securities
Secured Lender’s Credit Bid Right In Bankruptcy Sale Denied -
A secured creditor’s right to “credit bid” the amount of its allowed claim in a bankruptcy sale of its collateral is an important creditor protection codified...more
Whether a contract is "executory" such that it can be assumed, rejected, or assigned in bankruptcy is a question infrequently addressed by the circuit courts of appeals. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit...more
9/21/2021
/ 363 Sales ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Contract Terms ,
Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Debtors-in-Possession ,
Executory Contracts ,
Film Industry ,
Materiality ,
Profits ,
Section 365 ,
Work Made For Hire Doctrine