The Bankruptcy Code creates a rebuttable presumption that a proof of claim is prima facie evidence of the claim's validity and amount. Courts disagree, however, over whether that presumption also applies in a proceeding to...more
9/25/2019
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Bifurcation ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 13 ,
Chapter 7 ,
Evidentiary Standards ,
Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure ,
Personal Property ,
Proof of Claims ,
Rebuttable Presumptions ,
Section 502
The scope of discovery available in a bankruptcy case concerning a debtor's conduct, property, financial condition, and related matters is so broad that it has sometimes been likened to a permissible "fishing expedition."...more
On June 3, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Taggart v. Lorenzen, 139 S. Ct. 1795 (2019), that a bankruptcy court may hold a creditor in civil contempt for attempting to collect on a debt that has been discharged in...more
8/21/2019
/ Appeals ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (BAP) ,
Bankruptcy Code § 524(a) ,
Bankruptcy Discharge Order ,
Chapter 7 ,
Civil Contempt Orders ,
Concurrent Litigation ,
Creditors ,
Dischargeable Debts ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Money Judgment ,
Reasonable Belief Test ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Standard of Review ,
Statutory Violations ,
Taggart v Lorenzen ,
Vacated
In In re Ultra Petroleum Corp., 913 F.3d 533(5th Cir. 2019), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that a "make-whole," or "prepayment," premium owed on unsecured notes issued by a chapter 11 debtor...more
In the wake of scandal-driven bankruptcies filed by nearly 20 U.S. Roman Catholic dioceses and religious orders, scrutiny has been increasingly brought to bear on the benefits and burdens that federal bankruptcy laws offer to...more
8/15/2018
/ Alter Ego ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 7 ,
Churches ,
Debtor-Creditor ,
Educational Institutions ,
Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure ,
Hospitals ,
Involuntary Bankruptcy ,
Nonprofits ,
Religious Institutions
On June 4, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lamar, Archer & Cofrin, LLP v. Appling, No. 16-1215, 138 S. Ct. 1752, 2018 WL 2465174 (U.S. June 4, 2018), that an individual debtor's false statement about a single asset, as...more
8/14/2018
/ Adversary Proceedings ,
Appeals ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Business Assets ,
Chapter 7 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Congressional Intent ,
Debtors ,
Dischargeable Debts ,
False Statements ,
Judgment Creditors ,
Lamar Archer & Cofrin LLP v Appling ,
Oral Communications ,
Reaffirmation ,
SCOTUS ,
Tax Returns
In In re SIMA Int'l, Inc., 2018 WL 2293705 (Bankr. D. Conn. May 17, 2018), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut ruled that a chapter 7 trustee's rejection of an intellectual property license agreement did...more
8/14/2018
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Chapter 7 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Debtors ,
Debtors-in-Possession ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Section 365 ,
Split of Authority ,
Trademark Licenses ,
Trademarks
In Varela v. AE Liquidation, Inc. (In re AE Liquidation, Inc.), 866 F.3d 515 (3d Cir. 2017), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit became the sixth circuit court of appeals to rule that a "probability standard"...more
11/27/2017
/ Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 7 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Sales Transactions ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Foreseeability ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Insolvency ,
Layoff Notices ,
Layoffs ,
Liquidation ,
Natural Disasters ,
Notice Requirements ,
Popular ,
Russia ,
WARN Act
In Clark’s Crystal Springs Ranch, LLC v. Gugino (In re Clark), 692 Fed. Appx. 946, 2017 BL 240043 (9th Cir. July 12, 2017), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that: (i) the remedy of "substantive...more
The next few years are expected to see a significant increase in the volume of bankruptcy cases filed by health care providers. Thus far in 2017, the number of bankruptcies in health care-related sectors, including hospitals,...more
10/3/2017
/ Absolute Priority Rule ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Automatic Stay ,
Bundled Services ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 7 ,
Chapter 9 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Debtors ,
Fee-for-Service ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Costs ,
Lenders ,
Medicaid ,
Medical Records ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Provider Agreements ,
Shareholders ,
Trustees
In Schoenmann v. Bank of the West (In re Tenderloin Health), 849 F.3d 1231 (9th Cir. 2017), a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently addressed as a matter of apparent first impression...more
Among the required elements of a claim to avoid a preferential transfer under section 547(b) of the Bankruptcy Code is that, if the creditor-transferee were permitted to retain a pre-bankruptcy payment, it would end up being...more
5/31/2017
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 7 ,
Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Executory Contracts ,
Managed Custody Accounts (MCAs) ,
Preferences ,
Preferential Transfers ,
Section 365 ,
Trustees