Courts overseeing receivers generally enjoy broad discretion in directing and approving a receiver’s proposed actions. But does that authority extend to a receiver not only granting a super-priority lien ahead of existing...more
The recent Spanish Peaks decision from the Ninth Circuit (covering Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington) deepens the split in case law on the ability to strip off leases in a...more
Handling distressed agricultural loans can be very tricky. Loan balances for agricultural loans are typically smaller than nonagricultural commercial real property secured loans, requiring that they be handled extremely cost...more
The Seventh Circuit (which covers Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin) appears to have added a new and potentially conflicting standard in analyzing a third-party transferee’s “good faith” defense to a fraudulent transfer...more
In June, the US Supreme Court decided the case of debtors in bankruptcy desirous of stripping off a lender’s real estate lien that was fully in excess of the fair market value of the real estate. The Supreme Court unanimously...more
The Issue and Background - Debtors David Caulkett and Edelmiro Toledo-Cardona (“Debtors”) each filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy relief with “underwater” junior mortgages held by Bank of America, N.A. (“Bank”). In other...more
A Battle in the Making in the Oil and Gas Sector: Second Lien vs. High Yield Debt - In the oil and gas industry, there is a storm brewing between holders of second lien debt and unsecured high yield bonds. These...more
Reaffirming its 1992 decision in Dewsnup v. Timm, on June 1, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court in Bank of America v. Caulkett, No. 13-1421, once again ruled that a chapter 7 debtor may not void a junior lien under Bankruptcy Code...more
The U.S. Supreme Court held that a secured creditor in a chapter 7 bankruptcy case is protected from having its lien “stripped off” even if the collateral securing its claim is worth less than the claims asserted by a senior...more
On June 1, 2015, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling resolving a split amongst circuit courts in which the 11th circuit was the singular minority, addressing the permissibility of “lien-stripping” in...more
Three significant opinions issued by the US Supreme Court in the last few months will impact lenders and investors. Bank of America v. Caulkett - In a major win for the nation’s mortgage lenders and...more
On Monday, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the principle that junior “underwater” residential mortgage liens can “pass through” a bankruptcy case unaffected. In Bank of America, N.A. v. Caulkett, the Supreme Court held...more
On June 1, 2015, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Bank of America, N.A. v. Caulkett, in which all nine Justices joined in an opinion that reversed an Eleventh Circuit ruling that chapter 7 debtors may...more
On June 1, 2015, the United States Supreme Court in Bank of America, N.A. v. Caulkett, 575 U.S. ____ (2015), unanimously held that a Chapter 7 debtor cannot strip off wholly “underwater” liens secured by the debtor’s...more
Since September 2014, the lending industry has been scrambling to understand and reconcile the Nevada Supreme Court decision in SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC v. U.S. Bank, N.A., a decision that could potentially wash away...more
Since its 1989 opinion in Folendore v. Small Business Admin., the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has allowed debtors to completely strip off and void wholly unsecured junior liens in Chapter 7 bankruptcies under Section...more
On March 24th, the Supreme Court heard oral argument on the consolidated appeals of two decisions from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Bank of America v. Caulkett and Bank of America v. Toledo-Cardona. The appeals...more
“Lien stripping” often takes two forms. A debtor’s attempt to void the unsecured portion of a lien when there is some but not enough equity in collateral to fully cover a lienholder’s entire debt is commonly referred to as a...more
Three bankruptcy courts within the Eleventh Circuit have recently issued opinions in which they have reluctantly allowed the debtor to entirely strip off the interests held by junior lienholders when the value of the real...more