On January 14, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court held in City of Chicago v. Fulton, 592 U.S. __ (2021), that a creditor in possession of a debtor's property does not violate the automatic stay, specifically section 362(a)(3) of...more
One year ago, we wrote that the large business bankruptcy landscape in 2019 was generally shaped by economic, market, and leverage factors, with notable exceptions for disastrous wildfires, liabilities arising from the opioid...more
In the latest chapter of more than a decade of litigation involving efforts to recover fictitious profits paid to certain customers of Bernard Madoff's defunct brokerage firm as part of the largest Ponzi scheme in history,...more
The Situation: Circuit courts were split on whether mere retention by a creditor of estate property violates the Bankruptcy Code's automatic stay, under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a)(3). The U.S. Supreme Court considered the question in...more
The ability of a bankruptcy trustee to avoid certain transfers of a debtor's property and to recover the property or its value from the transferees is an essential tool in maximizing the value of a bankruptcy estate for the...more
The practice of conferring "derivative standing" on official creditors' committees to assert claims on behalf of a bankruptcy estate in cases where the debtor or a bankruptcy trustee is unwilling or unable to do so is a...more
10/21/2020
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Breach of Duty ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 7 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Creditors ,
Debtors-in-Possession ,
Equitable Subordination ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Real Party in Interest ,
Standing
In This Issue:
Eighth Circuit Rules that Bankruptcy Code's Cap on Lease Damage Claims Applies to Fraudulent Transfer Judgment -
In Lariat Cos. v. Wigley (In re Wigley), 951 F.3d 967 (8th Cir. 2020), the U.S. Court of...more
9/1/2020
/ Bankruptcy Plans ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Consumer Bankruptcy ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Force Majeure Clause ,
Reorganizations ,
Safe Harbors ,
Securities Transactions ,
Successor Liability
To prevent landlords under long-term real property leases from reaping a windfall for future rent claims at the expense of other creditors, section 502(b)(6) of the Bankruptcy Code caps the amount of a landlord's claims...more
In Taggart v. Lorenzen, 139 S. Ct. 1795 (June 3, 2019), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a bankruptcy court may hold a creditor in civil contempt for attempting to collect on a debt that has been discharged in bankruptcy "if...more
6/2/2020
/ 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 ,
Strict Liability ,
Taggart v Lorenzen ,
Vacated
The Situation: Effects from the COVID-19 global pandemic continue to impact adversely the operations and financial results of Latin American issuers.
The Opportunity: In the current environment, Latin American issuers with...more
In McKillen v. Wallace (In re Irish Bank Resolution Corp. Ltd.), 2019 WL 4740249 (D. Del. Sept. 27, 2019), the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware had an opportunity to consider, as an apparent matter of first...more
2/27/2020
/ Adversary Proceedings ,
Appeals ,
Automatic Stay ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Barton Doctrine ,
Breach of Duty ,
Chapter 15 ,
Court-Appointed Receivers ,
Debtors-in-Possession ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Personal Liability ,
Trustees
Chapter 11 Plan Distributions Are Not Collateral Covered by Intercreditor Agreement's Waterfall Provision -
In In re Energy Future Holdings Corp., 2019 WL 2535700 (3d Cir. June 19, 2019), a panel of the U.S. Court of...more
9/26/2019
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Reform ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 15 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Cross-Border ,
Debt Restructuring ,
Debtors ,
Financial Institutions ,
Insolvency ,
Trump Administration
In This Issue:
Washington District Court Overturns Approval of Third-Party Releases in a Settlement Agreement and Related Free-and-Clear Sale -
In In re Fraser’s Boiler Serv., Inc., 2019 WL 1099713 (D. Wash. Mar. 18,...more
8/21/2019
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Bankruptcy Discharge Order ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 15 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Debt Collection ,
FERC ,
Foreign Debt ,
PG&E ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Taggart v Lorenzen
In In re O’Reilly, 598 B.R. 784 (Bankr. W.D. Pa. 2019), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania denied the petition of a foreign bankruptcy trustee for recognition under chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy...more
U.S. courts have a long-standing tradition of recognizing or enforcing the laws and court rulings of other nations as an exercise of international "comity." Since chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code was enacted in 2005, it has...more
For more than a century, courts in England and Wales have refused to recognize or enforce foreign court judgments or proceedings that discharge or compromise debts governed by English law. In accordance with a rule (the...more
U.S. courts have a long-standing tradition of recognizing or enforcing the laws and court rulings of other nations as an exercise of international "comity." Prior to the enactment of chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code in 2005,...more
In In re Avanti Commc'ns Grp. PLC, 582 B.R. 603 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2018), Judge Martin Glenn of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York entered an order under chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code enforcing...more
Even if a U.S. court has jurisdiction over a lawsuit involving foreign litigants, the court may conclude that a foreign court is better suited to adjudicate the dispute because either: (i) it would be more convenient, fair,...more
6/8/2018
/ Aiding and Abetting ,
Avoidance ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Breach of Duty ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 15 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Cross-Border ,
Debtors ,
Foreign Bankruptcies ,
Foreign Debt ,
Forum Non Conveniens ,
Forum Shopping ,
Fraudulent Transfers ,
Jurisdiction
In determining whether a U.S. bankruptcy court should provide the representative of a foreign debtor with various forms of assistance in a case under chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code, the court must consider, consistent with...more
4/19/2018
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Chapter 15 ,
Choice-of-Law ,
Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Foreign Debt ,
Foreign Jurisdictions ,
Insolvency ,
Jurisdiction ,
The Model Law ,
Venue
With the significant increase in cross-border bankruptcy and insolvency filings in the 43 nations or territories that have adopted the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (the "Model Law"), including the U.S., the...more
11/22/2017
/ Cayman Islands ,
Chapter 15 ,
COMI ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Credit Agreements ,
Cross-Border ,
Debt Restructuring ,
Debtor-Creditor ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Debt ,
Insolvency ,
Jurisdiction ,
Liquidation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
In cross-border restructuring cases, interested parties increasingly rely on court-approved insolvency protocols to aid in managing complex insolvencies involving debtors' assets, liabilities, or operations that span...more
9/6/2017
/ Chapter 11 ,
Claim Procedures ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Confidential Information ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Debt Restructuring ,
Debtors ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Information Sharing ,
Insolvency ,
International Litigation ,
Trustees
In the March/April 2013 edition of the Business Restructuring Review, we reported on an opinion by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York concluding that a chapter 15 debtor’s sale of claims against...more
8/16/2017
/ 363 Sales ,
Abandonment ,
Appeals ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Bernie Madoff ,
British Virgin Islands ,
Chapter 15 ,
Comity ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Court Nullification ,
Debtors ,
Determination on Remand ,
Foreign Debt ,
Jurisdiction ,
Liquidation ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
Reaffirmation ,
Sale of Assets ,
SIPA
In cross-border restructuring cases, including cases under chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and versions of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency enacted in 42 other nations or territories, interested...more
On April 5 and June 8, 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives passed bills (the Financial Institution Bankruptcy Act of 2017 ("FIBA") and the Financial CHOICE Act of 2017) that would allow financial institutions to seek...more