Bankruptcy Judge James J. Tancredi appeared to give a chapter 7 debtor one last chance to avoid being incarcerated.
In adversary proceedings arising out of the bankruptcy of a thrice-convicted former stockbroker, In re...more
Section 544(b)(1) of the Bankruptcy Code enables a trustee to step into the shoes of a creditor and avoid a transfer “of an interest of the debtor in property” that an unsecured creditor could avoid under applicable state...more
7/31/2023
/ Appeals ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Bankruptcy Trustees ,
Chapter 7 ,
Class Action ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Fraudulent Transfers ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
Trustees
On June 30, the Supreme Court ruled that the Biden administration did not have authority to forgive student loans under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES Act). Despite this defeat,...more
7/25/2023
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Biden Administration ,
Brunner/Gerhardt Test ,
Class Action ,
Debt ,
Higher Education Act ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
Relief Measures ,
SCOTUS ,
Student Loans ,
Students ,
Unsecured Debt
Sometimes we blog about cases with unusual fact patterns. The cases don’t stand for any overriding legal principle. They might not have application beyond the parties to them. But they can make for good reading, giving...more
We have blogged a few times about the Supreme Court’s decision in Siegel v. Fitzgerald and its implications. In Siegel, the Supreme Court invalidated the disparity in debtor-paid fees prevailing in most of 2018 between the 88...more
On May 8, cryptocurrency platform Bittrex filed for chapter 11 in Delaware. Bittrex’s first day filings emphasize that, unlike many other crypto filings over the past year, this case is not a “free fall” bankruptcy. In...more
In a recent per curium opinion, the Fifth Circuit recommitted to its practice of dismissing claims against court-appointed fiduciaries when plaintiffs fail to obtain permission before bringing suit. The court rested its...more
This post is about a junkyard, hogs getting slaughtered, and a bankruptcy judge poised to sanction a creditor and her counsel. The message from the case to would-be claimants in other cases is simple: do not “overreach.” In...more
The concept of “property of the estate” is important in bankruptcy because it determines what property can be used or distributed for the benefit of the debtor’s creditors. Defined by section 541 of the Bankruptcy Code,...more
It’s often hard to persuade a bankruptcy court to grant a motion for substantial contribution. Any attorney thinking about making a motion should first ask herself two questions. First, has my work benefitted both my client...more
12/29/2022
/ Alter Ego ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Bankruptcy Trustees ,
Breach of Duty ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Contribution Claims ,
Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Fraud ,
Section 503
We have previously blogged about Siegel v. Fitzgerald, the Supreme Court decision last June that invalidated the 2018 difference in fees between bankruptcy cases filed in Bankruptcy Administrator judicial districts and U.S....more
12/2/2022
/ Bankruptcy Court ,
Bankruptcy Trustees ,
Certiorari ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Debtors ,
Fees ,
Remedies ,
SCOTUS ,
Siegel v. Fitzgerald ,
Uniformity ,
Vacated
Another domino has fallen. Earlier this year, we wrote about the challenges facing the crypto industry that resulted in the bankruptcy filings of Three Arrows Capital, Celsius Network, and Voyager Digital. We noted that...more
A U.S. bankruptcy court recently denied chapter 15 recognition to a case in the Isle of Man (IOM). The court ruled that the foreign case was neither a foreign main proceeding nor a foreign non-main proceeding...more
A bankruptcy court ruled that a creditor didn’t need to seek derivative standing to sue a liquidating trustee. The creditor, himself a trustee of the debtor’s employee stock-option plan, had standing to sue without prior...more
The owners of an ambitious Hawaiian golf project in the Makaha Valley of Oahu said Aloha (hello) to new owners, and Aloha (goodbye) to old debt obligations...more
We have previously written about Siegel v. Fitzgerald, No. 21-441, the Supreme Court case considering the question of whether the 2018 difference in fees between Bankruptcy Administrator judicial districts and U.S. Trustee...more
A Delaware bankruptcy court recently held that Texas’s “trust fund doctrine” remains applicable for companies that have not availed themselves of Texas’s formal dissolution process. Nonetheless, fiduciary claims by a...more
6/30/2022
/ Bankruptcy Court ,
Breach of Duty ,
Business Litigation ,
Chapter 7 ,
Debtors ,
Delaware ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Texas ,
Trust Funds ,
Trustees ,
TX Supreme Court
The doctrine of equitable mootness is in the news again. The Supreme Court recently denied a cert. petition in a case where the petitioner wanted the doctrine ruled unconstitutional. KK-PB Financial LLC v. 160 Royal Palm...more
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan recently reminded us why Delaware choice-of-law provisions are so popular in limited partnership and other agreements. In an adversary proceeding, Judge David S. Jones held that...more
4/29/2022
/ Adversary Proceedings ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Choice-of-Law ,
Delaware ,
Exculpatory Clauses ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Limited Partnerships ,
Partnership Agreements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Legislatures ,
Waivers
The Fifth Circuit recently dismissed an appeal of a confirmation order as equitably moot. The decision was based on three key factors: the appellant hadn’t obtained a stay pending appeal, the plan had been substantially...more
As a result of Purdue Pharma’s proposed plan of reorganization, and the ongoing opioid epidemic that continues to grip the nation, the debate over non-consensual third-party releases has gone mainstream despite being a...more
Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution gives Congress the power to “establish . . . uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States.” While Congress has general authority to...more
“[E]nsnared between his involvement in a business that is legal under the laws of Arizona but illegal under federal law,” one debtor’s chapter 13 petition was recently dismissed due to his undisputed violations of the...more
A recent decision applied the ordinary course of business defense to a preferential transfer claim where the parties had engaged in only two transactions. In re Reagor Dykes Motors, LP, Case No. 18-50214, Adv. No. 20-05031,...more
“Messrs. Woods and Wu are fraudsters,” Judge Christopher S. Sontchi declared in the opening salvo of his scathing opinion. According to the former Chief Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, Woods...more
11/29/2021
/ Bankruptcy Court ,
CARES Act ,
Civil Contempt Orders ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Debtors ,
Delaware ,
Evidence ,
Fraud ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Relief Measures