News & Analysis as of

Contract Terms Appeals Commercial Bankruptcy

Patton Sullivan Brodehl LLP

Bankruptcy Property Deal Devolves Into Mess of Contract and Fiduciary Duty Claims

The bankruptcy process is often straightforward: the debtor’s debts are discharged, creditors take a haircut of varying degrees, and life moves on.  But some bankruptcy proceedings give birth to complicated agreements that...more

Jones Day

Avianca: Second Court Adopts "Billing Date" Approach to Timely Performance of Unexpired Commercial Personal Property Leases in...

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In 1984 and 1994, Congress amended the Bankruptcy Code to add protections for commercial real property and equipment lessors. Those provisions—sections 365(d)(3) and section 365(d)(5), respectively—generally require a...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

Can Lenders Stay in the Driver’s Seat? The Enforceability of Make-Whole Premiums in Bankruptcy

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Borrowers and lenders must both be aware of the risks relating to uncertainty regarding make-whole premiums in bankruptcy. The enforceability of “make-whole” premiums in bankruptcy has become a hotly contested issue in...more

Goulston & Storrs PC

Rethinking Liability Management in Club Deals and Direct Lending: Lessons from the Fifth Circuit’s Serta Ruling and Beyond

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On December 31, 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (the “Court”) struck down the controversial 2020 “uptier transaction” executed by Serta Simmons Bedding (“Serta”). The Serta case and several other state court and...more

Mayer Brown

Serta and Mitel: The Latest Major Court Decisions on Uptier Transactions

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Summary: On December 31, 2024, two major appellate court decisions addressed the legality of uptier financing transactions—one involving Serta Simmons Bedding (“Serta”) and the other Mitel Networks Corporation (“Mitel”). Both...more

WilmerHale

Serta’s (Un)Surprising Take on Equitable Mootness

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In its New Year’s Eve decision in Serta Simmons Bedding, the Fifth Circuit underscored the importance of drafting debt documents with clarity and precision and cautioned against borrowers’ reliance on ambiguous language to...more

Rivkin Radler LLP

2nd Circuit Refuses to Enforce Insurance Policy’s Arbitration Provision

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A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision refused an attempt to expand the scope of an insurance policy’s arbitration provision, creating the need for extra caution when interpreting policies. In Ehrenberg v. Allied...more

Jones Day

Uptiers in 2025: Impact of the Serta and Mitel Decisions on Liability Management Exercises

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Late last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York issued important rulings regarding the validity of uptier “liability management...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Latest Uptier Decisions in Serta and Mitel Remind Contract Language Matters

The caselaw on “uptiers” as liability management exercises (LMEs) grew by two opinions on the last day of 2024. In Serta, the Fifth Circuit reversed the bankruptcy court’s blessing of the pre-bankruptcy uptier and...more

Mintz - Bankruptcy & Restructuring Viewpoints

In re Weinstein and Mallinckrodt: Implications for Royalty Financings, M&A Earn-Outs, and Other Transactions Involving Future...

Deal structure matters, particularly in bankruptcy. The Third Circuit recently ruled that a creditor’s right to future royalty payments in a non-executory contract could be discharged in the counterparty-debtor’s bankruptcy....more

Goodwin

TPC Bankruptcy and District Court Opinions Uphold Uptiering Transaction and Teach an Important Lesson on the Need for Express...

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A recent U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware opinion, In re TPC Grp. Inc., provided another instance of an uptiering transaction withstanding legal scrutiny and provides further support for the view that courts...more

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

Sears (MOAC v. Transform): Landlord May Rest (Adequately) Assured of ‘Similar’ Financial Condition and Operating Performance, But...

A recent decision from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the District Court) in the bankruptcy cases of Sears Holdings Corp. may loom large in a day and age when shopping mall operators...more

Jones Day

Oil and Gas Industry Update - Sabine Oil Not the Last Word on Treatment of Gathering Agreements in Bankruptcy

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In a leading precedent handed down in 2018—Sabine Oil & Gas Corp. v. Nordheim Eagle Ford Gathering, LLC (In re Sabine Oil & Gas Corp.), 734 Fed. Appx. 64 (2d Cir. May 25, 2018)—the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

A Look at 2019 Court Decisions That May Shape Restructuring Issues in the Year Ahead

A series of decisions over the past year — on issues such as make-whole premiums, intercreditor agreements, backstops for rights offerings and nonconsensual third-party releases — will likely have a significant impact in 2020...more

King & Spalding

Bankruptcy Court Rules that Dedications Within Gathering Agreements "Run with the Land”

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On December 20, 2019, the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas in Alta Mesa Holdings, LP v. Kingfisher Midstream, LLC (In re Alta Mesa Resources, Inc.) held that dedications in gathering agreements create...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

No, You’re a Customer: Recent Second Circuit Decision Circumscribes Merit and Preempts State Law Impairment of Safe Harbor...

On December 19, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (the “Second Circuit”) affirmed a ruling of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “District Court”)...more

Gray Reed

Wave Goodbye To Unenforcable Mineral Lien Waivers: The Houston Court Of Appeals Weighs In With Mesa V. Deep Energy

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The Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston recently issued an opinion that will have profound impacts on mineral liens and contractual provisions purporting to waive mineral liens. The question of whether or not a pre-work...more

ArentFox Schiff

In the Third Circuit, an Intercreditor Agreement Means What it Says

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The Plain Meaning Language of an Intercreditor Agreement Determines Whether it Governs Plan Distributions or Adequate Protection Payments - In a recent non-precedential opinion, the United States Court of Appeals for the...more

FordHarrison

Non-Compete News: – Georgia Court Interprets Non-Compete Statute's "Sale-of-a-Business" Provision

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Georgia’s Restrictive Covenants Act (O.C.G.A. § 13-8-50 et seq.) (“RCA”) governs Georgia non-compete agreements entered into after May 2011. Very few courts have interpreted the RCA since its inception. In Bearoff v. Craton,...more

King & Spalding

Fifth Circuit Denies Post-Petition Default Interest to Fully Secured Creditors

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On June 14, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an opinion affirming bankruptcy and district court decisions finding that, under the terms of the confirmed Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, the debtor’s...more

Rosenberg Martin Greenberg LLP

Fourth Circuit Allows Unsecured Creditors to Assert Claims for Attorneys' Fees In Bankruptcy Cases

Lawyers who represent debtors in bankruptcy cases, supported by rulings from many bankruptcy judges, have long taken the position that creditors with unsecured claims whose agreements with their debtors provide for payment of...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Second Circuit Confirms Physical Suppliers Don't Have Maritime Liens - Bank's Liens Still in Dispute in O.W. Bunker Case

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• In the legal battle of competing maritime lien claims against vessels whose charterers contracted with O.W. Bunker & Trading A/S or its affiliates in October-November 2014, an important decision was issued this week by the...more

Mintz - Bankruptcy & Restructuring Viewpoints

First Circuit Rules that Bankruptcy Court “Retention of Jurisdiction” Provisions Not Enough to Establish Jurisdiction

It is very common for bankruptcy court orders to provide that the court retains jurisdiction to enforce such orders. Similarly, chapter 11 confirmation orders routinely provide that the bankruptcy court retains jurisdiction...more

Sullivan & Worcester

Fair Warning: Amendments or Supplements to Language Often Found in Amended and Restated Loan Agreements May Be Required

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Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued an opinion in the Chapter 7 bankruptcy case Bash v. Textron Financial Corporation (In re Fair Finance Company), which has important effect on a number of legal...more

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