In In re Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC, 125 F.4th 555 (5th Cir. 2024), as amended, No. 23-20281 (5th Cir. Jan. 21, 2025), revised and superseded, No. 23-20181 (5th Cir. Feb. 14, 2025), reh'g denied, No. 23-20181 (5th Cir. Feb....more
In a landmark ruling, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that a June 2020 refinancing transaction (the Uptier Transaction) entered by Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC (SSB, or the Debtor) and certain of its lenders...more
On December 31, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued its long-awaited decision regarding the permissibility of the Serta Simmons Bedding (Serta) uptier liability management exercise (the 2020 Uptier)...more
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
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has unanimously held that the debt exchange undertaken by Serta Simmons Bedding did not qualify as an "open market purchase" under the terms of Serta's...more
On August 21, 2024, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas held that, while the debtor breached an agreement arising from an uptier transaction, the creditor was limited to a breach of contract claim and...more
Lenders seeking to challenge controversial, often punitive, liability management transactions scored a recent win in Boardriders. The transaction at issue, a priming uptier exchange transaction favoring certain...more
Black Knight Servicing Technologies, LLC v. PennyMac Loan Services, LLC, Case No. 1D20-1492 (Fla. 1st DCA 2021). The filing of a separate lawsuit raising separate claims against a separate entity does not establish an...more
The recently announced dispute between BorgWarner Inc. and Delphi Technologies PLC relating to BorgWarner’s planned acquisition of Delphi may turn into one of the first cases of a contested mergers and acquisitions (M&A)...more
With respect to lender performance obligations (including to fund advances) under a New York law governed credit agreement, the COVID-19 crisis raises a question as to whether lenders may invoke force majeure (or similar...more
This decision interpreting a credit agreement’s terms is another reminder that an alleged oral modification to a written contract will not vary the contract’s terms when it has an integration clause and otherwise speaks to...more