The ability to assume, assume and assign, or reject executory contracts and unexpired leases is a power central to ability of a bankruptcy trustee or chapter 11 debtor-in-possession ("DIP") to maximize the value of the estate...more
The first full year of the post-COVID-pandemic era was characterized in the United States by continued economic recovery, persistently high consumer interest rates—despite three cuts in the benchmark federal funds rate in...more
Established in 2015 as a trusted neutral forum to meet increasing demand for effective transnational dispute resolution, the Singapore International Commercial Court (the “SICC”) is a division of the General Division of the...more
Even after a bankruptcy court has confirmed a chapter 11 plan, changed circumstances prior to the plan's implementation and "substantial consummation" might make alterations to the plan necessary. If a proposed change is...more
Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9006(b) provides that, generally, “when an act is required to be done at or within a specified period by these rules or by a notice given thereunder or by order of court, the court for...more
The legal wrangling over Purdue Pharma, L.P.’s bankruptcy plan has been splashed over the news. The plan would see Purdue Pharma become a non-profit organization, and the Sackler family that had owned the company would...more
In a recent opinion from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California, Judge Christopher Klein sanctioned a decedent’s estate’s representative and its lawyer for frivolously and repeatedly...more
Another case shows the perils of waiting until the final minutes to meet a court deadline. In re U-Haul, 21-bk-20140, 2021 Bankr LEXIS 3373 (Bankr. S.D. W. Va. Dec. 10, 2021). The debtor is a well-known truck rental...more
Each year amendments are made to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, which govern how bankruptcy cases are managed. The amendments address issues identified by an Advisory Committee made up of federal judges,...more
There is more than one way that a creditor of a bankrupt entity (or debtor) can directly prosecute its claims in bankruptcy. If the creditor is involved in prepetition litigation with the debtor, it could request relief from...more
Chapter 11 petitions usually are accompanied by a panoply of first day motions. A newly-minted chapter 11 debtor needs to be able to - among other things - pay its employees and continue employee benefits in the ordinary...more
Recently, in In re Dura Automotive Systems, No. 19-12378 (Bankr. D. Del. June 9, 2020), the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware held that granting the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (the Committee)...more
Creditors risk losing important rights in bankruptcy cases if deadlines are not met. Unfortunately, sometimes the existence or relevance of a deadline is not obvious to a creditor. Indeed, bankruptcy notices can be...more
When there are large numbers of substantial individual tort claims against a debtor, potentially involving claimants unknowable to the debtor who themselves may not know they have a claim, the bankruptcy process faces special...more
The Bottom Line - The United States Supreme Court recently issued a unanimous decision in Ritzen Group, Inc. v. Jackson Masonry, LLC, No. 19-938 589 U.S. __ (2020), which held that a bankruptcy court’s unreserved denial...more
On January 14, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a decision resolving the question of whether a motion for relief from the automatic stay constitutes a discrete dispute within the bankruptcy that creates a...more
The Situation. In Ritzen Group, Inc. v. Jackson Masonry, LLC, the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether bankruptcy court orders conclusively denying relief from the Bankruptcy Code's automatic stay are immediately appealable....more
In a unanimous opinion released last week, the Supreme Court provided guidance as to how to determine the finality of an order in a bankruptcy case for purposes of an appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 158(a). The Court held that the...more
On January 14, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an opinion clarifying what constitutes a final order for purposes of bankruptcy appeal. The Ritzen decision comes a few years after the Supreme Court in...more
Under the Bankruptcy Code, filing a bankruptcy petition automatically halts efforts to collect pre-petition debts from the debtor outside of bankruptcy. This is the "automatic stay," and it is a command, not a suggestion....more
Earlier this week, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion regarding appeals of orders denying relief from the automatic stay. Generally, the automatic stay (section 362 of the Bankruptcy Code) prevents creditors...more
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States issued two opinions: Ritzen Group, Inc. v. Jackson Masonry, LLC, No. 18-938: After petitioner Ritzen Group brought a breach of contract claim against respondent Jackson Masonry...more
On January 14, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Ritzen Group, Inc. v. Jackson Masonry, LLC, No. 18-938, holding that an order unreservedly ruling on a creditor’s motion for relief from bankruptcy’s...more
Today, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion of interest to every debtor and creditor in a bankruptcy case as the decision involves the automatic stay. The appeal involved a bankruptcy court’s order that enforced...more
Judge Martin Glenn last week issued a decision in two related chapter 15 cases, In re Foreign Econ. Indus. Bank Ltd. “Vneshprombank” Ltd., No. 16-13534, and In re Larisa Markus, No. 19-10096, 2019 Bankr. LEXIS 3203 (Bankr....more