The Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel held that the Social Security Administration’s withholding of post-petition benefits to satisfy the debtor’s prepetition obligation to repay overpayments qualifies as recoupment...more
Recently, two significant distressed companies with thousands of commercial leases, Rite Aid Corp. and WeWork Inc., each filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, seeking in part to rationalize their geographic footprints through...more
The Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel holds that a discharge injunction does not bar an alter ego claim against a non-debtor where, under applicable law, the result of an alter ego finding is not to deem the entities...more
The discharge provided in bankruptcy is fundamental, allowing the “honest but unfortunate” debtor a fresh start. There are various exceptions to the discharge found in Sections 523 and 727 of the Bankruptcy Code—designed to...more
Tough economic conditions are leaving cannabis businesses with fewer financing and transaction options. Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a tool which many businesses have used to reorganize or liquidate, has historically been...more
Could bankruptcy protection be on the horizon for individuals and companies actively involved in the cannabis industry? Potentially yes, following President Biden’s October 6, 2022 request for the Secretary of Health and...more
The Ninth Circuit BAP explains that “commercial or business activities” that satisfy section 1182(1)(A)’s Subchapter V eligibility requirement “would include not-for-profit businesses, and would not be limited to those having...more
I recently had the pleasure of working with my colleagues Benny Roshan and Jillian Berk on an appeal before the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (B.A.P), which tested the ever-evolving intersection between bankruptcy...more
The ability of a bankruptcy trustee or chapter 11 debtor-in-possession ("DIP") to obtain credit or financing during the course of a bankruptcy case is often crucial to the debtor's prospects for either maintaining operations...more
In Hafen v. Adams (In re Hafen), 616 B.R. 570 (B.A.P. 10th Cir. 2020), a bankruptcy appellate panel from the Tenth Circuit ("BAP") held that the bankruptcy court is the only court with subject-matter jurisdiction to decide...more
In an important affirmation of the rights and duties of a creditors’ committee, Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Mexico has confirmed that a bankruptcy court may...more
It is generally well understood that an "oversecured" creditor is entitled to interest and, to the extent provided for under a loan agreement, related fees and charges as part of its secured claim in a bankruptcy case....more
“Can an unsecured creditor be better off when the debtor defaults rather than paying off the debt? Yes: Law can be stranger than fiction in the Preference Zone.”—Ninth Circuit Untimely payment by tenants and other obligors...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
A junior lienholder that receives a payment to release its “out of the money” lien may not have to repay it if their borrower files for bankruptcy shortly thereafter as decided recently in Lauter v. Wells Fargo Bank (In re...more
So you (allegedly) violated a bankruptcy court order. Whether the debtor alleges you violated the terms of a confirmed plan, failed to provide certain notices required by the bankruptcy rules, violated the discharge...more
The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the First Circuit has affirmed an earlier decision that concluded a borrower’s right to redeem terminates when the gavel falls at a foreclosure auction, and not when a deed is recorded. ...more
Recently, the United States Supreme Court in Taggart v. Lorenzen set the legal standard that should be followed by bankruptcy courts when determining whether to hold a creditor in civil contempt for attempting to collect a...more
On June 3, 2019, Justice Breyer delivered a unanimous opinion of the Supreme Court conclusively establishing the standard courts must apply to hold a creditor in civil contempt for violation of a bankruptcy discharge order....more
On June 3, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Taggart v. Lorenzen, 139 S. Ct. 1795 (2019), that a bankruptcy court may hold a creditor in civil contempt for attempting to collect on a debt that has been discharged in...more
In Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC, 139 S. Ct. 652, 2019 WL 2166392 (U.S. May 20, 2019), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the rejection in bankruptcy of a trademark license agreement, which constitutes a...more
In Taggart v. Lorenzen, the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' Order, which affirmed the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel's Order vacating civil contempt sanctions against Bradley Taggart's ("Bradley")...more
The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari to determine the applicable legal standard for holding a creditor in civil contempt when a creditor attempts to collect a debt that falls within an issued bankruptcy...more
In the recent decision of Taggart v. Lorenzen, the Supreme Court held that a court may hold a creditor in civil contempt for violating a discharge order if there is no fair ground of doubt as to whether the order barred the...more
What happens if you are a trademark licensee and your licensor files for bankruptcy protection? Can the licensor unilaterally terminate your license and prohibit you from using the license – even if you're in the middle of...more