Fairness & Solvency Opinions Shouldn't Be Overlooked Amid Restructuring Wave
Asset Protection 101: Are You and Your Family Protected from Litigation, Creditors, and Divorce?
Bill on Bankruptcy: Rakoff Reverses Himself in Madoff Case
As you know from our prior alerts, creditors of borrowers formed as Delaware LLCs (as opposed to corporations) lack standing under Delaware law to sue directors for breaching fiduciary duties even when, to the surprise of...more
Publicly, Diamond Finance Co. (“Diamond”) provided car loans to individuals with less-than-stellar credit. While Diamond did have “some actual business,” its purpose “quickly became a front to lure unsuspecting investors.”...more
One year ago, we wrote that 2022 would be remembered in the corporate bankruptcy world for the “crypto winter” that descended in November 2022 with the spectacular collapse of FTX Trading Ltd., Alameda Research, and...more
Section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code’s “safe harbor” preventing avoidance in bankruptcy of certain securities, commodity, or forward-contract payments has long been a magnet for controversy. Several noteworthy court rulings...more
In Mann v. LSQ Funding Group, L.C., 71 F.4th 640 (7th Cir. 2023), reh'g denied, 2023 WL 4684702 (7th Cir. July 21, 2023), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the entry of summary judgment by a Wisconsin...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
AUTOMATIC STAY - 1.1 Covered Activities 1.1.a Court denies injunction against actions involving debtors’ affiliates. Shortly after filing their chapter 11 cases, the debtors in possession sought, in the alternative,...more
On August 3, 2022, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware partially dismissed fraudulent transfer claims asserted by the chapter 7 trustee for Bayou Steel against Black Diamond Capital Management (and...more
On August 18, 2022, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana, in In re BWGS, LLC, No. 19-01487-JMC-7A, 2022 WL 3568045 (Bankr. S.D. Ind. Aug. 18, 2022), narrowly interpreted the safe harbor...more
A recent decision by Delaware Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey will limit the ability of bankruptcy trustees to expand the lookback period for avoiding pre-bankruptcy transfers beyond the four years provided under most state law...more
Traditional avoidance actions under the Bankruptcy Code, i.e., preferences and fraudulent transfers, have laudable goals: (a) to provide equal treatment to creditors of an insolvent company and (b) to claw back otherwise...more
In the latest chapter of more than a decade of litigation involving efforts to recover fictitious profits paid to certain customers of Bernard Madoff's defunct brokerage firm as part of the largest Ponzi scheme in history,...more
The ability of a bankruptcy trustee or chapter 11 debtor-in-possession ("DIP") to avoid fraudulent transfers is an important tool promoting the bankruptcy policies of equality of distribution among creditors and maximizing...more
Amidst a global pandemic, there were plenty of interesting bankruptcy and restructuring events and changes that occurred in 2020. We saw new Bankruptcy Code amendments go into effect (through the Small Business Reorganization...more
The ability of a bankruptcy trustee to avoid certain transfers of a debtor's property and to recover the property or its value from the transferees is an essential tool in maximizing the value of a bankruptcy estate for the...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
A recent opinion by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina kept alive a bankruptcy trustee’s fraudulent conveyance claims based on, in part, the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) 10-year...more
Any creditor that has experienced more than a few customers or borrowers filing for bankruptcy is aware that there is a risk of being sued by a trustee to avoid transfers that the creditor received prior to the bankruptcy...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has ruled that proceeds from property that was fraudulently transferred cannot be recovered under Section 550 of the Bankruptcy Code. ...more
It is well established that by filing a proof of claim in bankruptcy, a creditor submits itself to the equitable jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court and waives any right it would otherwise have to a jury trial with respect...more
The Delaware Bankruptcy Court in Giuliano v. Schnable (In re DSI Renal Holdings LLC), Adv. Case No. 14-50356, 2020 WL 550987, (Bankr. D. Del. Feb. 4, 2020), determined any recovery obtained by the chapter 7 trustee on account...more
Last month the First Circuit Court of Appeals became the first federal appellate court to take up the matter of whether college tuition paid for an adult child by a bankrupt parent constitutes a fraudulent transfer. Chief...more
Recently, the First Circuit held that a parent’s tuition payments on behalf of an adult child do not benefit the parent’s bankruptcy estate, and a Chapter 7 trustee may therefore claw the payments back as fraudulent...more
Section 548 of the Bankruptcy Code enables trustees to avoid certain pre-bankruptcy transfers of “an interest of the debtor in property,” where the transfer was intended to defraud creditors or where the transfer was made...more
“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth: Ben Franklin on Money and Success (1758). For parents paying their adult child’s college education costs, however, this...more