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
Massachusetts AG Maura Healey reached a settlement with subprime automobile finance company United Auto Credit Corporation (“UACC”) to resolve allegations that it facilitated the sale of defective vehicles and forced some...more
During normal times, creditors face a number of requirements when looking to exercise their self-help repossession rights in the event of a borrower’s default. Some of the factors a creditor must normally consider are...more
Real Property Update - Foreclosure / Bankruptcy / Surrender: borrower cannot challenge judgment of foreclosure entered upon judicial notice of his statement of intention to surrender the property and order of discharge...more
Suppose you own farmland or retail commercial space and you lease your property. What happens to your lease if the lessee files bankruptcy? And what must be done if your lessee wants to continue to honor your lease...more
Welcome to Part IV of our series on servicing discharged mortgage debt. This part will discuss modifying a borrower’s loan post-discharge. (If you missed Part I, Part II or Part III, go ahead and catch up.) Part III discussed...more
On October 31, 2018, Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal recently distinguished two of its prior opinions and held that a foreclosure plaintiff does not lose its standing as a holder of a negotiable instrument if it...more
Chapter 7 trustees play a vital and essential role in the United States bankruptcy system. In every Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, a Chapter 7 trustee is appointed by the bankruptcy court to oversee the administration of the...more
For the third time in less than two years, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a chapter 7 debtor who does not reaffirm secured debt or redeem the property must surrender the property. In re Woide, No....more
The Eleventh Circuit’s ruling in the Failla case was triumph for mortgage lenders when it affirmed the District Court’s opinion that “once the debtor decides to ‘surrender’ secured property… [w]hile the debtor need not...more
Most veterans of commercial leasing are familiar with the concept of a surrender clause but might not have been tasked with negotiating its meaning following lease expiration. A recent federal court decision sheds light on...more
Under Section 521(a)(2)(A) of the federal bankruptcy code, a debtor in a chapter 7 bankruptcy must file a statement within 30 days of the bankruptcy filing notifying the court, creditors and the trustee whether the debtor...more
Burr & Forman lawyers won a significant victory in the Eleventh Circuit earlier this month. In the case In re: David A. Failla, — F.3d — (2016), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that a person who...more
In recent years, there has been a hotbed of litigation across the nation, particularly in Florida state and bankruptcy courts, regarding a debtor’s ability to contest a secured creditor’s foreclosure notwithstanding the...more