Sometimes an expected result is still newsworthy. On March 27, 2025, in Kircher v Boyne USA, Inc., the Michigan Supreme Court held that there is no independent cause of action for breach of the implied covenant of good faith...more
Every three years on April 1, the dollar amounts in the Bankruptcy Code are adjusted to account for inflation. The April 1, 2025, increase will be approximately 13.2%, even larger than the nearly 11% increase three years ago....more
2/12/2025
/ Bankruptcy Appeals ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 13 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Debt Restructuring ,
Debtors ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Involuntary Bankruptcy ,
Reorganizations
On June 27, 2024, the United States Supreme Court issued its long-awaited opinion in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P., holding that the Bankruptcy Code does not permit nonconsensual releases of nondebtors.
As a...more
In March, Miller Canfield noted that the previously expanded debt limits for bankruptcy cases under the Small Business Reorganization Act ("SBRA," a.k.a. "Subchapter V") and under chapter 13 were set to revert on June 21,...more
In 2022, Congress passed the Bankruptcy Threshold Adjustment and Technical Corrections Act (the “Act”), raising the debt limits for bankruptcy cases under the Small Business Reorganization Act (“SBRA,” a.k.a. “Subchapter V”)...more
On April 26, 2023, Miller Canfield alerted readers to the Supreme Court opinion in MOAC Mall Holdings, LLC v. Transform Holdco, LLC. The MOAC decision may affect property sales in bankruptcy cases because it could weaken the...more
3/1/2024
/ 363 Sales ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Jurisdiction ,
Leases ,
MOAC Mall Holdings LLC v Transform Holdco LLC ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Real Estate Transfers ,
Sale of Assets ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 363 ,
Stays
On May 25, 2023, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County, Minnesota, holding that a state tax foreclosure violates the “Takings Clause” of the U.S. Constitution when it “provides no...more
On April 19, 2023, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in MOAC Mall Holdings, LLC v. Transform Holdco, LLC. The decision has implications for sales of property in bankruptcy cases.
Section 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code...more
4/27/2023
/ 363 Sales ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Debtors ,
Jurisdiction ,
Leases ,
MOAC Mall Holdings LLC v Transform Holdco LLC ,
Mootness ,
Sale of Assets ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 363
A debt “for money, property, services, or an extension [. . .] of credit, to the extent obtained by [. . .] actual fraud,” is not dischargeable in a chapter 7 bankruptcy case. Courts have questioned whether this applied if...more
As we reported last year, every three years on April 1, the dollar amounts in the Bankruptcy Code are adjusted to account for inflation. The federal dollar amounts last were increased on April 1, 2022, and are not slated for...more
On January 4, 2023, the judge in the Celsius Network bankruptcy case[1] ruled that Celsius users who had deposited cryptocurrency in Celsius’s “Earn Accounts” had transferred ownership of their cryptocurrency to Celsius....more
As we previously reported, the Bankruptcy Code saw many changes in 2020 and 2021. Some of the changes that were enacted under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 ("CAA") will soon end....more
November 11, 2022, brought news of yet another massive crypto bankruptcy filing. One of the largest crypto exchanges, FTX, filed a petition for bankruptcy protection in Delaware. ...more
Preference defense received an important boost this week when the Eleventh Circuit decided that invoices paid under 11 U.S.C. § 503(b)(9) can count as "new value" in defending against preference claims. It is the first...more
Congress has made some small but important changes to the Bankruptcy Code through its enactment of the Bankruptcy Threshold Adjustment and Technical Corrections Act (the "Act") on June 21, 2022. The most important of these...more
In May 2017, we highlighted the Sixth Circuit’s opinion in Town Center Flats. Briefly, Town Center Flats held that ownership of a commercial property’s rents transferred to a lender when (1) a commercial loan is secured by a...more
In January, Miller Canfield reported on Lowry v. Southfield Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (In re Lowry), an opinion from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Lowry held that a taxpayer in bankruptcy could challenge a...more
Every three years on April 1, the dollar amounts in the Bankruptcy Code are adjusted to account for inflation. The April 1, 2022, increase will be nearly 11%, far greater than the approximately 6.2% increase three years ago....more
A recent opinion from the Michigan Court of Appeals explained that when a debtor defaults under a confirmed chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, a creditor can enforce its rights in state court, and perhaps also in the bankruptcy...more
A recent opinion from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has opened a new door for a taxpayer to challenge a Michigan tax foreclosure sale. The opinion held that the challenge could proceed where the property value was...more
On July 15, 2021, in the Homaidan opinion, the Second Circuit joined the Fifth and Tenth Circuits in deciding that certain student loans are dischargeable in bankruptcy. These three opinions are very important for the student...more
Bankruptcy law has seen many changes in 2020 and 2021. Some of these were enacted in response to COVID, but many other changes were included in the Bankruptcy Code before the pandemic. This article highlights some of these...more
4/5/2021
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
CARES Act ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Landlords ,
Lenders ,
Relief Measures ,
Small Business ,
Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA) ,
Suppliers
In June and December of 2020, Miller Canfield reported that the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits had held that the Small Business Administration ("SBA") may exclude debtors in bankruptcy from consideration for Paycheck Protection...more
1/18/2021
/ CARES Act ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Debtors ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
Lenders ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Relief Measures ,
SBA ,
SBA Lending Programs ,
Small Business
In June of 2020, Miller Canfield reported that the Fifth Circuit held that a Texas bankruptcy court had exceeded its authority when it ordered the SBA Administrator to make a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan available...more
In Michigan, the general rule is that only a real party in interest may initiate a lawsuit. MCR 2.201(B). Although it is usually easy to identify the proper party (or parties), it becomes harder if a would-be plaintiff files...more