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
3/27/2025
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Bankruptcy Trustees ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Commercial Leases ,
Debtors ,
Debtors-in-Possession ,
Executory Contracts ,
Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure ,
Rite Aid
The Year in Bankruptcy: 2024 -
A brief chronicle of the year's notable developments in corporate bankruptcy and restructuring, including business bankruptcy filings, significant court rulings, and legislative...more
2/4/2025
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 15 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Creditors ,
Debt Restructuring ,
Debtors ,
Insolvency ,
Restructuring
Chapter 11 plans that propose to extinguish existing equity interests because the estate does not have any value remaining after the payment of creditor claims are common. The Bankruptcy Code's "absolute priority rule"...more
Hertz: Third Circuit Weighs In On Make-Whole Premiums And The “Solvent-debtor Exception” In Chapter 11 Cases -
A handful of recent high-profile court rulings have considered whether a chapter 11 debtor is obligated to pay...more
12/18/2024
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Cramdown ,
Creditors ,
Debt Instruments ,
Debtors ,
Financial Solvency ,
Hertz ,
Make-Whole Premium ,
Proof of Claims ,
Securities Contracts ,
Setoff Rights
A handful of recent high-profile court rulings have considered whether a chapter 11 debtor is obligated to pay postpetition, pre-effective date interest ("pendency interest") to unsecured creditors to render their claims...more
12/13/2024
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Cramdown ,
Creditors ,
Debt Instruments ,
Debtors ,
Financial Solvency ,
Hertz ,
Make-Whole Premium
A bedrock principle underlying chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code is that creditors, shareholders, and other stakeholders should be provided with adequate information to make an informed decision to either accept or reject a...more
Section 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code provides that the reversal or modification of an order approving a sale or lease of assets in bankruptcy does not affect the validity of the sale or lease to a good-faith purchaser or...more
In Short -
The Situation: The U.S. Supreme Court considered whether § 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code, which limits a party's ability to undo an asset transfer made to a good-faith purchaser in a bankruptcy case, is...more
4/26/2023
/ 363 Sales ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Debtors ,
Jurisdiction ,
MOAC Mall Holdings LLC v Transform Holdco LLC ,
Mootness ,
Sale of Assets ,
SCOTUS ,
Sears ,
Section 363
Lawyer Spotlights: Genna Ghaul and Nicholas J. Morin -
The Year in Bankruptcy: 2022 -
A brief chronicle of the year's notable developments in corporate bankruptcy and restructuring, including business bankruptcy...more
The ability of a bankruptcy trustee or chapter 11 debtor-in-possession ("DIP") to assume, assume and assign, or reject executory contracts and unexpired leases is an important tool designed to promote a "fresh start" for...more
Bankruptcy and appellate courts disagree over the standard that should apply to a request for payment of a break-up fee or expense reimbursement to the losing bidder in a sale of the debtor’s assets outside the ordinary...more
Secured Lender’s Credit Bid Right In Bankruptcy Sale Denied -
A secured creditor’s right to “credit bid” the amount of its allowed claim in a bankruptcy sale of its collateral is an important creditor protection codified...more
On October 26, 2020, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas issued a long-awaited ruling on whether natural gas exploration and production company Ultra Petroleum Corp. ("UPC") must pay a make-whole...more
A basic tenet of bankruptcy law, premised on the legal separateness of a debtor prior to filing for bankruptcy and the estate created upon a bankruptcy filing, is that prepetition debts are generally treated differently than...more
3/2/2020
/ Administrative Expenses ,
Administrative Priority ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Bifurcation ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 7 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Congressional Intent ,
Debtors ,
Gross Receipts Tax ,
Income Taxes ,
Legislative History ,
Tax Liability
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...more
1/29/2020
/ Appeals ,
Automatic Stay ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Dismissals ,
Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure ,
Mootness ,
Motion for Relief from Automatic Stay ,
Non-Appealable Decisions ,
Right To Appeal ,
Ritzen Group Inc v Jackson Masonry LLC ,
SCOTUS ,
Time-Barred Claims
Chapter 11 Plan Distributions Are Not Collateral Covered by Intercreditor Agreement's Waterfall Provision -
In In re Energy Future Holdings Corp., 2019 WL 2535700 (3d Cir. June 19, 2019), a panel of the U.S. Court of...more
9/26/2019
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Reform ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 15 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Cross-Border ,
Debt Restructuring ,
Debtors ,
Financial Institutions ,
Insolvency ,
Trump Administration
In In re Tribune Co. Fraudulent Conveyance Litig., 2019 WL 1771786 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 23, 2019), the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied a litigation trustee’s motion to amend a complaint seeking to...more
6/19/2019
/ Avoidance ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Financial Institutions ,
Fraudulent Transfers ,
Intermediaries ,
Leveraged Buyout ,
Merit Management Group v FTI Consulting ,
Safe Harbors ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 546(e) ,
Split of Authority ,
Trustees
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a highly anticipated ruling resolving a long-standing circuit split over the scope of the Bankruptcy Code's "safe harbor" provision exempting certain securities transaction payments from...more
3/8/2018
/ Avoidance ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Debtors ,
Financial Institutions ,
Fraudulent Transfers ,
Intermediaries ,
Merit Management Group v FTI Consulting ,
Safe Harbors ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 546(e) ,
Split of Authority ,
Trustees
In In re Ultra Petroleum Corp., 2017 BL 335015 (Bankr. S.D. Tex. Sept. 21, 2017), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled that certain private-placement noteholders were entitled to receive a...more
The Situation: In In re MPM Silicones, L.L.C., secured noteholders argued that replacement notes distributed to them under a cram-down chapter 11 plan should bear market-rate interest rather than the lower formula rate...more
10/26/2017
/ Appeals ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Cramdown ,
Debtors ,
First-Lien ,
Form 10-K ,
Form 8-K ,
Interest Rates ,
Make-Whole Premium ,
Mezzanine Lenders ,
Noteholders ,
Secured Notes ,
Subordination
The Situation: After a ruling in In re Ultra Petroleum Corp. by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, certain private-placement noteholders are entitled to a "make-whole" premium in excess of $200...more
On May 1, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Merit Management Group v. FTI Consulting, No. 16-784, on appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals from the Seventh Circuit. See FTI Consulting, Inc. v. Merit Management...more