Federal law assigns to U.S. district courts original jurisdiction over all cases under Title 11 (the Bankruptcy Code) and all civil proceedings arising under Title 11 or arising in or relating to Title 11. See 28 U.S.C. §...more
The United States Trustee Program is responsible for the efficient administration of bankruptcy cases throughout most of the country. Since 1986, the Trustee Program has covered all states except North Carolina and Alabama,...more
Bankruptcy Judge James J. Tancredi appeared to give a chapter 7 debtor one last chance to avoid being incarcerated.
In adversary proceedings arising out of the bankruptcy of a thrice-convicted former stockbroker, In re...more
An appeals court ruled recently that chapter 5 avoidance actions are property of a debtor’s bankruptcy estate that can be sold in section 363 sales. In re Simply Essentials, LLC, No. 22-2011, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 21814 (8th...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
7/31/2023
/ Appeals ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Bankruptcy Trustees ,
Chapter 7 ,
Class Action ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Fraudulent Transfers ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
Trustees
On June 30, the Supreme Court ruled that the Biden administration did not have authority to forgive student loans under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES Act). Despite this defeat,...more
7/25/2023
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Biden Administration ,
Brunner/Gerhardt Test ,
Class Action ,
Debt ,
Higher Education Act ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
Relief Measures ,
SCOTUS ,
Student Loans ,
Students ,
Unsecured Debt
Sometimes we blog about cases with unusual fact patterns. The cases don’t stand for any overriding legal principle. They might not have application beyond the parties to them. But they can make for good reading, giving...more
When he was appointed by the Eleventh Circuit, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Peter D. Russin probably did not expect to have to decide who has rights to the Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok handles associated with social-media-forward...more
6/27/2023
/ Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inventions ,
Marketing ,
Personal Brands ,
Social Media ,
Social Selling ,
Summary Judgment ,
Vital Pharmaceuticals
We have blogged a few times about the Supreme Court’s decision in Siegel v. Fitzgerald and its implications. In Siegel, the Supreme Court invalidated the disparity in debtor-paid fees prevailing in most of 2018 between the 88...more
On May 8, cryptocurrency platform Bittrex filed for chapter 11 in Delaware. Bittrex’s first day filings emphasize that, unlike many other crypto filings over the past year, this case is not a “free fall” bankruptcy. In...more
Persuading a bankruptcy judge to find “excusable neglect” after missing a filing deadline is usually a tough sell. You’d think it would be particularly hard when the party seeking relief was “belligerent and disrespectful to...more
We have previously blogged about Bartenwerfer v. Buckley, No. 21-908, a Supreme Court case concerning the scope of the fraud exception to the dischargeability of debts in bankruptcy. Section 523 of the Bankruptcy Code exempts...more
Last Friday, state regulators closed the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a federally insured institution with 17 branches throughout California and Massachusetts. It’s the first bank insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance...more
3/14/2023
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Business Closures ,
Deposit Accounts ,
Deposit Insurance ,
Depository Institutions ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Crisis ,
Financial Institutions ,
Insolvency ,
Receivership ,
Silicon Valley
In a recent per curium opinion, the Fifth Circuit recommitted to its practice of dismissing claims against court-appointed fiduciaries when plaintiffs fail to obtain permission before bringing suit. The court rested its...more
This post is about a junkyard, hogs getting slaughtered, and a bankruptcy judge poised to sanction a creditor and her counsel. The message from the case to would-be claimants in other cases is simple: do not “overreach.” In...more
The concept of “property of the estate” is important in bankruptcy because it determines what property can be used or distributed for the benefit of the debtor’s creditors. Defined by section 541 of the Bankruptcy Code,...more
In 2022, there were several high-profile crypto bankruptcy filings. A big question in these cases is whether there will be any money to satisfy unsecured creditor claims. If there are funds to distribute, then the...more
It’s often hard to persuade a bankruptcy court to grant a motion for substantial contribution. Any attorney thinking about making a motion should first ask herself two questions. First, has my work benefitted both my client...more
12/29/2022
/ Alter Ego ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Bankruptcy Trustees ,
Breach of Duty ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Contribution Claims ,
Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Fraud ,
Section 503
We have previously blogged about Siegel v. Fitzgerald, the Supreme Court decision last June that invalidated the 2018 difference in fees between bankruptcy cases filed in Bankruptcy Administrator judicial districts and U.S....more
12/2/2022
/ Bankruptcy Court ,
Bankruptcy Trustees ,
Certiorari ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Debtors ,
Fees ,
Remedies ,
SCOTUS ,
Siegel v. Fitzgerald ,
Uniformity ,
Vacated
Another domino has fallen. Earlier this year, we wrote about the challenges facing the crypto industry that resulted in the bankruptcy filings of Three Arrows Capital, Celsius Network, and Voyager Digital. We noted that...more
The ramifications of uneven increases to fees in chapter 11 bankruptcies continue to ripple through federal courts.
As we discussed previously, Congress enacted legislation in 2017 that temporarily increased U.S....more
A U.S. bankruptcy court recently denied chapter 15 recognition to a case in the Isle of Man (IOM). The court ruled that the foreign case was neither a foreign main proceeding nor a foreign non-main proceeding...more
To encourage parties to transact with debtors in bankruptcy, the Bankruptcy Code in corporate bankruptcies provides highest priority to “administrative expenses,” which include “the actual, necessary costs and expenses of...more
On September 15, President Biden announced a tentative deal with unions representing tens of thousands of railroad workers that helped narrowly avoid a strike that threatened to devastate the country’s delicate supply chains...more
A bankruptcy court ruled that a creditor didn’t need to seek derivative standing to sue a liquidating trustee. The creditor, himself a trustee of the debtor’s employee stock-option plan, had standing to sue without prior...more