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
The owners of an ambitious Hawaiian golf project in the Makaha Valley of Oahu said Aloha (hello) to new owners, and Aloha (goodbye) to old debt obligations...more
We have previously written about Siegel v. Fitzgerald, No. 21-441, the Supreme Court case considering the question of whether the 2018 difference in fees between Bankruptcy Administrator judicial districts and U.S. Trustee...more
It’s been a hard year for cryptocurrency. The values of most cryptocurrencies, including major coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, have continued to tumble. In fact, the price of one stablecoin, which is a form of...more
A Delaware bankruptcy court recently held that Texas’s “trust fund doctrine” remains applicable for companies that have not availed themselves of Texas’s formal dissolution process. Nonetheless, fiduciary claims by a...more
6/30/2022
/ Bankruptcy Court ,
Breach of Duty ,
Business Litigation ,
Chapter 7 ,
Debtors ,
Delaware ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Texas ,
Trust Funds ,
Trustees ,
TX Supreme Court
The doctrine of equitable mootness is in the news again. The Supreme Court recently denied a cert. petition in a case where the petitioner wanted the doctrine ruled unconstitutional. KK-PB Financial LLC v. 160 Royal Palm...more
In the world of cryptocurrency, exchange platforms act as intermediaries allowing investors to buy and sell assets while making money through commissions and transaction fees. Any assets purchased may be held in either...more
5/23/2022
/ Beneficial Owner ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Buyers ,
Consumer Bankruptcy ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Markets ,
Investment ,
Sellers ,
SIPC
A discharge in bankruptcy usually discharges a debtor from the debtor’s liabilities. Section 523 of the Bankruptcy Code, however, sets forth certain exceptions to this policy, including for “any debt . . . for money,...more
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan recently reminded us why Delaware choice-of-law provisions are so popular in limited partnership and other agreements. In an adversary proceeding, Judge David S. Jones held that...more
4/29/2022
/ Adversary Proceedings ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Choice-of-Law ,
Delaware ,
Exculpatory Clauses ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Limited Partnerships ,
Partnership Agreements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Legislatures ,
Waivers
The Fifth Circuit recently dismissed an appeal of a confirmation order as equitably moot. The decision was based on three key factors: the appellant hadn’t obtained a stay pending appeal, the plan had been substantially...more
As a result of Purdue Pharma’s proposed plan of reorganization, and the ongoing opioid epidemic that continues to grip the nation, the debate over non-consensual third-party releases has gone mainstream despite being a...more
Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution gives Congress the power to “establish . . . uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States.” While Congress has general authority to...more