Despite the absence of any explicit directive in the Bankruptcy Code, it is well understood that a debtor must file a chapter 11 petition in good faith. The bankruptcy court can dismiss a bad faith filing "for cause," which...more
11/10/2021
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 15 ,
COMI ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Creditors ,
Cross-Border ,
Debtors ,
Foreign Bankruptcies ,
Good Faith ,
Liquidation ,
Reorganizations ,
UNCITRAL
In In re Energy Future Holdings Corp., 990 F.3d 728 (3d Cir. 2021), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that even though a "stalking horse" bidder failed to obtain necessary regulatory approvals to close an...more
U.S. courts have a long-standing tradition of recognizing or enforcing the laws and court rulings of other nations as an exercise of international "comity." It has been generally understood that recognition of a foreign...more
Whether a contract is "executory" such that it can be assumed, rejected, or assigned in bankruptcy is a question infrequently addressed by the circuit courts of appeals. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit...more
9/21/2021
/ 363 Sales ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Contract Terms ,
Creditors ,
Debtors ,
Debtors-in-Possession ,
Executory Contracts ,
Film Industry ,
Materiality ,
Profits ,
Section 365 ,
Work Made For Hire Doctrine
In Czyzewski v. Jevic Holding Corp., 137 S. Ct. 973 (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Bankruptcy Code does not allow bankruptcy courts to approve distributions to creditors in a "structured dismissal" of a chapter...more
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 in section 363(k) of the Bankruptcy Code. Even so, a ruling...more
In In re Fencepost Productions Inc., 2021 WL 1259691 (Bankr. D. Kan. Mar. 31, 2021), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas recently addressed the enforceability of a provision in a pre-bankruptcy subordination...more
In In re Bankr. Est. of Norske Skogindustrier ASA, 2021 WL 1687903 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Apr. 29, 2021), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York held that a foreign representative in a case under chapter 15...more
In cases under both chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code and its repealed predecessor, section 304, U.S. bankruptcy courts have routinely recognized and enforced orders of foreign bankruptcy and insolvency courts as a matter of...more
Cross-border bankruptcy cases filed in the U.S. under chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code on behalf of foreign businesses doubled during 2020 and are on pace to set another record-breaking year in 2021 (with more than 123...more
Madoff -
In what may be the beginning of the final chapter of more than a decade of litigation involving efforts to recover $41 million of the fictitious profits paid to certain investors in Bernard Madoff's defunct...more
7/22/2021
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Bernie Madoff ,
Chapter 11 ,
Denial of Certiorari ,
Fraud ,
Investment Funds ,
Investors ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
SCOTUS ,
SIPA
In In re Arcapita Bank B.S.C., 2021 WL 1603608 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Apr. 23, 2021), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York addressed the interaction between purported setoff rights arising under...more
In This Issue:
First Impressions: Third Circuit Scuttles Triangular Setoff in Bankruptcy -
In In re Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., 990 F.3d 748 (3d Cir. 2021), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled as a...more
5/27/2021
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 7 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Debt Restructuring ,
Leveraged Buyout ,
Mootness ,
Mutuality ,
Safe Harbors
To encourage creditors, equity interest holders, indenture trustees, and unofficial committees to take actions that benefit a chapter 9 or chapter 11 estate, the Bankruptcy Code confers administrative expense status on claims...more
It is generally recognized that a bankruptcy court has the power—either equitable or statutory—to recharacterize a purported debt as equity if the substance of the transaction belies the labels the parties have given it. A...more
The ability of a creditor to exercise its contractual, common law or statutory rights under non-bankruptcy law to set off amounts owed to a debtor in bankruptcy against the debtor's obligations to the creditor gives...more
In This Issue:
Tenant's Election to Retain Possession of Rejected Lease Premises Preserves Obligations Under Related Agreements -
Section 365(h) of the Bankruptcy Code provides special protection for tenants if a...more
In In re Nuverra Environmental Solutions, Inc., 834 Fed. App'x 729 (3d Cir. 2021), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit handed down a long-awaited ruling that could have addressed, but ultimately did not address,...more
There is longstanding controversy concerning the validity of release and exculpation provisions in non-asbestos trust chapter 11 plans that limit the potential exposure of various parties involved in the process of...more
Section 365(h) of the Bankruptcy Code provides special protection for tenants if a trustee or chapter 11 debtor-in-possession ("DIP") rejects an unexpired lease under which the debtor was the lessor by giving the tenant the...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
One year ago, we wrote that the large business bankruptcy landscape in 2019 was generally shaped by economic, market, and leverage factors, with notable exceptions for disastrous wildfires, liabilities arising from the opioid...more
In the latest chapter of more than a decade of litigation involving efforts to recover fictitious profits paid to certain customers of Bernard Madoff's defunct brokerage firm as part of the largest Ponzi scheme in history,...more
The ability of a bankruptcy trustee or chapter 11 debtor-in-possession ("DIP") to avoid fraudulent transfers is an important tool promoting the bankruptcy policies of equality of distribution among creditors and maximizing...more
2/9/2021
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Trustees ,
Chapter 7 ,
Debtors ,
Debtors-in-Possession ,
Fraudulent Transfers ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Look-Back Measurement Period ,
Section 548 ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Tax Avoidance ,
UFTA
In a leading precedent handed down in 2018—Sabine Oil & Gas Corp. v. Nordheim Eagle Ford Gathering, LLC (In re Sabine Oil & Gas Corp.), 734 Fed. Appx. 64 (2d Cir. May 25, 2018)—the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit...more