On February 1, 2024, a New York trial court held that the amount of a loan, and not the amount actually advanced to the borrower, is the relevant measurement to determine if New York’s criminal usury statute applies....more
On July 25, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a bankruptcy court’s approval of a break-up fee and expense reimbursement owed to a debtor’s prior lender, after the lender was not the winning bidder...more
On August 3, 2023, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas found that the majority of the shares of stock of a reorganized debtor should be allocated to unsecured creditors, and not the secured creditors,...more
10/13/2023
/ Avoidance ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Debtors ,
Deed of Trust ,
Leases ,
Lenders ,
Liens ,
Noteholders ,
Reorganizations ,
Texas ,
Unsecured Debt ,
Waivers
On May 25, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in a two-to-one split decision, held that an exemption to California’s usury laws for certain “aggregate” loan amounts applies only to indebtedness of a single...more
On March 1, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York refused to dismiss a RICO claim, finding that a usurious contract could qualify as an “unlawful debt” for RICO purposes. Before commencing...more
On December 15, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the pleading-stage dismissal, as time-barred, of a case against Bank of New York Mellon by defrauded investors in the Allen Stanford Ponzi scheme....more
1/18/2023
/ Appeals ,
Breach of Duty ,
Discovery Rule ,
Dismissals ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Fraud ,
New Jersey ,
Pleadings ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Statute of Limitations
On September 20, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed affirmative claims based on allegations of usury. In May 2021, the plaintiffs and the defendant entered into a funding agreement...more
On September 19, 2022, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania found that secured lenders could not “hide behind” a consent and a release to avoid the review of the commercial reasonableness of a...more
On June 6, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found that a contractual New York choice-of-law provision precluded a borrower-plaintiff from obtaining summary judgment on a usury claim brought...more
On June 3, 2022, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas refused to extend the “ponzi-scheme presumption” in connection with an actual intent fraudulent transfer claim because there was no actual ponzi...more
On April 13, 2020, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland (the “Court”) sided with Bank of America (“BofA”) by denying a request for a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) and preliminary injunction...more
On December 19, 2019, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion (the “2019 Opinion”) arising out of the In re Tribune Company Fraudulent Conveyance Litigation,[i] finding that Tribune Company, which employed...more
On April 23, 2019, Judge Cote of the District Court for the SDNY, issued an opinion in In re Tribune Company Fraudulent Conveyance Litigation, finding that the Tribune Company, which employed Computershare Trust Company...more
On March 26, 2019, the First Circuit Court of Appeals, affirming a decision by the District Court emanating out of the Puerto Rico Title III bankruptcy cases, found that Sections 928(a) and 922(d) of the Bankruptcy Code...more
4/2/2019
/ Appeals ,
Article III ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Chapter 9 ,
Liens ,
Municipal Bankruptcy ,
Municipal Bonds ,
Popular ,
Puerto Rico ,
Secured Debt ,
Tax Revenues ,
Tolls
On February 14, 2019, Judge Lane of the Bankruptcy Court for the SDNY issued an opinion in Republic Airways Holdings Inc. addressing whether the liquidated damages provisions in certain aircraft “true leases” under Article 2A...more
2/20/2019
/ Actual Damages ,
Aircraft Financing ,
Debtors ,
Fair Market Value ,
Guarantors ,
Lease Financing ,
Lease Term ,
Lessor ,
Liquidated Damages ,
Public Policy ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms ,
Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) ,
Value-Based Fees
On June 11, 2018, Mission Product Holdings, Inc. (“MPHI”), a developer of chemical free cooling fabrics, petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari to resolve a circuit split on whether a licensee’s right to...more