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
As the UK teeters on the brink of what would appear to be an inevitable recession, new restructuring tools introduced in the UK in 2020 pursuant to the Corporate Insolvency & Governance Act 2020 (“CIGA”) will ensure that...more
On September 19, 2022, a panel of three judges for the Third Circuit heard oral argument in In re LTL Management LLC, Case No. 22-2003. Before the Court is Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) use of Chapter 11 to resolve...more
When the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA) introduced the restructuring plan in England, comparisons with plans of reorganization under chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (U.S. Bankruptcy Code)...more
Section 510(b) of the Bankruptcy Code provides a mechanism designed to preserve the creditor/shareholder risk allocation paradigm by categorically subordinating claims asserted against a debtor by equity holders arising from...more
If a business engages in bad behavior like intentional interference with contract and tortious interference with business relations, then it may not use Subchapter V of Chapter 11 to discharge debts based on that bad...more
MODIFICATION OF SECURED LOAN UNDER CRAMDOWN CHAPTER 11 PLAN WARRANTED DUE TO PLAN FEASIBILITY THREAT - Many recent court rulings concerning the treatment of secured creditors under a chapter 11 plan have focused on...more
When existing interest holders attempt to retain ownership of a chapter 11 debtor after confirmation of a nonconsensual plan of reorganization, the Bankruptcy Code's plan confirmation requirements, including well-established...more
1. AUTOMATIC STAY - 1.1 Covered Activities - Taggart v. Lorenzen standard applies to stay violation in a corporate case. The debtor sold assets prepetition. After the petition date, the buyer demanded payment of certain...more
France has now introduced a new restructuring tool following the enactment of Ordinance 2021- 1193 (the “Ordinance”), which incorporates the Directive (EU) 2019/1023 on preventive restructuring frameworks (the “Directive”)...more
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
Postpetition financing provided by pre-bankruptcy shareholders or other "insiders" is not uncommon in chapter 11 cases as a way to fund a plan of reorganization and allow old shareholders to retain an ownership interest in...more
The COVID-19 pandemic has already caused numerous companies to file for bankruptcy relief and will likely cause many more to do so. In this environment, it is particularly important for both licensees and licensors of...more
Small businesses often struggle to reorganize in bankruptcy. To address this issue, Congress passed the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019. The act took effect in February 2020 and makes small business bankruptcies...more
For many years, people associated with the bankruptcy system in the United States recognized the process didn’t work well for small business owners. Corporate reorganizations through the Chapter 11 process were cumbersome and...more
A recent case from the Western District of Wisconsin, In re Schroeder Brothers Farms of Camp Douglas LLP, may raise a new issue for the bankruptcy treatment of tax attributes in flow-through entities. The court in Schroeder...more
Recently, we discussed In re CHL, a case involving a real estate developer in Chapter 11. We focused on the importance of the Disclosure Statement as a prerequisite to a debtor's ability to move forward with a plan of...more
The Situation On January 17, 2019, the Fifth Circuit strongly suggested that claims for make-whole damages be characterized as "unmatured interest" and that claims for postpetition interest on unsecured debt be limited in...more
The next few years are expected to see a significant increase in the volume of bankruptcy cases filed by health care providers. Thus far in 2017, the number of bankruptcies in health care-related sectors, including hospitals,...more
In the case In re Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., 855 F.3d 459 (2d Cir. 2017), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a district court order subordinating the claims of former Lehman Brothers employees for...more
The Delaware Bankruptcy Court, in In re Nuverra Environmental Solutions, Case No. 17-10949 (Bankr. Del. July 24, 2017), confirmed a chapter 11 plan of reorganization despite separate classification and disparate gifted...more
Section 510(b) of the Bankruptcy Code provides a mechanism designed to preserve the creditor/shareholder risk allocation paradigm by categorically subordinating most types of claims asserted against a debtor by equityholders...more
In Czyzewski v. Jevic Holding Corp., 137 S. Ct. 973 (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a bankruptcy court was not authorized to approve a structured dismissal of a Chapter 11 case that violated the absolute priority...more
The Bankruptcy Code contemplates that a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case will be concluded in one of three ways: a confirmed Chapter 11 plan, a conversion to Chapter 7 for liquidation of remaining estate assets, or a dismissal of...more
In 2015, Distressing Matters reported on the Third Circuit’s decision in In re Jevic Holding Corp., wherein that panel ruled that, in rare circumstances, bankruptcy courts may approve the distribution of settlement proceeds...more