Todd Christenson filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in November 2010. In February 2011, a federal bankruptcy court in Minnesota discharged Christenson’s debts and, later the same year, closed the case. But almost 15 years...more
It is generally well understood that an order of a U.S. bankruptcy court recognizing a debtor's foreign bankruptcy case as a "main" proceeding under chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code triggers the automatic stay preventing...more
In Matter of Imperial Petroleum Recovery Corp., 84 F.4th 264 (5th Cir. 2023), the Fifth Circuit was asked to address whether 28 U.S.C. § 1961(a) – the federal statute providing for post-judgment interest – applies in...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently approved injunctive relief as part of a strategy for settling mass tort claims through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of Bestwall LLC, an entity created by...more
This entry is part of Nelson Mullins’s ongoing “Bankruptcy Basics” blog series that is intended to address foundational aspects of bankruptcy for new and non-bankruptcy practitioners and professionals. This entry will discuss...more
In a recent decision in Dillworth v. Mahecha Diaz, Adv. No. 20-1079-SMG, 2022 WL 1123004 (Bankr. S.D. Fla. April 15, 2022), the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida found that a post-confirmation creditors’...more
Subsection (15) of Section 523(a) was added to the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1994 to expand the Section 523(a)(5) exception to discharge for marital debts. Section 523(a)(15) provides that an individual...more
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 recent bankruptcy case of Lee v. Weatherford (In re Weatherford), Adv. Proc. 21-03059 (Bankr. N.D. Tex., January 19, 2022) interprets 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(6)....more
The foundation of chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code and similar legislation enacted by other countries to govern cross-border bankruptcy cases is "comity" and cooperation among U.S. and foreign courts. The importance of these...more
Bankruptcy is a forum for the insolvent. However, financially healthy businesses and individuals are dragged into bankruptcy court against their will every day. The primary culprit is the adversary complaint filed by a...more
In Highland Capital Mgmt. v. Dondero (In re Highland Capital Mgmt.), Case No. 21-03007-sgj (Bankr. N.D. Tex. 2021), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas held that a debtor could not be compelled to...more
This adversary proceeding in Rennaker v. Davis, Case No. 20-04065 (Bankr. N.D. Tex., Nov. 9, 2021), involves a litany of non-dischargeability allegations – both under 11 U.S.C. §523 and §727. Judge Mark Mullin’s opinion...more
In Hilal K. Homaidan v. Sallie Mae, Inc., Navient Solutions, LLC, Navient Credit Finance Corporation, Case No. 20-1981 (2d Cir. 2021), the Second Circuit affirmed the opinion of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern...more
For creditors dealing with debtors in the shadow of bankruptcy, a common scenario repeats itself. The creditor repossesses collateral, attaches an account, or sets off a bank account, and then the debtor files a...more
In a recent case from the Bankruptcy Court for the District of South Carolina, Defeo v. Winyah Surgical Specialists, P.A., AP No. 21-80011 (In re Defeo, C/N 20-03738) (September 27, 2021), Bankruptcy Judge John E. Waites...more
The Situation: Circuit courts were split on whether mere retention by a creditor of estate property violates the Bankruptcy Code's automatic stay, under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a)(3). The U.S. Supreme Court considered the question in...more
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina recently added some weight to the majority rule on an issue that has long divided bankruptcy and appellate courts. In In re Southern Produce Distributors,...more
In McKillen v. Wallace (In re Irish Bank Resolution Corp. Ltd.), 2019 WL 4740249 (D. Del. Sept. 27, 2019), the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware had an opportunity to consider, as an apparent matter of first...more
In Whirlpool Corp. v. Wells Fargo Bank (In re hhgregg Inc.), Case No. 18-3363 (7th Cir. Feb. 11, 2020), the Seventh Circuit held that a trade creditor’s later-in-time reclamation claim was subordinate to lenders’ pre-petition...more
Under the "single-satisfaction rule," although a bankruptcy trustee or a chapter 11 debtor-in-possession ("DIP") may seek to avoid and recover avoidable transfers of a debtor's property from more than one transferee, the...more
Chief Bankruptcy Judge Cecelia Morris in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District recently reinterpreted Brunner’s “undue hardship” test and discharged over $220,000 in student loan debt. This opinion reflects a marked...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
In FERC v. FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. (In re FirstEnergy Solutions Corp), Case No. 18-3787 (6th Cir. Dec. 12, 2019), the Sixth Circuit affirmed the bankruptcy court’s jurisdiction over the rejection of certain power purchase...more
On December 12, 2019, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a highly anticipated ruling in the FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. bankruptcy case, regarding the efforts of FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. (FirstEnergy or...more