Although in the Ninth Circuit the decision to revisit an order under FRCP 60 is “highly discretionary,” judges still must explicitly grapple with the relevant factors. That was the clear message sent by Judge Haywood Gilliam...more
Two recent decisions from circuit courts of appeal – the Fifth and Ninth – have addressed a question that does not arise often: in a solvent-debtor chapter 11 case, is the debtor required to pay post-petition interest...more
The common law solvent debtor exception, in short, means that a solvent debtor must generally pay post-petition interest accruing during bankruptcy at the contractual or state law rates before collecting surplus value from...more
It begins with an awkward mouthful. Outside a bankruptcy brief, is “unimpairment” even a word? (No, per Merriam-Webster.) Inside Chapter 11, it’s much more: a trend. ...more
On June 22, 2020, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") issued an order concluding that FERC and the U.S. bankruptcy courts have concurrent jurisdiction to review and address the disposition of natural gas...more
The California power giant, PG&E, has emerged from the country’s largest utility bankruptcy proceeding as a dramatically different company. Not only has PG&E exited Chapter 11, it has completed a restructuring that will have...more
On June 30, 2020, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 350 (“SB 350”), which is intended to serve as a backstop for customers as Pacific Gas and Electric Company (“PG&E”) completes its restructuring process and begins...more
After weeks of “backlash over a lack of transparency,” the Treasury Department has agreed to make public information detailing “borrower information for recipients of millions of small-business loans through the $660 billion...more
We’ve reported here and here on the January 2019 bankruptcy filing by Pacific Gas and Electric (“PG&E”), which was primarily the result of potential liability stemming from catastrophic California wildfires. Since then, PG&E...more
Optimism over promising results for a coronavirus vaccine from Moderna helped drive stocks up on Monday after a rough go of it last week....more
As Americans [way-too] slowly come to the realization that COVID-19 is a very real and very present threat, the business world is changing around them at a staggering pace. Stocks nosedived again on Monday, with the three...more
Except for disastrous fires that sparked the largest bankruptcy filing of the year, liabilities arising from the opioid crisis, the fallout from price-fixing, and corporate restructuring shenanigans, economic, market, and...more
There has been considerable progress towards resolution in two of the largest bankruptcy cases pending in the United States: the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the California utility, Pacific Gas & Electric. Several...more
On February 3, 2020, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced Senate Bill 917 (“SB 917”), which would establish a new process for a potential government takeover of Pacific Gas and Electric Company (“PG&E”)....more
Amazon closed out the trading day yesterday as an official member of the $1 trillion club for the first time. Because Jeff really needed a win, folks. The company joins Microsoft, Alphabet, and Apple in that rarified...more
Welcome to 2020! It is a new year and with every new year, comes a lot of new: new goals, new diet, new workout routines that leave every part of you sore... In the professional setting, a new year brings a lot of “chores,”...more
Brad Kuhn was quoted extensively in the Daily Journal article “Century-Old Doctrine Haunts Fire Litigation.” The article provides an overview of how developments in inverse condemnation that occurred in 2019 pose numerous...more
Periods of volatility in energy prices cause spikes in energy companies’ bankruptcies. These bankruptcies lead to debtors’ attempts to reject power purchase agreements (“PPAs”). These attempts ignite the unresolved legal...more
CBS and Viacom are back together again. The deal to reunite the former partners, which closed late yesterday, was pushed by National Amusements’ chief Shari Redstone since 2016 and hasted along recently by the precipitous...more
PG&E’s woes continue. Not only is the company still in the midst of a dangerous fire season, but it’s struggling to find a path out of bankruptcy while fending off a growing chorus of cities and state officials “threatening...more
Pacific Gas and Electric provided its customers in northern California with a glimpse of the future last week. Due to extremely dry conditions coupled with the prospect of strong winds, and cognizant of last year’s massive...more
SoftBank’s plan to help bail out WeWork would mean not only a takeover by Masa Son’s crew but also “would slash the co-working company’s valuation to about $8 billion”—a staggering drop of nearly $40 billion. The plan would...more
We Work’s largest investor, SoftBank, is reportedly sketching out plans in which it would drop billions of additional money on the company in return for giving Masa Son control of WeWork “and further sidelin[ing] its founder...more
Because the Nissan leadership scandal is about as well-contained as Chernobyl in the early days [thanks, HBO], French automaker Renault has voted this morning to remove Chief Executive Thierry Bolloré amid concerns over the...more
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali recently ruled in the Chapter 11 case of Pacific Gas & Electric (“PG&E”) that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) has no jurisdiction to interfere with the ability of a...more