On August 30, 2023, the United States Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to update and revise the regulations under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act regarding...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has affirmed a federal district court’s decision that declared null and void ab initio Puerto Rico Act 41-2022. Financial Oversight Board v. Hernandez Montañez et al., No....more
Since May 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued three decisions addressing or potentially impacting issues of bankruptcy law. These included rulings concerning the abrogation of sovereign immunity for Native American tribes...more
On average, the Supreme Court hears a single bankruptcy case each term. But during the October 2022 term, the Supreme Court issued a remarkable four decisions in bankruptcy cases. These decisions, which are summarized below,...more
Bondholders of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) have a secured claim only up to the amount of certain funds established under their trust indenture, and an unsecured claim for the value of future net revenues...more
Puerto Rico Act No. 41-2022 (Act 41), which amended and repealed certain more employer-friendly sections of the 2017 Labor Reform, was declared void by a federal judge on March 3, 2022. The decision renders Act 41, and any...more
Less than a year after its enactment, a federal district court has declared null and void Puerto Rico Act 41-2022, a law that rolled back parts of the 2017 employment law reform. Financial Oversight and Management Board for...more
Today, on the first day of the new term, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari in nine cases: Gonzalez v. Google LLC, No. 21-1333: Section 203(c)(1) of the Communication Decency Act shields an...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently ruled in the Puerto Rico bankruptcy case that Fifth Amendment takings claims cannot be discharged or impaired by a bankruptcy plan. As a matter of first impression in...more
On September 1, 2022, the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico (“Oversight Board”) – an entity created by Congress to supervise the finances of the government of Puerto Rico and restructure its public debt...more
While it is becoming increasingly rare for the Supreme Court to speak with a singular voice on virtually anything these days, bankruptcy provides a rare exception. On June 6, 2022, the Supreme Court unanimously held in...more
On March 15, 2022, the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico announced that the Plan of Adjustment for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico became effective, more than four years after Puerto Rico commenced...more
On October 29, 2021, Judge Laura Taylor Swain, the presiding judge in the Puerto Rico bankruptcy case, ruled that approximately $2 billion in intragovernmental loan claims were subordinated to bonds issued by the Puerto Rico...more
Section 365 of the Bankruptcy Code creates a framework through which a debtor can elect to either assume or reject an executory contract. Because the Bankruptcy Code does not define "executory", courts utilize various tests...more
Appointment of PROMESA Financial Oversight Board Was Constitutional - In Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico v. Aurelius Investment, LLC, No. 18-1334, 590 U.S. ___ (June 1, 2020), the Supreme Court...more
Since PROMESA was enacted in 2016 to pave the way for a comprehensive restructuring of Puerto Rico’s mounting municipal debt obligations, the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico (District Court) has become a...more
Thole v. U. S. Bank N. A., No. 17-1712: Plaintiffs-petitioners James Thole and Sherry Smith are two retired participants in respondent U.S. Bank N.A.’s defined-benefit plan. They brought a putative class action under ERISA...more
New estimates from the Congressional Budget Office suggest that the “U.S. economy could take the better part of a decade to fully recover from the coronavirus pandemic and related shutdown” and see as much as a 3% contraction...more
The title III debt-adjustment proceedings for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and its agencies have yielded several important and, in some cases, groundbreaking rulings by the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto...more
At the very end of a recent opinion, the First Circuit seemingly provided guidance on how bondholders can attack the constitutionality of Puerto Rico’s debt restricting act, PROMESA (The Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and...more
High Court review threatens to unravel Puerto Rico’s Title III bankruptcy cases. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the First Circuit’s ruling invalidating the appointment of the members of the Puerto Rico...more
The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico (Oversight Board) announced Sunday that it had reached an agreement with bondholders regarding the terms of a plan of adjustment that would resolve $35 billion...more
• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has upheld a controversial ruling by a U.S. District Court in a case involving special revenue bonds issued by the Puerto Rico Highway Transportation Authority (PRHTA). • The...more
There have been two significant developments in the ongoing restructuring case for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. First, as was widely expected, District Judge Laura Taylor Swain entered orders on February 4 and 5,...more
The consummation of a plan of reorganization typically involves a series of complex actions by the debtor and its stakeholders (for example, existing debt and equity are extinguished and new debt and equity issued in their...more