Polsinelli Podcasts: Out-of-Court Alternatives to Bankruptcy
This episode of “Terra Firma: Conversations on Commercial Real Estate” features hosts Stacey C. Tyler and Stephen Tanico talking with Eric Chafetz, partner in Lowenstein’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring Group, about office...more
Businesses generally file for bankruptcy because of financial challenges or operational issues. But, while their distressed business dissolves, there could be an opportunity for another business to acquire it through a...more
Section 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code offers powerful protection for good-faith purchasers in bankruptcy sales because it limits appellate review of an approved sale, irrespective of the legal merits of the appeal....more
Sales under Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code have become commonplace in bankruptcy cases as a mechanism to liquidate a debtor's assets and maximize value for creditors. Selling the debtor's assets to a third party offers...more
In an opinion on January 22nd, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Matter of S. Coast Supply Co., 91 F.4th 376 (5th Cir. 2024), held that preference claims arising under 11 U.S.C. § 547 may be sold, reversing the dismissal...more
On February 20, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an Opinion, which held that challenges to “integral” aspects of a bankruptcy sale are statutorily moot under Bankruptcy Code § 363(m). In...more
On April 26, 2023, Miller Canfield alerted readers to the Supreme Court opinion in MOAC Mall Holdings, LLC v. Transform Holdco, LLC. The MOAC decision may affect property sales in bankruptcy cases because it could weaken the...more
The court-fashioned doctrine of "equitable mootness" has frequently been applied to bar appeals of bankruptcy court orders under circumstances where reversal or modification of an order could jeopardize, for example, the...more
On July 25, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an important opinion protecting the rights of stalking horse bidders in Section 363 sales. In the Matter of Bouchard Transportation Company,...more
The finality of asset sales and other transactions in bankruptcy is an indispensable feature of U.S. bankruptcy law designed to maximize the value of a bankruptcy estate as expeditiously as possible for the benefit of all...more
Exculpation clauses limiting the liability of certain entities for actions taken in connection with a bankruptcy case are a common feature of chapter 11 plans. However, courts disagree over the permitted scope of such...more
Section 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code provides that the reversal or modification of an order approving a sale or lease of assets in bankruptcy does not affect the validity of the sale or lease to a good-faith purchaser or...more
When a company is not likely to survive a restructuring, its assets may have value to a third-party buyer. Absent legal protection, a buyer of a financially distressed business will usually be concerned that the company’s...more
On April 19, 2023, Justice Ketangi Brown Jackson, writing for a unanimous Court in MOAC Mall Holdings LLC v. Transform Holdco LLC et.al., 598 U.S. ___ 143 S. Ct. 927 (2023), held that Bankruptcy Code section 363(m) is not...more
Section 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code is one of the most important and well-known statutes to bankruptcy practitioners. This section of the Bankruptcy Code protects a good faith asset purchaser who purchases assets from a...more
The Supreme Court’s April 19, 2023, decision in MOAC Mall Holdings, LLC v. Transform Holdco, LLC, 598 U.S.___, ___S. Ct.___, 2023 WL 2992693 (April 19, 2023) resolved an existing circuit split by holding that section...more
On April 19, 2023, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in MOAC Mall Holdings, LLC v. Transform Holdco, LLC. The decision has implications for sales of property in bankruptcy cases. Section 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code...more
In Short - The Situation: The U.S. Supreme Court considered whether § 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code, which limits a party's ability to undo an asset transfer made to a good-faith purchaser in a bankruptcy case, is...more
In a ruling issued just yesterday, MOAC Mall Holdings LLC v. Transform Holdco LLC et al., 598 U.S. ----, 2023 WL 2992693 (2023) (“MOAC”), the United States Supreme Court (the “Supreme Court”) held that Bankruptcy Code section...more
Bankruptcy and appellate courts disagree over the standard that should apply to a request for payment of a break-up fee or expense reimbursement to the losing bidder in a sale of the debtor's assets outside the ordinary...more
This entry is part of Nelson Mullins’s ongoing “Bankruptcy Basics” blog series that is intended to address foundational aspects of bankruptcy for non-bankruptcy practitioners and professionals. This entry will discuss sales...more
The Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari on June 27, 2022, to determine whether section 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code—concerning appellate review of bankruptcy court sale orders—is jurisdictional or only...more
Despite the Supreme Court’s rejection of a structured dismissal in 2017, there is a growing trend of bankruptcy courts approving structured dismissals of chapter 11 cases following a successful sale of a debtor’s assets under...more
Distressed transactions in bankruptcy court have become big business. Sales under Section 363 of the bankruptcy code provide predictability and reliability (in the form of a court order delivering “free and clear” assets)...more
The ability of a bankruptcy trustee or a chapter 11 debtor-in-possession ("DIP") to use "cash collateral" during the course of a bankruptcy case may be vital to the debtor's prospects for a successful reorganization. However,...more