Disagreement regarding the interpretation of section 365(c) of the Bankruptcy Code has led to divergent rulings among the bankruptcy and federal circuit courts regarding whether a bankruptcy trustee or chapter 11 debtor can...more
Three years have passed since the COVID-19 pandemic reached the United States and its effects are still being felt today. Even though lockdown measures have largely disappeared and many workers have returned to the office,...more
In the wake of several high-profile collapses of cryptocurrency exchanges, most notably FTX, Celsius, and Voyager, the state of the digital asset landscape is ever-changing, with more questions and landmines than clear paths...more
The ability of a bankruptcy trustee or chapter 11 debtor-in-possession ("DIP") to assume, assume and assign, or reject executory contracts and unexpired leases is an important tool designed to promote a "fresh start" for...more
The recent decision of the Ninth Circuit in In re Hawkeye Entertainment, LLC contains a few important takeaways with respect to the treatment of executory contracts and unexpired leases under section 365 of the Bankruptcy...more
The intersection between Medicare and state Medicaid regulatory schemes on the one hand and bankruptcy proceedings on the other continues to be an interesting, often highly contested, source of bankruptcy litigation. In...more
Summary - A recent decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals illustrates the challenges faced by both bankrupt tenants and their landlords in the assumption of leases by tenants in bankruptcy proceedings. In the...more
To encourage parties to transact with debtors in bankruptcy, the Bankruptcy Code in corporate bankruptcies provides highest priority to “administrative expenses,” which include “the actual, necessary costs and expenses of...more
Section 365 of the Bankruptcy Code allows debtors to “assume” unexpired leases, recommitting themselves and their counterparties to the existing lease terms, subject to approval by the Bankruptcy Court. If there are existing...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 how...more
Nine Point Energy Holdings, Inc. and its affiliates (collectively, "Nine Point" or "Nine Point debtors") constituted an oil and gas production and exploration company that sought to reorganize in chapter 11 through a going...more
While the pandemic has had varying effects on different industries, certain segments of the commercial real estate market have endured, and may yet endure, greater pain than other industries. ...more
Debtors and trustees are faced with the task of maximizing the value of bankruptcy estate assets in the face of many obstacles, such as limited liquidity runway and the competing interests of various creditor and equity...more
Whether a contract is "executory" such that it can be assumed, rejected, or assigned in bankruptcy is a question infrequently addressed by the circuit courts of appeals. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit...more
The Third Circuit’s decision in Spyglass Media Company v. Cohen has added to what is already a tangled web of cases dealing with the rights of licensees and licensors when one of them becomes a debtor in bankruptcy. In...more
President Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 yesterday, December 27, 2020. Although not widely reported, the legislation makes several amendments to the Bankruptcy Code based upon the severe financial...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
During periods of widespread economic disruption such as the present, operating businesses must be able to identify and respond to threats to the financial health of their contracting counterparts in order to protect key...more
Kilpatrick Townsend’s Paul Rosenblatt and David Posner, bankruptcy partners, and Marc Lieberstein, a brand licensing and franchise partner, recently published an article in the New York State Bar Association Intellectual...more
On December 20, 2019, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (Marvin Isgur presiding) entered a memorandum opinion and order finding that midstream gathering agreements created covenants running...more
In Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC, 139 S. Ct. 652, 2019 WL 2166392 (U.S. May 20, 2019), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the rejection in bankruptcy of a trademark license agreement, which constitutes a...more
What happens if you are a trademark licensee and your licensor files for bankruptcy protection? Can the licensor unilaterally terminate your license and prohibit you from using the license – even if you're in the middle of...more
The United States Supreme Court has rendered a decision that represents a victory for licensees of trademarks throughout the country when faced with a bankrupt licensor....more
Our May 22 post reported on the Supreme Court’s May 20 decision in Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC,[1] an 8-1 decision holding that the rejection of a trademark license in which the debtor is the licensor...more
In an 8–1 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and held that rejection of a trademark license in bankruptcy constitutes a breach of the license agreement,...more