Weil

Restructuring

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Market Trends, German Restructuring, Cross-border, News

The Weil European Distress Index – April 2024

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Anne-Sophie
Noury

Céline
Domenget-Morin

Gerhard
Schmidt

News

Weil Wins Fifth Circuit Affirmance of Ruling Finding Appeals Challenging Confirmation of Fieldwood Energy’s Chapter 11 Plan Are “Statutorily Moot”

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Weil Guides AYR Wellness Inc. Through its Successful Court-Approved Plan of Arrangement, Debt Exchange and New Money Financing

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

Market Trends, German Restructuring, French Restructuring, Cross-border, News

The Weil European Distress Index – December 2023

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Anne-Sophie
Noury

Gerhard
Schmidt

Céline
Domenget-Morin

News

Weil Credited in 11 “Successful Restructurings of 2023” by Turnarounds & Workouts

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Weil Guides Core Scientific Through Chapter 11 as Company Lists on Nasdaq and Rings Closing Bell

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

News

Weil Highly Ranked as a Top 2023 Law Firm by Global Restructuring Review

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

Market Trends, German Restructuring, French Restructuring, Cross-border, News

The Weil European Distress Index – June 2023

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Anne-Sophie
Noury

News

Two Weil Partners Named Among Notable Women in Law by Crain’s New York Business in 2023

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Three Weil Partners Named Law360 Rising Stars in 2023

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Ten Weil Partners Named Leading U.S. Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyers by Lawdragon in 2023

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

News

Weil Wins Major Trial Victory in Loan Restructuring Dispute for Serta Simmons Bedding

Contributor(s)

Alexander
Welch

Luna
Barrington

News

Candace Arthur Profiled as One of The Deal’s “Top Women in Dealmaking” 2023

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Weil Guides Ad Hoc Group of Lenders in Covis Pharma’s Cross Border Restructuring

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

News

David Cohen Named 2023 Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyer by Turnarounds & Workouts

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

Market Trends, German Restructuring, French Restructuring, Cross-border, News

The Weil European Distress Index – March 2023

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Anne-Sophie
Noury

Cryptocurrency Issues, Property of the Estate

Winter Wears On: Celsius Court Rules That Certain Customer Deposits are Property of the Bankruptcy Estate

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

News

Kelly DiBlasi Named Among 2022 Outstanding Restructuring Lawyers by Turnarounds & Workouts

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

Claims, Employment, Fees, Professionals, Rules & Procedures

How Many Connections are Too Many? Bankruptcy Court Finds Multiple Attenuated Connections Not Enough to Warrant Disqualification of Debtors’ Professional

Contributor(s)

Jared
Mezzatesta

What We’re Watching, Chapter 11 Plans, Claims

Ultra IV: Make-Wholes, Never Say Never Again

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Market Trends, German Restructuring, French Restructuring, Cross-border, News

The Weil European Distress Index – October 2022

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Anne-Sophie
Noury

Avoidance Actions, Case Overviews, Property of the Estate, Rules & Procedures

A Tale of Fraud and Overzealousness: How the Judicial Shrinkage of “Initial Transferee” Saved an Innocent Immigrant From a Corrupt Car Dealer and a Troublesome Trustee

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Cryptocurrency Issues, Financial Markets, What We're Watching

Winter in June: Distress in the Crypto Industry and Potential Regulatory Responses

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Environmental, Government

Recent Developments at the Intersection of Bankruptcy and Environmental Law

The Supposed Hierarchy of “Efforts” Clauses

Contributor(s)

News

Alexander Welch Named 2022 Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyer by Turnarounds & Workouts

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Four Weil Partners Named 2022 Emerging Leaders by The M&A Advisor

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

International, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Litigation Issues, Setoffs

A Foreign Entity May be Subject to U.S. Bankruptcy Court Jurisdiction Simply by Utilizing a U.S. Bank Account in a Transaction with Another Foreign Entity

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Furqaan
Siddiqui

Market Trends, German Restructuring, French Restructuring, Cross-border, News

The Weil European Distress Index – June 2022

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Anne-Sophie
Noury

Case Overviews, Constitutional Law, Fees, Jurisdiction & Appeals, News, What We're Watching

Supreme Court Resolves Split on U.S. Trustee Fees

Contributor(s)

News

Michael J. Aiello and Ronit Berkovich Named Northeast Trailblazers by The American Lawyer

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

News

Kevin Bostel Named 2022 Rising Star for Bankruptcy by Law360

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties, Estoppel, Litigation Issues

Statute of Limitations, Res Judicata, and Collateral Estoppel—Oh My! Asserting Affirmative Defenses in Delaware Bankruptcy Court

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Case Overviews, Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties, Litigation Issues, Post-Confirmation Issues, Sponsor/Owner Series, Valuation

ASHINC or Swim Case Study: Lessons for Private Equity Sponsors on Risks Relating to Distressed Portfolio Companies (Part II: Breach of Fiduciary Duty)

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Chapter 13, Automatic Stay, Avoidance Actions, Breaking the Code, Case Overviews, Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Litigation Issues, Property of the Estate, Secured Claims, What We're Watching

Courts Begin to Wrestle with the Impact of City of Chicago, Illinois v. Fulton on a Debtor’s Ability to Recover Estate Property

Contributor(s)

Jennifer Brooks
Crozier

Avoidance Actions, Case Overviews, Chapter 15, What We're Watching

Avoiding Foreign Transfers Based on Foreign Law Claims: Norske Case Favors Flexible Approach to Safe Harbor Analysis in Chapter 15

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Assumption & Rejection, Automatic Stay, Chapter 11 Plans, Chapter 15, Cramdown, DIP Financing, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Financing, International, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Out-of-Court Restructuring, Pre-Filing Considerations, What We're Watching

Aviation Chapter 11 Cases Take Flight

Contributor(s)

Case Overviews, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Pre-Filing Considerations

Far and Wide: Bankruptcy Court’s Expansive Definition of “Property” Under Section 109(a)

Contributor(s)

Automatic Stay, Chapter 11 Plans, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Litigation Issues, Pre-Filing Considerations, Releases & Exculpations, Rules & Procedures, Third Party Claims, What We're Watching

Will We Have New Rules for Corporate Bankruptcies? Recently Proposed Legislation That Could Reform Chapter 11 Practice

Contributor(s)

Furqaan
Siddiqui

Due Process Concerns, Insurance, Releases & Exculpations, Rules & Procedures

No Procedural Notice, No Problem: 11th Circuit Affirms Due Process Not Violated Where Debtor Provides Actual Notice

Contributor(s)

363 Sales, Tax Issues

Structuring a Section 363 Sale as a “G” Reorganization

Contributor(s)

Stuart
Goldring

News

Are Consequential Damages Recoverable for Breach of a Contractual Obligation to Pay a Sum of Money?

Contributor(s)

News

Weil Named 2021 Law360 Bankruptcy Practice Group of the Year

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

Automatic Stay, Case Overviews, Chapter 7 Trustees, Financial Markets, Litigation Issues, Property of the Estate

Lenders Beware: Lender Liability is Real and Can Cost You Dearly

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Alejandro
Bascoy

News

Weil Recognized for 2021 Restructuring Successes by Turnarounds & Workouts

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

Case Overviews, Claims, Distressed Debt Funds, Financing, Litigation Issues, Post-Confirmation Issues, Sponsor/Owner Series, Third Party Claims

ASHINC or Swim Case Study: Lessons for Private Equity Sponsors on Distressed Portfolio Company Risks (Part I: Sponsor Breach of Company Loan Agreement)

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Bar Dates, Claims, Due Process Concerns, Proofs of Claim

The Bar Date Notice: Two Recent Cases Show Us There May Be More (Yes, More!) To Learn When It Comes to Providing Notice of a Debtor’s Bar Date

Contributor(s)

News

Ten Weil Partners Named Leading U.S. Bankruptcy and Restructuring Leaders by Lawdragon in 2022

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Weil Named Among 2021 Law360 Firms of the Year, Wins Five Practice Group of the Year Awards

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

Arbitration, Assumption & Rejection, Case Overviews, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Arbitrate? You Can’t Make Me! Rejection Trumps Arbitration, Says Texas Bankruptcy Court

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

363 Sales, Case Overviews, Chapter 7 Trustees, Real Estate, Rules & Procedures, Valuation

Going, Going, Gone: Third Circuit Confirms Auction Outcome Can Be Strong Evidence of Fair Value

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Justin
Armstrong

News

Ronit Berkovich Named Among 2022 Notable Women in Law by Crain’s New York Business

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Chapter 11 Plans, Mass Torts, Releases & Exculpations, Third Party Claims, What We're Watching

In Vacating Purdue Pharma’s Confirmation Order, the District Court Determines that the Plan’s Nonconsensual Third-Party Releases Are Not Statutorily Authorized

Contributor(s)

Chapter 15, Claims, International, Litigation Issues, Pre-Filing Considerations

Clearing a Runway to Litigating Claims: The Principle of Comity and Pre-Litigation Discovery in Chapter 15 Cases

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Case Overviews, Constitutional Law, Energy Sector, Government, Litigation Issues, Post-Confirmation Issues

The Third Circuit Lets the Katz Out of the Bag: No Sovereign Immunity for California in the Post-Confirmation Venoco Dispute

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Austin
Crabtree

Market Trends, German Restructuring, French Restructuring, Cross-border, News

The Weil European Distress Index

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Anne-Sophie
Noury

Administrative Expenses, Claims, Mass Torts

Prepetition Claim or Postpetition Claim? The Timing of a Claim When A Debtor’s Prepetition Wrongful Actions Continue Postpetition

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Valuing Business Interruption Claims in a Post-Pandemic World

Contributor(s)

News

David Griffiths Named to American Bankruptcy Institute’s 2021 40 Under 40

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

News

Three Weil Partners Win 2021 TMA Turnaround and Transaction of the Year Awards

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Matt Barr, Gary Holtzer and Ray C. Schrock Named 2021 Crisis Leadership Trailblazers by The National Law Journal

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Five Weil Partners Named 2021 Emerging Leaders by The M&A Advisor

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

Contractually Reimposing Fiduciary Duties in an LLC Operating Agreement Despite Clause Waiving Fiduciary Duties

Contributor(s)

Case Overviews, Government, News, What We're Watching

Bankruptcy No Sanctuary Against Government Enforcement Actions: NRA’s Chapter 11 Case Dismissed as Bad Faith Filing

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Claims, Proofs of Claim, Subordination & Recharacterization

Debt or Equity? SDNY Bankruptcy Court Says “Equity” in a Recent Case Involving Recharacterization of a Party’s Debt Claim as Equity

Contributor(s)

Avoidance Actions, Case Overviews, Chapter 15, What We're Watching

Avoiding Foreign Transfers Based on Foreign Law Claims: Fairfield Sentry Cases Illustrate Broad Scope of Safe Harbor in Chapter 15

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Pre-Filing Considerations

Executory or Not Executory? That is the Question – NJ Bankruptcy Court Rules That Court-Ordered Specific Performance Renders a Contract Non-Executory

Contributor(s)

Jacqueline
Marcus

Weil Represents Norwegian Air in Obtaining Chapter 15 Recognition of Successful Cross-Border Restructuring

Contributor(s)

Avoidance Actions, Case Overviews, Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners, Chapter 7 Trustees, Government, Lookback Period, What We're Watching

No Time Runs against the King (IRS): The Golden Creditor Rule and its Discontents

Litigation Issues, Settlement

A Reminder That a 9019 Motion Is Not a Slam Dunk: Bankruptcy Court Denies 9019 Motion After Determining That Approving Certain Findings Required By Settlement Would Amount to Inappropriate Advisory Opinion

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Ryan C.
Rolston

Due Process, Bar Dates, Breaking the Code, Case Overviews, Claims, Constitutional Law, Mass Torts, Post-Confirmation Issues

Adjust Your Focus When Due Process Requirements Are Blurry: Third Circuit Finds Kodak’s Notice of Publication Sufficient for Unknown Tort Claimant

Contributor(s)

News

Ray C. Schrock Honored by Her Justice in 2021

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Ronit J.
Berkovich

News

Candace Arthur Named 2021 Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyer by Turnarounds & Workouts

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Administrative Expenses, Case Overviews, Claims, Energy Sector, Litigation Issues, News, Post-Confirmation Issues, What We're Watching

The Aftermath of a Complicated Breakup: Third Circuit Holds Stalking Horse Bidder in Terminated Transaction May Assert Potential Administrative Expense Claim Notwithstanding Disallowance of Its Termination Fee

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Setoffs, Third Party Claims

No Setoff Here: Third Circuit Resolves Triangular Setoff Debate Once and for All

Contributor(s)

Ryan C.
Rolston

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties, Insurance, Pre-Filing Considerations

Wear Your Mask, Keep Your Distance and…Update Your D&O Insurance

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Claims, Due Process Concerns, Mass Torts, Proofs of Claim

Manville Channeling Order Still Effective After More Than 30 Years

Contributor(s)

Jacqueline
Marcus

Avoidance Actions, Case Overviews, Litigation Issues, What We're Watching

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Weighs in: Debtors Are Not Excluded From Bankruptcy Code’s Definition of “Financial Participant” and Safe Harbor

Contributor(s)

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties, Litigation Issues, News, Post-Confirmation Issues, What We're Watching

Officers of Selling Companies May Escape Fiduciary Duty Liability But May Be Required to Return Change of Control Payments if Company is Insolvent Post-Closing (Nine West Part 2)

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Automatic Stay, Government, Litigation Issues, Pre-Filing Considerations, Property of the Estate, Secured Claims, What We're Watching

Supreme Court Holds That a Non-Debtor Retaining a Debtor’s Property Does Not Exercise Control Over the Property in Violation of the Automatic Stay

Contributor(s)

Alejandro
Bascoy

Robert
Niles-Weed

Case Overviews, Chapter 11 Plans, Fees, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Post-Confirmation Issues, What We're Watching

In re Buffets: A Fees-t for the United States Trustee

Contributor(s)

363 Sales, Litigation Issues, What We're Watching

Attention Buyers of Assets in Bankruptcy: How To Be A Good Faith Purchaser and Ensure Any Post-Closing Challenges Will Be Dismissed as Statutorily Moot Under Section 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Claims, Letters of Credit

Tenth Circuit BAP Decision Authorizes Claim for Postpetition Interest
Under 506(b): Read the Fine Print!

Contributor(s)

Jacqueline
Marcus

Ryan C.
Rolston

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties, Litigation Issues, News, Post-Confirmation Issues, What We're Watching

Warning to Directors of Selling Companies: Breach of Fiduciary Duty Liability May Exist for Failure to Investigate and Ensure Solvency of Company Post-Closing and Propriety and Effect of All Related Transactions (But You Can Protect Yourself)

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Breaking the Code, Case Overviews, Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Post-Confirmation Issues, Rules & Procedures

Yeah, We Can Take It – Texas Bankruptcy Court Defines the Scope of Its Post-Confirmation Jurisdiction

Contributor(s)

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Real Estate, Securitizations & Hedges

Eastern District of Virginia Bankruptcy Court Finds Landlord’s Lender Has No Right to Enforce Landlord’s Lease with Bankrupt Retailer

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

News

Four Weil Partners Named 2020 Emerging Leaders by The M&A Advisor

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

News

Weil Wins Two 2020 Law360 Practice Group of the Year Awards

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Candace Arthur Profiled as Top Young Restructuring Lawyer by Bloomberg Law

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Ray C. Schrock Named 2021 Fellow of The American College of Bankruptcy

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Sunny Singh Named to American Bankruptcy Institute’s 2020 40 Under 40

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Ray C. Schrock Profiled as Law360 Bankruptcy MVP for 2020

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

Third Circuit Decision Provides New Guidance on the Unfair Discrimination Standard of Cramdown and the Enforcement of Subordination Agreements When Confirming Cramdown Plans

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

News

Weil Wins Top Honors at IFLR1000 U.S. Awards in 2020

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Jessica Liou Named 2020 Rising Star for Bankruptcy

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

An Asset Purchase That Wasn’t—Beware the De Facto Merger Doctrine in Distressed M&A

Contributor(s)

News

Gabriel A. Morgan Named an Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyer in 2020 by Turnarounds & Workouts

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Ray C. Schrock Named a Top Restructuring Lawyer for 2020 by Business Insider

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Ray C. Schrock Named a 2020 Dealmaker of the Year by The American Lawyer

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

Avoidance Actions, Case Overviews, Constitutional Law, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Litigation Issues, Property of the Estate

Fraudulent Transfer Claims Avoid State Sovereign Immunity, But Only If a Property Interest Exists Under State Law

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Case Overviews, Financing, Secured Claims

Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing Examined: La Paloma

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Supreme Court Will Tell Us Soon if Creditor Violates Automatic Stay by Passively Retaining Debtor’s Property

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Automatic Stay, Case Overviews, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Rules & Procedures

Denial of Stay Relief is a Final Order, Says the U.S. Supreme Court

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

News

Weil Wins Five 2019 Law360 Practice Group of the Year Awards

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

Delaware District Court Affirms Decision Holding Triangular Setoffs Are Not Permitted

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Andriana
Georgallas

363 Sales, Case Overviews, Healthcare, What We're Watching

Bankruptcy Court Confirms High Burden to Find Material Adverse Effect in Asset Purchase Agreement

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Releases & Exculpations, Stern Files

Just “Released” by the Third Circuit: In re Millennium Lab Holdings II Key Takeaways

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Avoidance Actions, Litigation Issues, What We're Watching

It’s (Still) Alive! The Second Circuit Throws the 546(e) Safe Harbor a Lifeline Post Merit Management

Contributor(s)

Alexander
Welch

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, What We're Watching

Ultra III: Make-Whole Never Dies

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Portfolio Company, Employment, Financial Markets, Litigation Issues

Sun Capital Update: First Circuit Rules Affiliated Investment Funds Not Responsible for Portfolio Company’s Pension Liability, Reversing District Court

Contributor(s)

News

Jessica Liou Named to American Bankruptcy Institute’s 2019 40 Under 40

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

David Griffiths Named 2019 Rising Star for Bankruptcy by Law360

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Case Overviews, Chapter 15, International

syncreon’s Financial Restructuring Implemented by Landmark English Schemes of Arrangement with Parallel Chapter 15 and CCAA Recognition

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

News

Three Weil Partners Honored with 2019 Turnaround and Transaction of the Year Awards

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Weil Ranked Among Standout Firms for Restructuring and Insolvency by Global Restructuring Review in 2019

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

News

Four Weil Partners Named 2019 Emerging Leaders by The M&A Advisor

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Intellectual Property, What We're Watching

Supreme Court Sides with Trademark Licensees in Rejection Dispute

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

New tax developments for insolvency and restructuring deals

Contributor(s)

Automatic Stay, Pre-Filing Considerations, Setoffs

The Devil is in the Details … The Doctrine of Recoupment

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Avoidance Actions, Case Overviews, Litigation Issues, What We're Watching

Safe Harbor Re-Opened? SDNY Revisits Merit Management

Contributor(s)

Momentive Noteholders Entitled to “Process Efficient” Market Interest Rate on Cramdown Replacement Notes

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Sold or Rejected? To Be or Not to Be ― Executory

Contributor(s)

News

Two Weil Partners Named Among Turnarounds & Workouts’ Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyers for 2019

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Double Trouble: The Executory Effect of a Clerical Error

News

Marcia Goldstein and Ronit Berkovich Named 2019 Dealmakers of the Year by The American Lawyer

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Professionals, Rules & Procedures

To Retain (Under Section 327(a) or 363(b) of the Bankruptcy Code) or Not to Retain? Retention of Liquidation Consultants in Bankruptcy Cases

Credit Bidding, 363 Sales

Partial Credit Bidding: The Potential for Subtracting a Portion of a Credit Bid to Unwind a Purchase Agreement

Contributor(s)

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

Serving on the Board of Your Portfolio Company: Be Careful What You Share in Emails and Texts Among You and Your Firm’s Other Designated Board Members

Contributor(s)

D&O Insurance and the Bankrupt Portfolio Company—Are the Director Designees of PE Owners Actually Covered?

Contributor(s)

Robert
Carangelo

Case Overviews, Chapter 15, Due Process Concerns, International

The High Burden to Satisfy the “Manifestly Contrary to Public Policy” Standard of Chapter 15

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, What We're Watching

Ultra Petroleum Corp. Make-Whole Saga Continues

Contributor(s)

Alfredo R.
Perez

News

Weil Named 2018 Bankruptcy Practice Group of the Year

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, What We're Watching

To Make-Whole … or Not

Contributor(s)

Alfredo R.
Perez

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

Financial Reporting in 2019: What Management and the Audit Committee Need to Know (and Ask)

Contributor(s)

Catherine
Dixon

Second Liens Beware
Delaware Bankruptcy Court Finds De Facto Claim Subordination Under Intercreditor Agreement

Contributor(s)

News

Marcia Goldstein Named Among “Notable Women in Law” in 2019

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

Triangular Setoff Impermissible Under Section 553: No Contracting or Theorizing Around It, Section 553 Requires Mutuality

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Andriana
Georgallas

Holiday Posts, Dismissal, Real Estate

Home for the Holidays: A Tale of My Local Shopping Center (and its Dismissal from Chapter 11 for Cause)

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Happy Holidays from Weil’s Business Finance & Restructuring Group!

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

David
Griffiths

Chapter 15 Recognition of Third-Party Releases in Cross-Border Restructurings

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Alexander
Welch

News

Claire’s Stores, Inc.: A Proactive Approach to Portfolio Company Governance

Comity for Croatia: S.D.N.Y. Decision in Agrokor Reinforces Respect for Foreign Rulings in Chapter 15

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Intellectual Property, What We're Watching

Supreme Court Grants Certiorari in Trademark License Case

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Humor

“It’s the Great [Non-Article III] Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”: A Weil Bankruptcy Blog Séance

Avoidance Actions, Case Overviews

Going Once, Going Twice: Avoiding a Prepetition Foreclosure Sale in Chapter 11

Contributor(s)

There is Such a Thing as a “Material Adverse Effect”: Delaware Court Supports Buyer’s Right to Terminate

Contributor(s)

Claims, Insurance, Tax Issues

In Case of Fire, File a Claim

Contributor(s)

Financial Markets, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Litigation Issues, What We're Watching

A Momentous Rejection: United States Supreme Court Declines to Review Second Circuit’s Momentive Make-Whole Opinion

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Case Overviews, Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties, Litigation Issues

Seventh Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment Decision Piercing the Corporate Veil Considering Egregious and Uncontested Facts

Claims, Distressed Debt Funds

A Cautionary Tale for Claims Traders and Other Contract Counterparties

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Avoiding a Dog’s Breakfast—Some Timely Reminders of How to Effectively Limit the Universe of Purported Representations upon which Fraud Claims Can be Made

Contributor(s)

Chapter 11 Plans, Property of the Estate

Wasn’t Me: The Insured vs. Insured Exclusion (“Side A”)

Credit Bidding, Case Overviews, Distressed Debt Funds, Secured Claims, Valuation

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Declines to Bind Credit Bidders to the Mast

Contributor(s)

Chapter 11 Plans

Tenth Circuit B.A.P. on Novinda’s Classification: No Gerrymandering, No(n)-Creditor Interest, No Problem

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Getting off on the Right Foot: Bankruptcy Court Rejects U.S. Trustee’s Unconventional Position That Management Consultant Must be Retained Under Section 327 of the Bankruptcy Code

Chapter 11 Plans, Plan Solicitation & Voting

Absolute(ly) No – A Reminder That When It Comes to Reorganization, Equity Comes Last

Contributor(s)

Avoidance Actions, Case Overviews, Pre-Filing Considerations

A Check is Transferred When It's Honored, Not Delivered

Contributor(s)

Chapter 11 Plans, Cramdown

Joint Plan Cramdown: Per Plan or Per Debtor?

Contributor(s)

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Intellectual Property, What We're Watching

From Gucci to Knock-off: How Bankruptcy Leaves Trademark Licensees at Risk

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Case Overviews, Due Process Concerns, International, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Litigation Issues, Stern Files

In Advance Watch, SDNY Bankruptcy Court Offers How-To Guide on Serving Process on Foreign Defendants and Applies Broad Implied Consent Standard under Stern and Wellness

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Case Overviews, Chapter 11 Plans, Cramdown, Plan Solicitation & Voting, Secured Claims

Upon Further Review, Ninth Circuit Finds No Flag On the Play – Creditor Allowed to Block a Cram-Up Plan Following Claims Purchases

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Are Attendance and Objection in Bankruptcy Court Prerequisites for Appellate Standing?

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

The Fifth Circuit Considers Enforceability of Bankruptcy Blocking “Golden Share” Provisions in Franchise Services

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Momentive Court Declines to Dismiss Creditors’ Appeals as Equitably Moot

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

News

Weil Remembers Stephen Youngman

Usury Bites—A Refresher on an Easily Overlooked Issue in the Restructuring and Private Equity Arenas

Contributor(s)

Case Overviews, Chapter 11 Plans, Cramdown, Litigation Issues, Plan Solicitation & Voting

U.S. Bank N.A. v. Village at Lakeridge, LLC

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

London Restructuring Bulletin: What will 2018 hold?

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Chapter 11 Plans, Cramdown, Secured Claims

Second Circuit Allows Efficient Market Interest Rates For Cramdown Loans

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

363 Sales, Chapter 11 Plans, Distressed Debt Funds, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Post-Confirmation Issues

The Cloak of Good Faith: Protecting Bankruptcy Sales from Appellate Review

Case Overviews, CERCLA, Environmental, Estoppel, Settlement

No Contradiction in Contribution: Tenth Circuit Finds that Bankruptcy Court Approval of Settlement of CERCLA Environmental Claims Does Not Estop Subsequent CERCLA Contribution Claim

Fees, Professionals

Fees, Fees, Fees: SDNY Bankruptcy Court Questions the Ongoing Validity of the “Blackstone Protocol” for Investment Banker Fees in Chapter 11 Cases

Chapter 11 Plans, What We're Watching

BREAKING NEWS: Structured Dismissals Survive Supreme Court Scrutiny, Strict Adherence to Absolute Priority Rule Specified

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Case Overviews, Chapter 11 Plans, Releases & Exculpations

The Thirteenth Labor of Hercules: Bankruptcy Court Confirms Hercules Offshore Chapter 11 Plan, Approving Debtor Releases Over Committee Objections

Contributor(s)

Stephanie
Morrison

Case Overviews, Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

District Divided: Tribune Decision Creates SDNY Split over Standard for Imputing Officer and Director Intent to a Corporation

Avoidance Actions, International

Extra-territorial Transfers Don’t Phone Home: Revisiting the Presumption Against Extraterritoriality in Ampal–American

Can’t Hide Behind the Veil (When It isn’t Pierced): Court Denies Bankrupt LLC Member’s Attempt to Use the Automatic Stay to Shield Himself from Litigation

Chapter 9, Government

Taxing Legal Marijuana: A Hazy Issue for Municipal Bankruptcy

Plan Solicitation & Voting

Chapter 22 Commencement to Confirmation in Just 6 days: Exploring Roust Corporation

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Bar Dates, Proofs of Claim, Rule 3003

Notice over Science: Delaware Bankruptcy Court Enforces Bar Date Against Asbestos Creditor Based on Actual Notice Standard

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Litigation Issues

Eleventh Circuit Agrees with Seventh Circuit that an Unauthorized Bankruptcy Court Order Is Not a “Judgment, Order, or Decree” for Purposes of 28 U.S.C. § 158(d)(2)(A)

Litigation Issues, Out-of-Court Restructuring

Marblegate Ruling is Reversed on Appeal: Second Circuit Adopts Narrow Interpretation of TIA Section 316(b)

Contributor(s)

Miranda S.
Schiller

Claims, Real Estate

To Cap or Not to Cap: Ninth Circuit Vacates Order of District Court and Revisits Section 502(b)(6)

Contributor(s)

Chapter 11 Plans, Constitutional Law, Employment, Releases & Exculpations, Third Party Claims

Speak Now and Forever Hold Your Release: Gawker Breaks News One Last Time

London Restructuring Bulletin: Looking Ahead to 2017

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Avoidance Actions, Financial Markets, Pre-Filing Considerations

Seventh Circuit Exposes Leveraged Buy-Outs to Avoidance Risk in FTI v. Merit Management

Litigation Issues, Out-of-Court Restructuring

Court Rejects §316(b) Claims in Cliffs Natural Resources

Contributor(s)

Miranda S.
Schiller

Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners

Chapter 11 Trustee Appointed by Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court in In re China Fishery Group Limited

What’s a Cure, Anyway? Ninth Circuit Holds Creditor Entitled to Post-Default Interest Rate

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

Bankruptcy Court Weighs in on Delaware’s Prohibition on Deepening Insolvency Claims and Claims Against Directors Based on Relationship with Majority Shareholder

How a “Voluntary” Default under An Indenture Converted an Optional Redemption Provision into a Mandatory Redemption Provision Requiring Payment of a Make-Whole Premium

Contributor(s)

Automatic Stay, Canadian Restructuring Issues, Chapter 15

Return to Sender? Domestic Reach of Foreign Stay Can Be Modified in Chapter 15 Recognition Order, Without Trip to Foreign Court

Chapter 7 Trustees, Claims

Same As It Ever Was: Seventh Circuit Reaffirms Narrow Construction of Informal Proof of Claim Doctrine

Contributor(s)

Claims

Get to the Back of the Line! Delaware Bankruptcy Court Holds C-Suite Stock Compensation was Equity Security Not General Unsecured Claim

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Tinkering With Ipso Facto Provisions In Financial Contracts Could Send Them Sailing Out of Safe Harbors

You Can't Buy Me Love and You Can't Buy a 363(f) Order

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Back to Square One … Eighth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel Reverses Motion to Dismiss Bankruptcy Case Based on Reversal of Three Year Old Ruling

Financial Markets, International

ICYMI . . . Sovereign debt restructuring: what can we learn from Argentina, Greece and Ukraine?

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Kirsten
Erichsen

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Subjective Intent to Assume Unexpired Lease of Nonresidential Real Property Deemed Insufficient

Contributor(s)

Avoidance Actions

District Court Denies Interlocutory Appeal of Protective Order

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Professionals, Rules & Procedures

First Circuit Affirms Sanctions Order From Massachusetts Bankruptcy Court Requiring Bankruptcy Attorney to Return to Law School For Ethics Class

Pre-Filing Considerations

Court Declines to Convert a Chapter 12 Case to a Chapter 11 Case

Supreme Court Construes “Actual Fraud” Broadly, Resolving Circuit Split

Chapter 11 Plans, Property of the Estate

Court Finds that Absolute Priority Rule Applies in Individual Chapter 11 Cases

363 Sales, Litigation Issues, Property of the Estate

Know When to Fold ‘Em – Texas Bankruptcy Court Enjoins Losing Bidder’s “Sour Grapes” Attempt to Bring Derivative Claims Under the Guise of Direct Claims

Chapter 9, Government, News

Federal Government Enacts New Restructuring Law for U.S. Territories and Their Instrumentalities

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Not So Swift: Delaware District Court Gives Remedial Lesson in Basic Contract Law Finding that an RSA Would Likely Be Enforced According to Its Terms

Post-Confirmation Issues

Lesson Learned: Sometimes Paying Zero Is Still Too Much for Student Debtors

Happy July Fourth from the Weil Bankruptcy Blog

Court Approves Key Employee Incentive Plan, Finding it is Not a Disguised Retention Plan

Contributor(s)

Bankruptcy Beach Reading

The Rule Against Perpetuities May Be Forgotten, But It Should Not Be Ignored—It May Still Affect the Validity of Your Deal

Contributor(s)

Chapter 7 Trustees

Judge Tosses Bad Faith Involuntary Filing Primarily Seeking Management Change

EFH Court Refuses to Entertain “Legal Fiction,” Dismisses First-Lien Trustee’s Turnover Action Against Second-Lien Noteholders to Recover Make-Whole Not Payable by Debtors

Contributor(s)

Kirsten
Erichsen

News

ICYMI . . .The Transactional Common Interest Privilege in New York–Common, But Not So Privileged

Contributor(s)

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

According to One Bankruptcy Court, the “Wrangle Over Executoriness May be a Tale ‘Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing’"

Claims

Wholesale Assignment of Causes of Action Does Not Establish “Related To” Jurisdiction in Delaware Bankruptcy Court

Claims

Do Bankruptcy Courts Have Jurisdiction Over Out-of-the-Money Claims Disputes?

No American Horror Drama TV Series, but Close: Chapter 11 Case Dismissed as Resembling “Walking Dead”

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Financial Markets, International

ICYMI . . . EU Referendum

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Chapter 7 Trustees, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Professionals

Not So Fast: Sixth Circuit Dismisses Appeal of Bankruptcy Court Order Denying Approval of Proposed Settlement Agreement For Lack of Jurisdiction

Contributor(s)

Arbitration, Chapter 11 Plans, Intellectual Property, Litigation Issues, Post-Confirmation Issues

Barred by Res Judicata & Judicially Estopped – Court Finds That Netflix Has No Chill

Avoidance Actions

When is Conduct Ordinary Enough to Constitute Conduct in the “Ordinary Course of Business”?

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

All That Glitters: Golden Share Can’t Dismiss Bankruptcy

Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

Third Circuit Adopts Nuanced View of “Equal Treatment” in Context of Pre-Plan Settlement Offers

Involuntary Petitions

Keep Your Fights Out of Bankruptcy Court: Bad Faith Involuntary Petitions

Schedules & SOFAs

Keep to the Schedule: How a Failure to List Affirmative Claims in a Debtor’s Schedules Can Preclude Recovery in Future Actions

MLB, McCourt and Magic: Revisiting the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Bankruptcy Five Years Later

Avoidance Actions

Third Circuit Agrees, No Aggregation of Claims Among Creditors to Defeat Preference Minimum Thresholds

Contributor(s)

Claims

Proceed with Caution: 11th Circuit Holds Debt Collectors May Face Penalties under FDCPA for Filing Proofs of Claims in Bankruptcy for Time-Barred Claims

Contributor(s)

Are you Covered? The Insured v. Insured Exclusion

Contributor(s)

Lookback Period

Lookback Period – Twelve Weeks (pt. 4)

Lookback Period

Lookback Period – Twelve Weeks (pt 2)

Lookback Period

Lookback Period – Twelve Weeks

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Court Refuses to Apply “Divestiture Doctrine” in Denying Creditors’ Committee Stay Pending Appeal

Financing, Jurisdiction & Appeals

The Marblegate Oral Argument in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals

Humor, Professionals, Rules & Procedures

Lessons in Local Rules and Civility

Post-Confirmation Issues

The Battle of the Student Loan Discharge

Assumption & Rejection

Section 365(a) – Cherry Picking Executory Contracts

Assumption & Rejection

Fifth Circuit Holds That Assumption of a Real Property Lease Is Effective Upon Entry of an Agreed Order

Avoidance Actions

Third Circuit Agrees That When it Comes to Fraudulent Transfers, There’s No Room for 20/20 Hindsight

Administrative Expenses, Automatic Stay, Claims, Property of the Estate

BREAKING: Automatic Stay Releases Airplane Hostage and Shoots Down Landlord’s Administrative Expense

Case Overviews, Humor

Backstage Rider Demands: 10 Bottles of Dom Perignon, M&Ms (Absolutely No Brown Ones!), Two Ice Cream Cakes, and a DIP Carve Out

Contributor(s)

Valuation Outside the Box: Southern District of Texas Affirms the Bankruptcy Court’s Discretion to Select Appropriate Valuation Methodologies

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Jurisdiction & Appeals

What Are You Doing in This Court? SDNY Bankruptcy Court Transfers Post-Confirmation, State Law Dispute with Non-Debtors Back to the “Home” Bankruptcy Court

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Toto, We Are Staying in Kansas: Bankruptcy Court Declines to Transfer Related Case to Delaware

Dismissal, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Pre-Filing Considerations

Lake Michigan Part II: Bad Faith Analysis

Post-Confirmation Issues

Southern District of New York Reopens Atari’s Bankruptcy Cases

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Litigation Issues, Stern Files

Wellness International Network v. Sharif: An In-Depth Review

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Ninth Circuit Reminds Us of Limits to Bankruptcy Jurisdiction

Avoidance Actions, SIPA Proceedings

In Madoff Fraudulent Transfer Cases, Bankruptcy Court Focuses on Intent of the Transferees

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Dueling Debtors: Missouri Bankruptcy Court says Debtor Can Reject Contract That Counterparty (Who is Also a Debtor) Sought to Assume

Contributor(s)

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties, Pre-Filing Considerations

Bankruptcy Court Rejects Use of Blocking Director to Prevent Bankruptcy Filing

Avoidance Actions, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Asserting Personal Jurisdiction Over Foreign Banks

Rules & Procedures

Whose Rules Are They Anyway? Even in District Court, the Bankruptcy Rules Apply to Proceedings Arising Under Chapter 11

Claims, Rules & Procedures

Too Little, Too Late: Ninth Circuit Holds Confirmation Objection Insufficient to Revive Untimely Complaint Objecting to Dischargeability of Debt

Contributor(s)

Litigation Issues, Real Estate

Defalcation and the Hazards of Board Membership – Lessons from the Fifth Circuit

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, Cramdown, Secured Claims

Improper Calculation of Postpetition Interest Leads to Reversal of a Confirmation Order

Please Buckle Your Seatbelts and Check Your D&O Insurance: A Gloomy Forecast Is Ahead

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Employment, Financial Markets

ICYMI . . .Sun Capital ERISA Litigation – Private Equity Funds Held Liable for Pension Obligations

Contributor(s)

Steven
Margolis

Strategies for Purchasing and Selling Assets in Chapter 11

Contributor(s)

Jacqueline
Marcus

Claims, Subordination & Recharacterization

Bad Children: How One Court Used Alter Ego Doctrine to Uphold Reverse Veil Piercing

Can Assigned Rents Be Excluded From a Debtor’s Estate? In Michigan, Absolutely.

Involuntary Petitions

Florida Bankruptcy Court Finds That It Should Abstain From Involuntary Cases Against Florida Real Estate Developer (No, Not THAT Florida Real Estate Developer)

Survey

2016 March Madness: Weil Bankruptcy Blog’s Champion Is…

Claims

Section 105(a): No Roving Writ, Much Less a Free Hand

Ninth Circuit B.A.P. Drove Down Bayshore Boulevard and Rendered a Decision on the Merits of a Section 363(m) Appeal in the Face of New Facts

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Claims, Substantial Contribution

Bar Remains High for Substantial Contribution: Delaware Bankruptcy Court Denies § 503(b)(3) Claim

Intellectual Property, Litigation Issues

Knock Off the Knock-Offs, Part II: SDNY Bankruptcy Court Holds That Defendant’s Judgment Debt on Account of His Company’s Trademark Infringement Is Not Dischargeable Under Section 523(a)(6)

Property of the Estate

A Loss for the Broccoli Bar: Fifth Circuit Rules That Attorneys’ Fees Cannot Be Paid From PACA Trust Assets

Survey

2016 March Madness: Weil Bankruptcy Blog's Championship Round

Chapter 7 Trustees

I’m Still Here!! Individual Debtor-out-of-Possession May Appeal Bankruptcy Court Order Allowing Claims in Chapter 7 Case

Contributor(s)

Survey

No Post Today, but March Madness Voting Continues

Words Matter—Ninth Circuit Decides Issue of Contract Interpretation

Survey

2016 March Madness: Weil Bankruptcy Blog’s Final Four

ASARCO Update: Fee Premium Disallowed Under Baker Botts v. ASARCO and Boomerang Tube

Fourth Circuit Finds That Bankruptcy Court Sale Orders Should Be Granted Preclusive Effect

Avoidance Actions

Seventh Circuit’s Warning to Landlords: Getting Out of Your Lease With a Distressed Company May Expose You to Bankruptcy Risk

Survey

2016 March Madness: Weil Bankruptcy Blog's Elite Eight

Distressed Debt Funds, Litigation Issues, Out-of-Court Restructuring

Exchange Offer Litigation: SDNY Finds Exchange Likely in Breach of Indenture, But Does Not Issue Preliminary Injunction

Claims

How Are Informal Proofs of Claim Like Informal Dress Codes? What You Can Get Away With May Depend on Whom You Ask

Survey

Voting Ends Friday at Noon for the Sweet Sixteen!

Pre-Filing Considerations

Don’t Mess With Texas (Unless You Are Properly Venued in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court)! Texas Comptroller’s Motion to Transfer Venue of Chapter 11 Case Is Denied

Survey

2016 March Madness: Weil Bankruptcy Blog's Sweet Sixteen

Due Process Concerns, Rules & Procedures

Pro Se Creditor Out of Luck (and Time) When He Did Not File Timely Appeal – Because He Never Received Notice of Entry of the Order!

Claims

The Saga Continues: A brief update on the EFIH First Lien Make Whole Litigation

Contributor(s)

Claims

Bringing Certainty to Uncertainty: Estimation of Tort Claims

EU insolvency law reform could boost growth and jobs across Europe, finds new report

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Delaware Bankruptcy Judges Expand Boomerang Tube Holding that Professionals Cannot Contract Around Baker Botts v. ASARCO

Labor & Employment

Debtors Trump Union in 1113 Appeal (Trump the verb, not the Donald)

Humor, Involuntary Petitions

Time is Money: Conversion and Property of the Estate

Claims

Timing Is Everything – Frenville Continues to Surface in Pre-2011 Cases

Contributor(s)

Lookback Period

2016 Lookback Period – Six Weeks (Part 3)

Lookback Period

2016 Lookback Period – Six Weeks (Part 2)

Lookback Period

2016 Lookback Period – Six Weeks (Part 1)

Constitutional Law, Government, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Justice Scalia, Remembered

Section 236, extra-territorial effect and a way forward following Re MF Global UK Ltd and Re Omni Trustees Ltd

Contributor(s)

Lindsay
Merritt

Subordination & Recharacterization

Don’t Go Chasing (Debtor-Affiliate) Waterfalls: Second Circuit Applies 510(b) Subordination to Contribution Claims Arising from the Securities of an Affiliate of a Debtor

Chapter 11 Plans

The Sixth Circuit’s Take on Artificial Impairment

363 Sales, Involuntary Petitions, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Southern District Bankruptcy Court Dismisses for Cause Involuntary Bankruptcy Filed By Single Creditor for Purpose of Enforcing a Debt in a Two-Party Dispute

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Holds That Committee Professionals Cannot Contract Around Baker Botts v. ASARCO

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Can a Debtor Appeal Confirmation of its own Plan? The Eighth Circuit Applies the Person-Aggrieved Doctrine

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, Cramdown

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Addresses When and Whether Creditors are Entitled to Postpetition Interest in Chapter 11 (Part 4)

Survey

March Madness Is Coming!

Automatic Stay, Case Overviews, Chapter 11 Plans, Humor

50 Cent: You Love Him in a Bentley, But Would You Love Him on a Bus? 50’s Creditors Have 21 Questions, and They’re All About U.S. Bankruptcy Law

Contributor(s)

Chapter 11 Plans, Releases & Exculpations

Let Me Be Clear: Fifth Circuit Holds Generic Plan Release Language Lacks Specificity to Discharge Creditor’s Claims Against Officer of the Debtor

Contributor(s)

Partner Andrew J. Wilkinson Interviewed by The Banker on Ukraine’s Sovereign Debt Restructuring

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Second Circuit Wyly’ing Out? Asset Freeze Order Doesn’t Violate the Automatic Stay

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Subordination & Recharacterization

Sentinel Appeal Part II: Seventh Circuit Discusses Equitable Subordination of Non-Insider

Avoidance Actions

Sentinel Appeal Part I – Seventh Circuit Discusses Inquiry Notice

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Bankruptcy Court Rules Parties Lack Standing, Reminds Litigants of the Parameters of §1109(b)

Humor

You’ve Got a Lot of Chutzpah: Pondering the Prevalence of Chutzpah as a Legal Term, and Revisiting the Very Issue of Chutzpah

Automatic Stay, Chapter 15

How Wide is a Worldwide Stay? Bankruptcy Court Analyzes Scope of Foreign Court’s Stay Order

Avoidance Actions, International

Extraterritorial Transactions – a Viable Way to "Take the Money and Run"?

Claims, Financing

No Authorization? No Problem. Court Finds that Unauthorized Loan Is Entitled to Priority Status

363 Sales, Chapter 7 Trustees

Faced with a Belated Offer for the Debtor’s Assets, Bankruptcy Court Converts the Case to Chapter 7 to Allow a Trustee to Run the Sale Process

Claims

Claim for Amount Owed in Bid Rigging Scheme Disallowed by Connecticut Bankruptcy Court

Breaking the Code

Section 108(c) – Extension of Time to Commence or Continue a Civil Action

D&O Debate: Directors and Officers are Not Down-and-Out When it Comes to Defense Costs

Post-Confirmation Issues, Rules & Procedures

Court of Appeals Reminds Debtors That Honesty Is Not Only the Best Policy, But Is Required

Time Doesn’t Heal Everything: Court Denied Motion to Dismiss Action to Set Aside 21-Year Old Bankruptcy Sale for Fraud on the Court Despite Absence of Specific Allegations That Fraud Reduced the Sale Price!

Insurance, Letters of Credit, Property of the Estate, Third Party Claims

McCarran-Fer-get About It: Insurance Rehabilitation Proceeding Does Not Reverse-Preempt Bankruptcy Court Jurisdiction, Says S.D.N.Y. Bankruptcy Court

Lookback Period

Lookback Period: Six Weeks (Part 3)

Lookback Period

Lookback Period – Six Weeks (Part 2)

Lookback Period

Lookback Period – Six Weeks (Part 2)

Subordination & Recharacterization

Northern District of Illinois Examines Law on Fraudulent Transfer, Recharacterization and Equitable Subordination (Part Two)

Avoidance Actions

Northern District of Illinois Examines Law on Fraudulent Transfer, Recharacterization and Equitable Subordination

Chapter 7 Trustees

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Denies Request to Appoint an Interim Trustee During the “Gap Period” in an Involuntary Case

Breaking the Code

Section 1505 – Authorization to Act In A Foreign Country

Chapter 9, Government, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Post-Confirmation Powers: EDNY Bankruptcy Court Orders Government Entities to Act in In re Suffolk Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation

Automatic Stay, Litigation Issues

In Considering Motions to Sever, District Courts Might Effectively Shift the Burden to Plaintiffs to Show Why the Automatic Stay Should Not Be Extended to Nondebtor Defendants

Contributor's Corner

For-Profit Education Institutions Face a Volatile and Uncertain Future

Chapter 11 Plans

In re Nancy Akbari-Shamirzadi Round 2: TKO

Property of the Estate, Real Estate

Not a Pretty Picture: The Snapshot Rule and Texas Homestead Exemptions

Rules & Procedures

You’re Excused! Court Grants Final Fee Application Despite Late Filing

Rules & Procedures

The Bankruptcy Forms' Makeover Takes Effect Today

Chapter 11 Plans, Cramdown, Secured Claims

S.D.N.Y. Explores Impairment of a Secured Creditor Retaining its Collateral

Contributor(s)

Events

Happy Thanksgiving from the Weil Bankruptcy Blog!

Avoidance Actions

Another Case Involving a Truck, But Not to Worry – This One Is Not About Interest Rates!

Automatic Stay, Claims

What the Future Holds for Make-Whole Claims in Bankruptcy (Redux): Examining the Energy Future Holdings EFIH Second Lien Make-Whole Decision

Contributor(s)

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, Cramdown

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Addresses When and Whether Creditors are Entitled to Postpetition Interest in Chapter 11 (Part 3)

Avoidance Actions

One Fewer Reason to Fear the Hague Convention – New York Bankruptcy Court Permits Mailing of Claim Objection to Foreign Claimants

The Eternal Pursuit to Collect: Due Process Rights and Actions to Collect on a Debtor’s Defaulted Student Loans

Jurisdiction & Appeals, What We're Watching

Supreme Court Grants Cert to Consider Actual Fraud Bar in Section 523(a)(2)(A)

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Addresses When, if Ever, Unsecured Creditors are Entitled to Postpetition Interest in Chapter 11 (Part 2)

Distressed Debt Funds, Litigation Issues

Distressed Investor Finds Covenant-Lite Loan Offers Little Protection – Quadrant Structured Products v. Vertin

Ukraine’s Sovereign Restructuring: Why is this sovereign deal ground-breaking?

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Addresses When, if Ever, Unsecured Creditors are Entitled to Postpetition Interest in Chapter 11 (Part 1)

Avoidance Actions

Making a Clean Break, Part II: Tenth Circuit Sheds Light on Reasonably Equivalent Value for Severance

Court Jester: Tenth Circuit BAP Not Amused By Jester’s Attempt to Reopen Case

Chapter 15 for All: SDNY Bankruptcy Court Holds that Indenture Governed by New York Law Constitutes “Property in the United States” Under Section 109(a)

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Litigation Issues, Stern Files

Be Careful — You Might Consent to Adjudication in Bankruptcy Court Even If You’ve Expressly Said You Don’t

Administrative Expenses

Think Holding a Guaranty Will Give You Priority Over Other Creditors? Think Again!

Avoidance Actions

Making a Clean Break, Part I: Tenth Circuit Sheds Light on When Terminated Officer Ceases to Be Insider

Lookback Period

Lookback Period – Six Weeks, Pt. 2

Lookback Period

Lookback Period — Six Weeks

ABI Reform Commission, Pre-Filing Considerations, Property of the Estate

Don’t Count Your Escrows Before They Hatch

Please, SIR, the Plaintiffs Want Some More: The Southern District of Ohio Weighs in on the Treatment of Self-Insured Retentions in Bankruptcy

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Judge Joseph Irenas and Appellate Review of Bankruptcy Decisions – a Snapshot of a Lasting Legacy

Avoidance Actions

House Wins! 7th Circuit Holds that “Good Faith” Defense Under Section 550(b)(1) Applies to Casino in Fraudulent Transfer Action

Involuntary Petitions

No Bad Blood in the Bankruptcy Court: Third Circuit Holds That Bad Faith Is a Basis for Dismissing Involuntary Petitions

Constitutional Law, Pre-Filing Considerations

Bankruptcy Court Holds That Same-Sex Couples in Registered Domestic Partnerships Are Not “Spouses”

Das Moot – Debtors’ Argument that 363(m) Moots Creditors’ Appeal of Sale Order Gets Sunk by Third Circuit

Busted! Sixth Circuit Holds Creditor’s Threat to Pursue Criminal Charges Against Debtor Falls Outside Criminal Prosecution Exception to Automatic Stay

Contributor(s)

California Court Holds Implied Consent Is a Valid Alternative Basis to Surcharge Secured Creditors’ Collateral

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Bankruptcy Court Makes ‘Executive’ Decision, Rules Master Service Agreement Ineligible for Rejection

Want to Know a Secret? Go to Bankruptcy Court

Automatic Stay, Litigation Issues

Nondebtor Alter Egos Don’t Automatically Benefit from the Automatic Stay, Says New York’s Eastern District

Litigation Issues

Court Tells Junior Investors in CDO “You Gotta Have Faith” – Good Faith and Fair Dealing, That Is

Dismissal, Rules & Procedures

Bankruptcy Court Sheds Light on Effect of Section 1112(b) Case Dismissal on Section 365 Lease Rejection Order – Section 349 Answers the Question

Contributor(s)

Substantive Consolidation

Sixth Circuit “Contributes” to Section 503(b)(3)(D) Debate – Holds Substantial Contribution Claim is Available in a Chapter 7 Case

ABI Reform Commission, Chapter 11 Plans, Financial Markets

LSTA to ABI Commission on Chapter 11 Reform: No Way, José

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Third Circuit Rules that If It’s Not Estate Property, There’s No Need to Respect Priority

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

The Interesting Relationship Between Veil Piercing and Fraudulent Transfer Law

Jurisdiction & Appeals

The Seasons May Change, But the Law is Staying the Same: Ninth Circuit’s Superseding Decision Simply Restates Prior Decision

Litigation Issues

Does Your Bond Deal Seem Too Good To Be True? Maybe it Violates the Indenture

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Ninth Circuit on Finality: “It ain’t over ’til it’s over”

Happy 5th Birthday to the Weil Bankruptcy Blog

Avoidance Actions

Safe No More? Court Vacates Opinion Safe Harboring REMIC Payments

Ukraine’s sovereign restructuring: launch of $18bn simultaneous exchange offers

Claims, Litigation Issues

Can’t Control Your Emotions? Well, Maybe the Bankruptcy Court Can

Automatic Stay, Constitutional Law

Yom Kippur, Kim Davis, the Automatic Stay, and Religious Adjudication of Disputes Involving Parties in Bankruptcy

Avoidance Actions, Chapter 15, Chapter 7 Trustees, Claims, Due Process Concerns, Financing, International, Litigation Issues, Lookback Period, Mass Torts

Lookback Period: Two Weeks

Humor, Litigation Issues

The Annoyed Adjudicator: When Recusal is Unnecessary

Claims, Secured Claims

Think You Got A Blank Check? Think Again

Holiday Posts, Constitutional Law, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Some Rosh Hashanah Reflections on the Talmud, Wellness, and the High Court

Due Process Concerns

Fail to ‘Notice’ an Objection to Your Proof of Claim? Too Bad Says the Bankruptcy Court

Claims

“Conduct” Test Now the Rule in the Seventh Circuit – But We Still Don’t Know How the Seventh Circuit Will Deal With Due Process Concerns

Chapter 7 Trustees, Claims

Our Bad: Bankruptcy Court Denies Creditors’ Motion to Reopen Chapter 7 Case and Vacate Discharge Order Based on Parties’ Mutual Mistake

Contributor(s)

Bankruptcy Beach Reading, Humor

Highlights of Our Favorite Bankruptcy Quotes This Year

Avoidance Actions, Chapter 15, Claims, International

Bankruptcy Court Analyzes English and Luxembourgish Insolvency Law – Opts to Take a Cup of Tea With its Decision and Decline Luxembourg’s eau de vie1

Piper Aircraft Bankruptcy Court Gives Parties ‘Crash’ Course in Parameters of Channeling Injunction

Financing, Litigation Issues

Judge Scheindlin Rules in Caesars that Trust Indenture Act Bars “Core” Impairments; Certifies the Issue to the Second Circuit OR What’s the Deal with the Caesars Parent Guarantee Litigation? [PART II]

Financing, Litigation Issues

Judge Scheindlin Rules in Caesars that Trust Indenture Act Bars “Core” Impairments; Certifies the Issue to the Second Circuit OR What’s the Deal with the Caesars Parent Guarantee Litigation? [PART I]

Avoidance Actions, Case Overviews, Claims, Distressed Debt Funds, Due Process Concerns, Litigation Issues, Lookback Period, Rules & Procedures

Lookback Period: Eight Weeks (Part 4)

Chapter 11 Plans, Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners, Chapter 15, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, International, Lookback Period, Secured Claims

Lookback Period: Eight Weeks (Part 3)

363 Sales, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Involuntary Petitions, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Lookback Period, Property of the Estate, Real Estate, Subordination & Recharacterization, Subrogation

Lookback Period: Eight Weeks (Part 2)

363 Sales, ABI Reform Commission, Cryptocurrency Issues, Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners, Chapter 7 Trustees, Cramdown, Lookback Period, Secured Claims, Valuation

Lookback Period: Eight Weeks

Greek bank bonds: brace yourself for bail-in

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Avoidance Actions

“Ordinary” Doesn’t Always Mean “Often”: Tenth Circuit Holds that First-Time Transaction Can Qualify for the Ordinary Course of Business Exception under Section 547

Distressed Debt Funds, Litigation Issues

Chesapeake Remand Decision Sets Damages at Make-Whole Price and Offers Food for Thought on Bankruptcy Litigation Strategy

NPL innovation – examples from Italy

Claims, Due Process Concerns

Known or Unknown? Third Circuit Questions Standing in New Century Appeal

Due Process Concerns, Rules & Procedures

Back to School Basics: Attorneys Should Confirm Their Address Information is Correct and Monitor Their Case Docket

Two New Decisions Appear to Support Lien-Stripping (Under Certain Conditions)

UK High Court judgment on Lehman Waterfall II application, parts A and B

Contributor(s)

What Marblegate Can Teach Us About the Protections Available to Minority Noteholders in an Out-of-Court Restructuring

Contributor(s)

SDNY Bankruptcy Court Says Claims Against Insurer Need Not Be “Inextricably Intertwined” with Insurer’s Relationship with Debtor to Fall Within Scope of Channeling Injunction

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

It’s All or Nothing: Delaware District Court Says Debtor Cannot Pick and Choose From Bundle of Related Agreements!

Bankruptcy Beach Reading

Bankruptcy Puns: Available Today For Only Fifty Cents On The Dollar

Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

Why Won’t the Courts Apply the Plain Language of Section 1141(c)? Second Circuit Misses the Chance to Get It Right in Northern New England Telephone Operations

Chapter 15, International

OAS S.A. Part III – SDNY Takes a Narrow View of Chapter 15’s Public Policy Exception

The Cure: Eleventh Circuit Entitles Lender to Default-Rate Interest

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Equitable Mootness on Life Support: The Third Circuit Further Pares Back the Abstention Doctrine in One2One Communications

Bankruptcy Beach Reading

Bittersweet Bankruptcy Beach Reading: A Eulogy for The Show Place and the Surflight Theatre

Subordination & Recharacterization

Tenth Circuit Declares "No Recharacterization Without Justification"

Chapter 15, International

OAS S.A. Part II – SDNY Holds That Austrian Financing Subsidiary Has Its Center of Main Interests in Brazil

Chapter 15, International

SDNY Sides with Fifth Circuit and the UNCITRAL Model Law when Granting Recognition to OAS S.A. et al.

Bankruptcy Beach Reading

A Tale of Two Residences

Involuntary Petitions

Bankruptcy Court Reinforces the Notion That Counting the Number of Eligible Creditors Commencing an Involuntary Case Really Counts

363 Sales, Secured Claims

Does Silence Mean Consent? Some Courts Have Found That It Does Not (at Least for Purposes of Sales Under Section 363(f))

Chapter 7 Trustees, Professionals

Blurred Lines: Seventh Circuit Keeps Alive Claims Based upon Law Firm’s Alleged Failure to Advise on Degrees of Business Risk

Contributor(s)

363 Sales, Anti-Assignment Clauses, Energy Sector, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Kentucky Bankruptcy Court Holds That Coal Mining Lease is Not an Executory Contract or Unexpired Lease and is Transferable Pursuant to Section 363 Despite an Anti-Assignment Provision

What’s next for insolvency law reform in Europe: a pan-European insolvency law?

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Property of the Estate

Same Dollars, Different Treatment: Tenth Circuit Holds That Distributions From a Retirement Plan Do Not Fall Within the Colorado State Law Exemption Statute

Subordination & Recharacterization

Debt or Equity? Which Circuit? Recent Cases on Equitable Recharacterization

363 Sales, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Real Estate

Puh-lease, It’s a Lease: Bankruptcy Court Upholds Agreements as True Leases Entitled to Section 365(h) Protections

Jurisdiction & Appeals

A Word from the Ninth Circuit: Substantial Consummation is Not the Final Word!

Avoidance Actions, Contest

Announcing the Winner of the Weil Bankruptcy Blog First Annual Law Student Note Competition

Real Estate, Subrogation

[Un]Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Is It Still Yours?

Onward, Christian Soldiers: Some Guidance on 363 Sales, Fair Auctions, and Proposed Sales to Insiders

Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners, Chapter 7 Trustees

A Tale of Two Circuits: Recent Applications of the Barton Doctrine

ABI Reform Commission, Valuation

If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It: ABI Commission Recommends No Change To Judicial Valuation

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

In re Jevic Holding Corp. Part II: In a Close Call, Third Circuit Approves Settlement Agreement and Structured Dismissal that Deviate from Bankruptcy Code’s Priority Scheme

Rules & Procedures

In re Jevic Holding Corp. Part I: Third Circuit Authorizes Structured Dismissals in Limited Circumstances

Cryptocurrency Issues

Banks and Bitcoin Exchanges

Avoidance Actions, Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Financing, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Litigation Issues, Lookback Period, News, Professionals, Real Estate, Rules & Procedures, Subordination & Recharacterization

Lookback Period: Two Weeks

Avoidance Actions, Real Estate

Everything Has Its Own Value: 7th Circuit Holds That Forbearances by a Lender May Be Considered When Determining Reasonably Equivalent Value

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Real Estate

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Holds That Vacating Premises After Rejection of a Lease Does Not Constitute Termination of the Lease

Claims, Rules & Procedures

Can You Object to a Claim Just Because It Doesn't Include Supporting Documentation? The Answer May Not Be as Simple as You Think

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Professionals

Supreme Court Holds Professionals Are Not Entitled to Fees for Defending Fee Applications

Energy Sector, Events

Weil Business Finance & Restructuring Partner Joseph Smolinsky Discusses Distressed Coal Considerations at the 2015 Barclays High Yield Bond and Syndicated Loan Conference

Claims, Subordination & Recharacterization

Guaranteed Subordination: Fifth Circuit Subordinates Claims Arising Under Guarantees of Securities Issued by an Affiliate

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, Litigation Issues

Speak Before Confirmation or Forever Hold Your Peace: Tenth Circuit Upholds Dismissal of Nondischargeability Suit After Confirmed Plan Treats Claim as “Satisfied in Full”

Momentive Plan Confirmation Affirmed: I Can See Clearly Now the Claim Has Gone

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Professionals

BREAKING NEWS: Professionals Are Not Entitled to Fees for Defending Fee Apps

German BaFin permits origination, restructuring and prolongation of loans to German borrowers by certain funds without a banking licence

Throwback Thursday

The Seventh Circuit’s Deprizio Doctrine and its Aftermath

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Claims, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Secured Claims

SCOTUS Rules that Completely Underwater Liens Ride Through, At Least in a Chapter 7 Case

Breaking the Code, International

Pitfalls for Foreign Enterprises Seeking to Restructure Under the Bankruptcy Code

Breaking the Code, International

Section 109(a) – Filing a Chapter 11 Case for a Foreign Business

Bankruptcy Beach Reading, Substantive Consolidation

Two Become One: Eighth Circuit Rules That Separated Couple Must Substantively Consolidate Their Estates

Property of the Estate

Time is Money: Conversion and Property of the Estate

Chapter 9, Claims, Rules & Procedures, Secured Claims

You’re Late! You’re Late! For a Very Important Date! Seventh Circuit Holds Bankruptcy Rule 3002(c) Deadline to File Proofs of Claim Applies to Secured Claims

Contributor(s)

Chapter 11 Plans

Momentive Plan Confirmation Affirmed: Efficient Market Cramdown Interest Rate Unlikely in Second Circuit Any Time Soon

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Claims, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Secured Claims

Breaking News: SCOTUS Rules That Liens Ride Through, At Least in a Chapter 7 Case.

363 Sales, Secured Claims

Fodder for the Dinner Table: The Rights of Secured Creditors in Chapter 11

Can ISDA’s Close-out Protocol Stay the Next Lehman Brothers?

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Automatic Stay, Claims

What the Future Holds for Make-Whole Claims in Bankruptcy: Examining the Energy Future Holdings EFIH First Lien Make-Whole Decision – Part 2

Contributor(s)

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Well Well Wellness: The Supreme Court’s Most Recent Decision Regarding Stern v. Marshall and its Progeny

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

BREAKING NEWS: Some Guidance from SCOTUS on Stern v. Marshall! (And What You Really Need to Know)

Bankruptcy Beach Reading, Chapter 7 Trustees, Humor, Professionals, Property of the Estate

Fake It ‘til You Make It — or at Least Keep the Frivolous to a De Minimis

Avoidance Actions

Deprizio, Shmeprizio: A Waiver of Indemnification Can Shield an Insider Guarantor From Liability (at Least in the Ninth Circuit)

UK Court of Appeal judgment in Lehman Waterfall I appeal

Contributor(s)

Property of the Estate

We Work Hard For the Money: Supreme Court Rules That A Debtor Who Converts From Chapter 13 To Chapter 7 Is Entitled to Any Postpetition Wages Held by the Chapter 13 Trustee At The Time of Conversion

Chapter 11 Plans, Jurisdiction & Appeals

The Supreme Court Rigidly Applies the Rules of “Flexible Finality” in Bullard v. Blue Hills Bank

Avoidance Actions

Securitized Loan Payments Safe Harbored Under Section 546(e)

Assumption & Rejection, Avoidance Actions, Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Bankruptcy Court Analyzes Preference and Fraudulent Transfer Claims as Applied to the Termination of a Lease

Claims

What the Future Holds for Make-Whole Claims in Bankruptcy: Examining the Energy Future Holdings EFIH First Lien Make-Whole Decision – Part 1

Contributor(s)

Chapter 11 Plans

Momentive Plan Confirmation Affirmed: Subordination Dispute

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Holiday Posts, Humor, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Happy Mothers Day From the Weil Bankruptcy Blog

Claims, Real Estate

To Cap or Not to Cap, That is the Question: Bankruptcy Court Examines 502(b)(6)

Closing a loophole, confirming market practice

Contributor(s)

Breaking the Code

Distributions – Section 1143

News

Remembering Harvey R. Miller: Chapter 11 in Transition – From Boom to Bust and Into the Future

News

Remembering Harvey R. Miller: The Evolution and Changing Environment of Bankruptcy Reorganization Law and Practice

News

Remembering Harvey R. Miller

News

In Memoriam: Harvey R. Miller (1933-2015)

News

Frolic and Detour: A Look at Some of Weil’s Other Blogs

Events

Small Businesses in Distress: Bankruptcy and Other Alternatives

Citing Plain Language of Bankruptcy Code and Split With Other Circuits, Fifth Circuit Overturns Pro-Snax Decision

Property of the Estate

Bankruptcy Court “Right-Swipes” Debtor’s Property Interest in Its Social Media Accounts

Chapter 7 Trustees, Property of the Estate

Rent-Stabilized Leases: Exempt or Not?

The (not just) Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015

Contributor(s)

Jurisdiction & Appeals

More on Stern: What Does “De Novo Review” Mean?

Releases & Exculpations

Eleventh Circuit Confirms Position That Non-Consensual, Third-Party Releases Are Permissible

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Chapter 11 Plans, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Changes to “Flexible Finality”? Civic Partners and the Supreme Court Oral Argument in Bullard

Claims, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Rules & Procedures

Can a Bankruptcy Court Order a Non-Debtor to Dismiss a State Court Lawsuit Against a Third Party? It Depends on the Nature of the Claim—and How Long the Non-Debtor Waits to Object

Survey

Weil's March Madness: the 2015 Champion is …

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

The Moral of the Tael

Contributor(s)

Lindsay
Merritt

Claims

Death: The Ultimate Hardship Discharge?

Post-Confirmation Issues

Tipping Point: Plan Clarification or Plan Modification? Third Circuit Denies Bankruptcy Court’s Use of Its Plan Clarification Powers to Circumvent Plan Modification Requirements of Section 1127

ABI Reform Commission

ABI Commission Opts to Assume the Current State of the Law on Executory Contracts and Leases

Survey

Weil's March Madness Championship Round

Humor

Congress Passes 15% Senior Discount on 363 Sales

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties, Sponsor/Owner Series

Sponsor/Owner Series: Initial Considerations When Your Company is Heading Toward Distress—Fiduciary Duties and More

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Canadian Restructuring Issues, North of the Border Update

We Can Bankrupt the Company for Sure, It’s Insolvent – Think Again

Financial Markets, International

The EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive: moving towards full implementation

Jurisdiction & Appeals

“Life is Full of Tough Choices”: Sixth Circuit Considers Interplay Between Change of Venue and Choice of Law Rules

Survey

March Madness: Weil's Final Four

Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners, Involuntary Petitions, Property of the Estate

Bankruptcy Is a Battlefield, but the Fight Is Over When You Shake on It

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Intellectual Property

Trump-ing the Automatic Stay: Delaware Bankruptcy Court Allows Suit to Terminate Trademark Licensing Agreement

ABI Reform Commission

ABI Chapter 11 Reform Commission Series: Trade Creditor and Employee Priorities

Automatic Stay, Claims

Litigation or Estimation? When Should Nonbankruptcy Actions Continue in Their Original Forums, and When Should They Be Resolved Through Estimation in Bankruptcy Court?

Survey

MARCH MADNESS: Weil's Elite Eight

Financing, Professionals, Valuation

Bankruptcy Court Denies Debtor’s Request to Pay Estate Professionals With Cash Collateral

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

North of the Border Update

The Sale of Litigious Rights in an Insolvency Context – A Civil Law Approach

Frivolous Petitions Cannot Be Completely Eliminated

ABI Reform Commission, Distressed Debt Funds

Kill Till: ABI Commission Recommends Market Rate for Cramdowns

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

ABI Reform Commission, Survey

March Madness Kicks Off – All About the ABI Report

Involuntary Petitions

Three’s a Crowd: Payoffs, Numerosity, and Involuntary Petitions

ABI Reform Commission

Making an Exit, Part II: ABI Commission Recommendations on Chapter 11 Plan Content, Voting and Exit Orders

Scheme Hot Topics

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Due Process Concerns, Rules & Procedures

Technical Difficulties, Efforts to Avoid Overtime Work Do Not Excuse a Missed Filing Deadline

Survey

One Shining Moment: March Madness Is Here!

Chapter 11 Plans, Cramdown, Real Estate

Ninth Circuit BAP: Cramdown, DENIED.

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

No Security by Obscurity: The Importance of Clearly Identifying Collateral

Financial Markets

Gary Holtzer Interviewed on Top Issues PE Firms Should Consider When Faced with Trouble

Energy Sector, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Drilling Down: A Deeper Look into the Distressed Oil & Gas Industry Part 4—Smoke on the Water: The Hazy Law of Oil and Gas Leases on the Outer Continental Shelf

Anti-Assignment Clauses, Distressed Debt Funds, Financial Markets, What We're Watching

Barbarians at the Gate: Loan Syndications and Trading Association Issues Market Advisory Regarding Disqualified Institutions Provisions for Blacklisted Lenders

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

ABI Reform Commission

Making an Exit, Part I: ABI Commission Recommendations on Chapter 11 Plan Content, Voting and Exit Orders

ABI Reform Commission

ABI Chapter 11 Reform Commission Series: Postpetition Financing II

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Alma: the test case introducing the ‘accelerated safeguard’

ABI Reform Commission

ABI Chapter 11 Reform Commission Series: Postpetition Financing I

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Beware the Statute of Limitations!

Humor

Even Exes Can Tell the Truth Sometimes: A Valentine’s Day Reminder from the Weil Bankruptcy Blog

ABI Reform Commission

ABI Chapter 11 Reform Commission Series: Labor and Benefits

Claims, Secured Claims, What We're Watching

Supreme Court to Consider Eleventh Circuit Decisions Upholding “Strip Off” of Junior Mortgage Liens

Arbitration, Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners, Litigation Issues, Professionals

How to Get a Mediator Appointed in a Bankruptcy Case (Hint: In Some Courts, It’s Easier If She Wasn’t a Bankruptcy Judge)

North of the Border Update

Court Interprets Receivership Order Stay Provisions and Addresses the Impact of Inter-Creditor Disputes on the Distribution of Proceeds into Court

Financial Markets

Investors Prepare to Pounce on Possible Uptick in Restructurings

Contributor(s)

Energy Sector, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Drilling Down: A Deeper Look into the Distressed Oil & Gas Industry Part 3—The Ability to Assume or Reject Oil and Gas Leases

Litigation Issues

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Provides Further Guidance on the Contours of the Common Interest Doctrine

Contributor(s)

Second Circuit Holds Secured Creditor to Errant Termination Statement Filing

Cryptocurrency Issues

Could a Bitcoin Exchange Be a Commodity Broker?

ABI Reform Commission

ABI Chapter 11 Reform Commission: Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code (No More Quick Sales?)

ABI Reform Commission, Automatic Stay, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Setoffs

ABI Chapter 11 Reform Commission Series: Shallow Harbors? An In-Depth Look at the Proposed Changes to the Safe Harbor Provisions

ABI Reform Commission

ABI Chapter 11 Reform Commission Series: Small and Medium Sized Debtor Enterprises

Contributor(s)

ABI Reform Commission, Avoidance Actions

ABI Chapter 11 Reform Commission Series: Avoidance Actions and Other Litigation Issues

North of the Border Update

Fee Adjustments in Canada Revisited

Due Process Concerns, Pre-Filing Considerations

Bankruptcy Court Refuses to Hop Aboard Faulty Subway Directions Excuse for Delayed Petition Filing

Contributor(s)

ABI Reform Commission

ABI Chapter 11 Reform Commission Series: Venue and Core and Noncore Matters

Want to Shop? Don’t Let Bankruptcy Stop You!

ABI Reform Commission

ABI Chapter 11 Reform Commission Series: Claims Trading

Scheme hot topics

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Automatic Stay, Financing

Postpetition Ratification of Prepetition Stay Waivers – A Possible End Around of the General Prohibition Against Prepetition Waivers of Bankruptcy Rights?

Drilling Down: A Deeper Look into the Distressed Oil & Gas Industry Part 2—Treatment of Oil and Gas Interests in Bankruptcy

Litigation Issues

Chesapeake Bond Redemption Case: Ambiguity, Plain Meaning and Value

ABI Reform Commission

ABI Chapter 11 Reform Commission Series: Oversight of the Case (Part II, Professional and Compensation Issues)

Charging Liens and Trump Cards: Specific Isolated Funds Not Required

ABI Reform Commission

ABI Chapter 11 Reform Commission Series: Oversight of the Case (Part I)

Drilling Down: A Deeper Look into the Distressed Oil & Gas Industry

Releases & Exculpations, Rules & Procedures

Class Action in Bankruptcy: “NO REPRESENTATION WITHOUT DESIGNATION!” Said the Second Circuit

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Canadian Restructuring Issues, North of the Border Update

Rare Substantive Consolidation Order Issued by Ontario Court

The Need for Greater Transparency in Municipal Bankruptcies

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties, Litigation Issues, Third Party Claims

The Cycle of Fiduciary Duties – Owner/Directors of Solvent Companies Owe Fiduciary Duties Only to Themselves

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

Slouching Towards Bankruptcy: Corporate Fiduciaries Escape Liability in Ultimate Escapes

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Due Process Concerns

Why You May Not Want to Get All Your News From Facebook

Bankruptcy Court Decision Sheds Light on Cross-Border Eligibility, Venue, and COMI Issues (Part Two)

Bankruptcy Court Decision Sheds Light on Cross-Border Eligibility, Venue, and COMI Issues (Part One)

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Can I Borrow Your Cause of Action for a Minute? Derivative Standing in the Seventh Circuit

Canadian Restructuring Issues, North of the Border Update

Ontario Court of Appeal Rejects Theory of “Common Enterprise Insolvency”

ABI Reform Commission

Breaking News: The ABI Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11 Issues Its Final Report and Recommendations

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

If it Looks Like a Duck and Quacks Like a Duck, Then…: Kansas Bankruptcy Court Finds Car “Lease” is a Disguised Financing Based on Economic Realities of Transaction

Avoidance Actions, Financing, Subordination & Recharacterization

There’s a Thin Line Between Equity and Debt: Affiliates, Advances and Avoiding Recharacterization

Rules & Procedures

House Passes Financial Institution Bankruptcy Act of 2014 and Takes Significant Step Towards Establishing a Separate Bankruptcy Process for Bank Holding Companies and Large Financial Institutions

Rules & Procedures

Bankruptcy Court Announces Cyber Monday Deals: Higher Fees, New Rules, and Revised Forms

Holiday Posts, Automatic Stay

Happy Thanksgiving: In Case You’re Wondering, The Automatic Stay Protects Cranberries, Too!

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Property of the Estate

Interest in an LLC: Property or a Contractual Right? You Decide (But We Are Warning You the Stakes Are High)!

International, North of the Border Update

Recognizing Foreign Proceedings Under the Canadian Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act: Re MtGox Co

Apcoa restructuring scheme of arrangement sanctioned by the English High Court despite being contested – Court of Appeal hearing set for 9/10 December 2014

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Property of the Estate

Sixth Circuit Says, “I’m With the Underhills!”

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Thoughts on a New Age of Consent: What Does Consent Mean with Respect to Stern Claims?

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Intellectual Property

Crumbs Bake Shop Finds Layers of Rights Under a Rejected Trademark License

Bank of England's New Strategy for Resolving Failing Financial Institutions

Contributor(s)

Andrew J.
Wilkinson

Avoidance Actions, Financing, International

Free Trade, Comity, and the Bankruptcy Code

Automatic Stay, Claims

Computers Are People Too: “The Computer Did It” Is No Defense to Violations of the Automatic Stay

363 Sales, Chapter 7 Trustees, Constitutional Law, Property of the Estate

Forced Sales, Unconstitutional Takings, and BAPCPA Oh My…

Canadian Restructuring Issues, North of the Border Update

Court Considers Corporate Insolvency Provision in the Context of a Share Redemption

Harvey Miller on Repeat Chapter 11 Filings

Claims

Bankruptcy Court Bars Future Claimant from Seeking to Avoid Effect of Discharge

Chapter 11 Plans, Plan Solicitation & Voting

To Deem Accepted or Not to Deem Accepted . . . That Is the Question

Contributor(s)

Claims, Tax Issues

Give and Take: Delaware Bankruptcy Court Dismisses Trustee’s Turnover and Avoidance Claims Relating to Debtor’s Net Operating Losses

Chapter 11 Plans, Plan Solicitation & Voting

Momentive Postscript – Bankruptcy Rule 3018: Vote Changing on Chapter 11 Plans: You Can’t Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Recent “Family Farmer” Case Shows How Secured Creditors Can Avoid Being Plowed Down By Unfair Cramdown Provisions

Avoidance Actions

Where’s the Beef? (Part II)

Avoidance Actions

Where’s the Beef? (Part I)

Labor & Employment

When the Stakes are High, Union Can’t Gamble with Gambling Debtors – Bankruptcy Court Approves Casino’s Rejection of CBA

Canadian Restructuring Issues, North of the Border Update

CCAA Court Reconsiders Accepted Claim Under Claims-Bar Order

Courtroom Drama: Argentinian Sovereign Debt

Administrative Expenses

Transcending Self-Protection: How a Selfless Creditor Can be Handsomely Rewarded

WARN Act Plaintiffs Ask, “Are You My Employer?”

Avoidance Actions

No Protection in Ponzi Schemes: Utah Bankruptcy Court Limits Investors’ Ability to Retain Returns on Investments

Claims

Almost Favored – Court Denies Settling Defendants’ Attempt to Recover Under Most Favored Nations Clause

Can You Inadvertently Waive Your Automatic Stay Rights Goodbye?

A Comity of (Reversible) Error: Second Circuit Finds Foreign Debtor’s Claim Against U.S. Debtor Is “Located” in the United States

Canadian Restructuring Issues, North of the Border Update

Post-Filing Interest in a CCAA Proceeding: Re Nortel Networks Corp.

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

Major Banks Take Action to Facilitate Cross-Border Resolution Efforts by Agreeing to Sign ISDA Resolution Stay Protocol

News, Rules & Procedures

Closed for Columbus Day Because of Bankruptcy Rule 9006(a)(6)

Jurisdiction & Appeals

#Hashtag: Thinking of Starting Your Own Marijuana Business?

Brazilian Reorganization Plan: Fundamentally Fair or Wholesale Trampling of Creditors’ Rights?

Automatic Stay, Avoidance Actions, Jurisdiction & Appeals

R-E-C-O-V-E-R: Find Out What It Means to the Third Circuit

Claims

No Proof of Claim, No Problem: Bankruptcy Court Finds Declaration to Be Effective as Informal Proof of Claim

Contributor(s)

Court Refuses to Equitably Subordinate Because Conduct Was Consistent With the Contract

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Rules & Procedures

Dear Court: Please Forgive Me, But I Need a Continuance of My Trial Due to Yom Kippur

Administrative Expenses, Claims, Utilities

Appellate Panel Teaches the Electric Slide, Sets Forth a Standard for Determining Whether Electricity Is a “Good” for Purposes of Section 503(b)(9)

You Can’t Get Around the Automatic Stay by Filing an Action Against the Debtor in Another Bankruptcy Case Before the Same Bankruptcy Court. Or Can You?

The Reach of the Automatic Stay: One Court Reminds Us that Extending the Automatic Stay to Non-Debtors Is “Extraordinary Relief”

North of the Border Update

No Loss is No Defence: Asset-Flipping and Fraudulent Misrepresentation in Receiverships

Humor

Party Like It’s 5775: Rosh Hashanah Wishes for a Sweet New Year

Avoidance Actions

Double Dipping? Section 503(b)(9) and the New Value Defense to Preference Liability

Anti-Assignment Clauses, Distressed Debt Funds, Financial Markets, What We're Watching

Interview with Bridget Marsh, Deputy General Counsel of the LSTA on Meridian Sunrise Village

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Bank for Sale – Involuntary Petition Against Bank Holding Company Sustained

Claims

Court Denies Administrative Priority Status to Seller Whose Goods Were Not Received by the Debtor

Avoidance Actions

I Hear Nothing, I See Nothing, I Know Nothing: Third Circuit Says Transferee’s Knowledge Not Relevant to Establishing Fraudulent Transfer Claims

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Back to School: Circuit Courts Provide “Cheat-Sheet” on Stern Consent Issues in Advance of the Supreme Court’s Consideration of Wellness Int’l Network v. Sharif

North of the Border Update

Walking a Mile in the Trustee’s Shoes: How s. 38 of the BIA can allow creditors to revive dismissed claims

News

Weil Female Restructuring Partners Discuss Gender Gap Issues in WSJ

Chapter 11 Plans, Financing, Releases & Exculpations

Momentous Decision in Momentive Performance Materials Part IV: Make-Wholes and Third Party Releases

Contributor(s)

Chapter 11 Plans, Financing

Momentous Decision in Momentive Performance Materials: Subordination Is as Subordination Does

Chapter 11 Plans, Cramdown, Secured Claims

Momentous Decision in Momentive Performance Materials: Cramdown of Secured Creditors – Part II

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Chapter 11 Plans, Cramdown, Secured Claims

Momentous Decision in Momentive Performance Materials: Cramdown of Secured Creditors – Part I

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Claims, Due Process Concerns

Publish or Perish: How Much Publication Notice Is Enough to Provide Notice to Unknown Creditors?

Avoidance Actions

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Weighs in on Subsequent New Value Circuit Split

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Avoidance Actions

Caveat Debtor: Liens Preserved Pursuant to Section 551 Subject to Defects Under State Law

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

North of the Border Update

Court Clarifies Secured Creditor’s Rights to Pursue Chose in Action

Survey

It’s Back to School Season and the Weil Bankruptcy Blog Is Calling All Law Students and Recent Graduates!

Humor

Our Last Day Off of the Summer

Assumption & Rejection

The Business Behind Renting a Resort Villa

Claims

Failure to Provide a Translation Does not Translate to Victory

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Jurisdiction & Appeals

What’s the Difference Between a Contested Matter and an Adversary Proceeding Anyway?

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Flexibility on Finality: Over Dissent, First Circuit Splits from Majority in Holding That Orders Denying Relief from Stay Are Not Always Final

Practice Pointers from the Second Circuit: A Prohibited Power Grab Can Be “Taxing”

Energy Sector, Stern Files, Throwback Thursday

J. Howard Marshall: Scion of Bankruptcy Reform??

Chapter 11 Plans

Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off: What Happens if the Bankruptcy Code Says Yes, But the Debtor’s Governance Documents Say No?

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties, Financial Markets

Can the FDIC Assert Direct as Well as Derivative Claims of Stockholders of Failed Banks? The Seventh Circuit Says “No (But Maybe They Should)”

North of the Border Update

CCAA Court Modifies a Claims Procedure Order and Allows a Stay to Be Lifted for A Proposed Class Action Claim to be Pursued After the Claims-Bar Date

Bankruptcy Beach Reading

Keeping Up with the Joneses: Our Top Five Most Read Posts this Year

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Peering Through the Muck Again: Another Court Analyzes Whether LLC Operating Agreements are Property Interests or Executory Contracts

Contributor(s)

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

The Ninth Circuit Waits for No One

Avoidance Actions

Pass the Buck: Fourth Circuit Preserves the Mere Conduit Defense

Section 363(f) Retires ERISA-Based Successor Liability Claims

Bankruptcy Beach Reading

Our "Must-Cite" Bankruptcy Cases

Slice of the Pie, Valuation

In Assessing Solvency, Beware the Unknown Unknowns

Slice of the Pie, Valuation

Genco: Future Earnings? That Was Then; This Is Now

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

North of the Border Update

You Have A Trust? Well, Iona Secured Interest: A summary of Iona Contractors Ltd. (Receiver of) v. Guarantee Co. of North America, 2014 ABQB 347

Avoidance Actions

Ignorance Isn’t Always Bliss: Tenth Circuit Illustrates Limits of Good Faith and Subsequent Transferee Defenses Under UFTA

Financial Markets

Harvey Miller on Argentina and Distressed Investors

Automatic Stay, Avoidance Actions, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Throwback Thursday

A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the [UCC] Remedy Go Down: Recognition of Stoppage Rights in the Early Years of the Bankruptcy Code

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Professionals

Can You Keep a Secret? Can the Bankruptcy Court? Bankruptcy Courts Must Adequately Demonstrate the Basis for Sealing Proceedings from the Public, Media

Claims, SIPA Proceedings

The Interplay between Section 502(d) of the Bankruptcy Code and SIPA’s Requirement of “Prompt” Return of Customer Funds

Claims, Involuntary Petitions, Jurisdiction & Appeals

A Dispute Over a Dispute: Recent Bankruptcy Court Decision Dismisses Involuntary Chapter 7 Petition Due to Bona Fide Disputes

Contributor(s)

Claims, Tax Issues

Following the Eleventh Circuit, Sixth Circuit Sides with FDIC in Latest Tax Refund Dispute

Slice of the Pie, Valuation

Genco: Dry Bulk Shipping Valuations No Longer Anchored to Discounted Cash Flow Method

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Chapter 11 Plans, Professionals, Releases & Exculpations

Indecent Disclosure: How the Failure to Disclose a Third-Party Release Led to Its Undoing

Releases & Exculpations

Release Me! Release Me!: S.D.N.Y Bankruptcy Court Upholds Certain Non-Consensual Non-Debtor Releases Granted by Unimpaired Creditors and Equity Holders

North of the Border Update

Comment Period Closes for Canadian Government Public Consultation Process on Insolvency Law Reform

Bankruptcy Beach Reading, Humor

Highlights From 2014 (and Beyond)

Releases & Exculpations

The Fourth Circuit Provides a Useful Roadmap for Debtors Seeking Third-Party Releases

The Pain that Comes along with Walking a Mile in Your Own Shoes … Circuits Refuse to Allow Reorganized Debtors to "Step in the Shoes" of Debtors in Possession as Subrogees

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Code vs. Contract: Fifth Circuit holds that Section 506(b) Governs Recovery of Proceeds from a Foreclosure Sale After the Automatic Stay Has Been Lifted

Cryptocurrency Issues, Claims, Pre-Filing Considerations

Could a Bitcoin Exchange Constitute a “Stockbroker”?

Property of the Estate

Unfinished Business: And The Winner Is . . .

Claims

How to Overcome Your Fear of “Commitment” If You Are a Bank Holding Company

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

The Stern Files: Uncertainty Abounds Regarding Consent to Bankruptcy Court Adjudication

North of the Border Update

Fairness Opinions and Plans of Arrangement: A Second Look

Throwback Thursday

U.S. v. Ron Pair Enters.

Constitutional Law, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Property of the Estate, Stern Files, What We're Watching

“Thank You, SCOTUS; It’s About Time!”: Supreme Court Grants Cert to Decide Meaningful Stern v. Marshall Questions

Foreign Debtor Eligibility for Chapter 15: The Second Circuit’s Gateway Requirements May Not Limit Access After All

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

Court Pierces the Corporate Veil and Tells Designer Knock-Off to Knock It Off

Contributor(s)

Harvey Miller on Municipal Distress

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Intellectual Property

The Eighth Circuit Reverses Course and Concludes that a License Agreement that Is Part of a Completed Sale Transaction Is Not an Executory Contract

Avoidance Actions

Ex-President Surely Feels Like a Room without a Roof: Happy Not to Be Deemed an Insider (Part II)

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Avoidance Actions

Ex-President Surely Feels Like a Room without a Roof: Happy Not to Be Deemed an Insider (Part I)

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

North of the Border Update

Restructuring in Canada: the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and the Canada Business Corporations Act

Bankruptcy Beach Reading, Humor

BANKRUPTCY BEACH FUTBOL READING – World Cup Edition

Are You Not Entertained? The SDNY Weighs In On the Battle Between Sections 363(f) and 365(h) of the Bankruptcy Code

Litigation Issues

In a Setback for Argentina Against its Holdout Bondholders: US Supreme Court Holds FSIA Does Not Limit Discovery in Post-Judgment Execution Proceedings Against Foreign Sovereign

Chapter 11 Plans

No Confirmation Without Representation: New Test Is Proposed for Approval of a Debtor’s Proposed Slate of Post-Confirmation Officers and Directors

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Contract Remedies in the Face of Imminent Default – What Happens to State Law Adequate Assurance and Anticipatory Breach in Bankruptcy?

Bankruptcy Court Declines to Force Municipality into Mediation of Dispute Unrelated to Chapter 9

Claims, Environmental, Post-Confirmation Issues, Third Party Claims

Clean Up for What?! After Enough Time, You Can Leave Your Mess Behind.

Avoidance Actions

How Safe Is the Section 546(e) Safe Harbor? Part III: Risk to the Financial Markets

North of the Border Update

Fee Adjustments in Canada: Bank of Nova Scotia v Diemer and Re TNG Acquisition Inc.

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Breaking News: Unanimous Supreme Court Closes Statutory Gap, Leaves Other “Core” Stern Questions For Another Day (Executive Benefits Insurance Agency v. Arkison)

Fourth Circuit Holds that Chapter 7 Trustees are Entitled to Commission-Based Payments in the Absence of Extraordinary Circumstances

What a Long, Strange “Tripp” It’s Been: Eastern District of Virginia Upholds Sealing Report Under Section 107

Chapter 11 Plans, Cramdown, Real Estate

Recent Bankruptcy Court Decision Renews Debate over Artificial Impairment

Contributor(s)

Chapter 11 Plans

You Thought Your Deal Was Set in Stone? Maybe Not, Says Bankruptcy Court More Than a Decade After Plan Confirmation.

Successful Bidder Must Pay Damages (In Addition to Forfeiting Deposit) After Backing Out of Sale – At Least in Certain Circumstances

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Wave Goodbye to Bankruptcy Waivers? (Court Rules LLC’s Prepetition Waiver of Bankruptcy Protection Contrary to Public Policy)

Assumption & Rejection, Claims, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

To Assume or Not to Assume, that Is the Question: What Act Constitutes “Assumption” Under Section 365(d)(4) of the Bankruptcy Code?

Avoidance Actions, Slice of the Pie, Valuation

Always Sunny In Adelphia – Bankruptcy Court Rejects DCF with Unreliable Projections, Drops Some Valuation Knowledge

North of the Border Update

Canadian Government Initiates Public Consultation Process on Insolvency Law Reform

Bankruptcy Beach Reading

BANKRUPTCY BEACH READING

Throwback Thursday

How a Real Estate Bankruptcy in Georgia Led to One of the Code’s Most Misunderstood Provisions—the Pine Gate Case Revisited, Part Two

Assumption & Rejection

Bankruptcy Court Rejects Debtors’ “Prompt” Payment of Cure over 3.5 Years

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

The Rural/Metro Decision and its Relevance to Reorganization

The Post-Fisker Credit Bidding Debate Continues: Two More Decisions Leave Unanswered Questions About the Significance of Fisker

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Allows Debtor to Drop Lease Settlement for Higher Offer

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Throwback Thursday

How a Single Asset Real Estate Bankruptcy in Georgia Led to One of the Code’s Most Misunderstood Provisions—the Pine Gate Case Revisited

Avoidance Actions

Section 547(c)(2)(B): Congress Meant What It Said and It Said What It Meant, This Test is Objective One-Hundred Percent!

North of the Border Update

Court Clarifies Principles for the Distribution of Sales Proceeds and the Allocation of Costs in Receivership Proceedings

Case Overviews, Constitutional Law, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Pre-Filing Considerations

Wisconsin Bankruptcy Court Says “I Do” to Same-Sex Spouses’ Bankruptcy Petition

Involuntary Petitions

In the Game of “Involuntary Petition” Poker, Tenth Circuit BAP Calls Creditor’s Bluff

Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners

The Wall Street Journal’s Experts Panel: What Does the Rural/Metro Ruling Mean for Advisors to Distressed Companies?

Chapter 15 Recognition of a Foreign Main Proceeding: Balancing Parties’ Interests

Labor & Employment

Supreme Court Declines to Hear Appeal of Conclusion that PE Funds are Potentially Liable for Pension Obligations of Portfolio Companies

Contributor(s)

Avoidance Actions

How Safe Is the Section 546(e) Safe Harbor? Part II: Financial Intermediaries and Financial Institutions

Avoidance Actions, Financing

“Release the Kraken” II: For Want of a Lien, the Botticelli Could Be Lost. . .

Claims, Jurisdiction & Appeals

On Having Standing to Object to a Bankruptcy Settlement, the Seventh Circuit Holds that Money Isn’t Everything

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Executory Contracts: Sometimes Debtors Can Be Choosers!

North of the Border Update

Who Gets the Upside in a Single-Asset Real Estate Company? Unsecured Creditors, Québec Court Rules

Anti-Assignment Clauses, Distressed Debt Funds, Financial Markets, What We're Watching

Ceci n’est pas une institution financière: Existential Crisis For Distressed Debt Focused Hedge Funds

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Chapter 11 Plans, Post-Confirmation Issues

Reminder: Not All Prepetition Claims Against Reorganizing Chapter 11 Debtor Are Dischargeable Under Chapter 11 Plan

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties, Financing, Involuntary Petitions

Is Your Child Controlling You? Delaware Bankruptcy Court Holds that Subsidiaries Can Owe Fiduciary Duties to their Parents

Administrative Expenses, DIP Financing

Breaking-Up Just Got Harder to Do: Court Holds Break-Up Fee to be Prepetition Claim Not Entitled to Administrative Expense Priority

Contributor(s)

Credit Bidding Capped Again: The Fisker Factors Create a “Perfect Storm” in Virginia

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Judicial Estoppel, or Why You Can’t Talk Outside Both Sides of Your Mouth in Court

363 Sales, Avoidance Actions, Valuation

“Keep Calm and Carry On”: “Panicked” Asset Sale Not Inconsistent With Good Faith Finding for Constructive Fraudulent Transfer Analysis

Avoidance Actions, Setoffs

Whose Value is It Anyway? When it Comes to Three-Party Relationships and Preference Liability, It May Not Matter.

Administrative Expenses

When it Comes to Administrative Expenses Under Section 503(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, Hindsight Isn’t Always 20/20

Avoidance Actions

Eleventh Circuit Holds That Trustee Cannot Recover Tax Payments IRS Already Refunded

North of the Border Update

Approval of a SISP in a BIA proposal: Re Colossus Minerals Inc.

Peanut Butter Maker Takes More Bread in 363 Sale, Leaves Winning Bidder in a Jam

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Cryptocurrency Issues, Claims, Pre-Filing Considerations

Would a U.S.-Based Bitcoin Exchange Be Eligible for Bankruptcy?

363 Sales, Chapter 7 Trustees

Free and Clear. Not So Fast. Bankruptcy Court Claws Back Ability to Sell Distressed Assets Free and Clear of Claims and Interests

Contributor(s)

Survey

THE 2014 CHAMPION OF WEIL’S MARCH MADNESS IS…

Avoidance Actions

“Moo”-ving Away from Omegas: Seventh Circuit Opens the Barn Door for Use of Constructive Trusts as a Preference Defense

Administrative Expenses

No Blurred Lines Here, Confidential Means Confidential (Even if No Nuclear Launch Codes Are Involved)

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners

No Trust? Time for a Trustee

Survey

MARCH MADNESS: Weil’s Championship Round

363 Sales, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

363(f) Versus 365(h): A Victory for 363(f), At Least in this Case

North of the Border Update

Administrative consolidation of proposals under the BIA: Re Electro Sonic

Claims, Financing, Professionals, Secured Claims

You Can’t Always Get What You Want, But If You’re an Oversecured Creditor, You Might Get What You Need

Claims

Rejecting Frenville (again), Third Circuit Extends Grossman’s and Broadens Scope of Prepetition Claims

Survey

March Madness: Weil’s Final Four

Avoidance Actions

Telling Clients to “Just Keep Paying” Won’t Cut It – Bankruptcy Court Claws Back Legal Fees as Constructively Fraudulent Transfers

Administrative Expenses, Claims, Real Estate

Stub Rent Debate Continues: Another Jurisdiction Adopts the Billing Date Approach

Anti-Assignment Clauses, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Ninth Circuit B.A.P. Affirms That Liquidating Trust Can Receive Joint Venture Interests Notwithstanding Transfer Restrictions in Operating Agreement

Chapter 11 Plans

Don’t Do Tomorrow What You Can Do Today Or You Might Just Be Asking for Judicial Intervention Pursuant to Section 1142(b) of the Bankruptcy Code

Survey

March Madness: Weil's Elite Eight

Avoidance Actions

I Didn’t Know, I Swear! Section 548(c)’s Good-Faith Defense to Fraudulent Transfer Actions

North of the Border Update

Receivership or Stay of Proceedings? Court Deals with Competing Applications for the Appointment of a Receiver and CCAA Protection

363 Asset Sales: Going Once, Going Twice, Sold! . . . Subject to Court Approval

Claims, Secured Claims

Liens Will Survive — All Goes Well for Secured Creditor When Ninth Circuit Extends Dewsnup Principles to Chapter 12

Chapter 11 Plans, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Open and Shut: Southern District Upholds Denial of Trustee’s Motion to Reopen Case

Cryptocurrency Issues, Chapter 15, Financial Markets, International, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Pre-Filing Considerations

Foreign Bitcoin Exchanges and Chapter 15

Survey

March Madness: Weil's Sweet Sixteen

Jurisdiction & Appeals

The Supreme Court Says, “No Need to Spare the Rod, but Don’t Spoil the Fraudulent Debtor’s Exemptions Either”

Avoidance Actions, Claims, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Distributions to Cash Out Shareholders of Target Company in an LBO are Subject to Fraudulent Transfer Lawsuits in State Court

Avoidance Actions

Health Insurer to Bankruptcy Trustee: I’d Prefer You Not Avoid That Transfer

Claims

Landlord Tries “To Be an Optimist About This” In Arguing Sections 365 and 503 Apply to Guarantor of Lease Obligations

Survey

Hoop Here It Is – March Madness 2014 Is Here!

Events

Avoiding Bankruptcy for Small Businesses in Financial Distress

Debtor’s Dream Home Becomes Nightmare: Bankruptcy Court Grants Relief from the Automatic Stay to Permit Foreclosure

Contributor(s)

Weil’s March Madness: The Selection Panel Has Met!

Avoidance Actions, Releases & Exculpations

The Fraudulent-Transfer Risk of Intangible Consideration

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

In Pari Delicto — An Auditor’s Best Friend?

Releases & Exculpations

The Second Circuit Upholds Madoff Trustee’s Release of Derivative Claims

363 Sales, Chapter 11 Plans

Fisker Credit Bid Controversy Update: Hybrid Leave to Appeal Denied; Wanxiang Wins Auction; Court Approves Sale

Claims

Whose Claim Is It Anyway?

North of the Border Update

Court Terminates Director’s Charge and Refuses to Grant All-Encompassing Releases to Monitor and CRO

Humor

Valentine’s Day Special: Online Dating Advice For Bankruptcy Lawyers

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Assumption & Rejection, Claims, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

What Rights Do You Have If Specific Performance Is Your Only Remedy Under a Rejected Contract? Possibly None.

Claims, Slice of the Pie

Mass Tort Bankruptcies and Valuation Considerations in the Claims Estimation Process

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Divorce and Bankruptcy May Give Spouse a Fresh Start But Not a Second Bite at the Apple

Avoidance Actions

It’s Settled: You Can Take Your Money and Run, but You Can’t Hide from Section 547(b)

Survey

March Madness: Weil’s Billion Dollar Bracket?

363 Sales, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Shoulda Coulda Woulda: Would-Be Bidders Lack Standing to Challenge the Result of an Auction in Bankruptcy

Chapter 7 Trustees, Property of the Estate

Ninth Circuit Declines to Follow Eighth Circuit in Setting the Boundaries of the Trustee’s Turnover Power Under Section 542(a)

North of the Border Update

Provincial Law Cannot Frustrate Purposes of the Canadian Bankruptcy Regime

Draft Wisely or Pay Dearly: The Fifth Circuit Weighs in on the Enforceability of Prepayment Premiums (Absent Prepayment)

Government, Professionals

Bite Your Tongue . . . Or Wave the Flag of Absolute Judicial Privilege

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

A Promise Plus a Right to Win a Lawsuit — How the Right to Demand Adequate Assurance (Under State Law) Attempts to Protect Contract Counterparties

Avoidance Actions

Did I Do That? When It Comes to Affiliation, Family Matters. (So, Too, May the Definition of “Corporation.”)

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Avoidance Actions, Slice of the Pie, Valuation

Unreasonably Small Capital

363 Sales, Chapter 11 Plans

A Recent Decision in the Fisker Case Brings New Life to the Credit Bidding Debate

363 Sales, Energy Sector

The Fifth Circuit Provides a New Year’s Gift–Clear Guidance on Whether Covenants “Run with the Land”

Claims, Secured Claims

Ignoring Its Own Precedent, Seventh Circuit Refuses to Allow Tax Lien to Ride Through Chapter 13 Case

Avoidance Actions

It’s (Postpetition) Payback Time in the Third Circuit: Payments to a Creditor After a Bankruptcy Filing Should Not Be Considered When Applying the New Value Defense to a Preference

North of the Border Update

Court Approved Sales Process Must Proceed, Giving Significant Weight to Fairness In Receivership Proceedings

Survey

Warming Up for March Madness 2014

Chapter 11 Plans, Slice of the Pie, Valuation

Got Milk? Apparently Not Enough for This Dairy Producer. Court Denies Confirmation Because Plan Not Feasible.

News

Burton R. Lifland: In Memoriam

Contributor(s)

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files, What We're Watching

Are You There, Chief Justice Roberts? It’s Us, the Bankruptcy Courts

363 Sales, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Pre-Filing Considerations, Valuation

Calling a Spade a Spade: Judge Refuses to Issue a Stay Pending Appeal of 363 Sale “on the Basis of Smoke and Mirrors”

Automatic Stay, Jurisdiction & Appeals

No Leg to Stand On: Section 362(k) of the Bankruptcy Code is No Exception to Standing Requirements

Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners

No Trustee, No Debtor in Possession: What Happens When a Receiver Has Sole Control Over Property of the Estate?

Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

Common-Law Cramdown: The Prohibition on Undue Risk Shifting

Despite Lack of Value, Seventh Circuit Permits Nonrecourse Secured Lender to Assert Deficiency Claim

North of the Border Update

Reconsidering the Safe Harbours for Derivatives Contracts in Canadian Insolvency Law

Holiday Posts, Humor

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Goes to Work, and the Blog Takes a Break

Arbitration, Jurisdiction & Appeals

In the Third Circuit, Not Even Copperfield Could Create an Agreement to Arbitrate Out of Thin Air

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, Substantial Contribution

When “Fashionably Late” Doesn’t Pay Off – How Section 1141(a) Closes the Door on Recovery Under the “Common Fund” Doctrine

363 Sales, Claims

Objecting to 363 Sale Orders Free and Clear of Interests: Speak Promptly or You'll Never Hold Your Piece

Holiday Posts, Claims, Humor

’Tis the Season to Find Your Favorite Bankruptcy Excerpts

Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

Cramdown Matrix Update: The Well-Adjusted Interest Rate

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Avoidance Actions

A Matter of Time: Delaware Bankruptcy Court Considers the Proper Date to Determine Secured Status in Preference Actions

Chapter 15, Releases & Exculpations

Post-Vitro, SDNY Bankruptcy Court Approves Recognition Order Seeking Enforcement of Third Party Releases

Triangular Setoff: When It Comes to Securities Contracts, It Still Takes Two—and Only Two—to Tango

North of the Border Update

“Quick Flip” Approval Guidelines in Canada

U.S. Court Says “I Don’t Understand” to Foreign Litigant’s “Language Barrier” Defense

Chapter 15, Intellectual Property

Balancing Act, Part II: Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Affirms Bankruptcy Court’s Decision in Qimonda

The Disinterested Creditor: Bankruptcy Court Authorizes Retention of Counsel Despite Prepetition Claim against the Debtor

Are Utilities Unfairly Protected Under the Bankruptcy Code?

The Debate Continues: Can Creditors Enforce the Automatic Stay?

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

All My Alter Egos Live in Texas . . .

Avoidance Actions

Shifting Assets, Shifting Burdens: “Indirect Benefits” and the Burden of Production in Fraudulent Transfer Cases

North of the Border Update

Regulatory Carve-Outs in CCAA Proceedings: Uncertain Sufficiency

What We're Watching

The Wolf of Wall Street

Claims, Tax Issues

Original Issue Discount Claims Arising from Fair Market Value Debt Exchanges: No Longer Fair Game for Disallowance?

Contributor(s)

Avoidance Actions, Claims

Third Circuit Holds that Transferred Trade Claims Remain Subject to Disallowance under Section 502(d)

Avoidance Actions

Just How Ordinary is Ordinary? Raising the “Ordinary Course of Business” Defense to Preference Actions in One-Off Transactions

Claims, Rules & Procedures

Scheduled Creditors Beware! One Court Surprisingly Says You Are Ineligible to Vote on a Chapter 11 Plan If You Fail to File a Proof of Claim

Secured Claims, Slice of the Pie, Valuation

Valuing Secured Claims: The Importance of Credible Testimony and Postpetition Rents

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims

A Debtor’s Cries for Separate Classification of Garden Variety Unsecured Claim Fall on Deaf Ears

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Post-Confirmation Issues, Secured Claims

Claim Disallowance and Lien Avoidance: A Distinction with a Difference

Case Overviews, Jurisdiction & Appeals

The Curious Case of Authority to File a Bankruptcy Petition

North of the Border Update

Environmental Liability of Insolvent Companies and the Quest for Other Pockets

Claims, Professionals

Unpredictable Preemption: New Jersey Bankruptcy Court Says Bankruptcy Code (Sometimes) Trumps State Rules on Collection of Prepetition Fees

Thanks for the Help, But We Are Not Going to Pay You

Claims, Energy Sector, Utilities

It’s Electric! Boogie Woogie Woogie (But It’s Not a Good) – Delaware Bankruptcy Court S(l)ides With Courts Ruling That Electricity Not a “Good” for Purposes of Section 503(b)(9) of the Bankruptcy Code

Chapter 9, Slice of the Pie, Valuation

The Statutory Definition of “Insolvent” – Part Two – Chapter 9 Debtors

Claims, Tax Issues

Lessons in Language: Delaware Bankruptcy Court Weighs In on the Treatment of Tax Refunds Under Tax Sharing Agreements

363 Sales, Survey

The Results Are In: Readers Split, But Advantage Process!

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Chapter 11 Plans, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Mass Torts, Stern Files

Don’t Invoke the Ghost of Anna Nicole Lightly: Ninth Circuit Summarily Rejects Undeveloped Challenge to Bankruptcy Courts’ Constitutional Authority

Slice of the Pie, Valuation

The Statutory Definition of "Insolvent" – Part One

Claims, Labor & Employment

District Court Says Baker’s Union Can’t Have Its Cake and Eat it Too When it Comes to Pension Contributions

Contributor(s)

North of the Border Update

Avoiding Chaos: Court Uses the CCAA as Gap-Filling Regime

Avoidance Actions, Valuation

You’re Insolvent, but Not That Insolvent

Throwback Thursday

No Holding Back Strumpf’s Administrative Hold

Chapter 11 Plans, Plan Solicitation & Voting

Don't Designate – Compensate! Court Rules that Designation Is Only Warranted Within the Four Corners of the Bankruptcy Code

Claims, Utilities

“Call Me [a Good,] Maybe”

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Nine Years Later and We Are Still Peering Through the Muck: Are LLC Membership Agreements Property Interests or Executory Contracts?

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Stern Files: Fifth Circuit Finally Weighs In and Holds Consent Cannot Cure Bankruptcy Court’s Lack of Constitutional Authority

Contributor(s)

Claims, Financing

If It Walks Like Equity and Talks Like Equity, It … Might Actually Be a Loan?

Chapter 11 Plans, Plan Solicitation & Voting

Don’t Get Cute with the Court: Filing “Draft” Plan During Debtor’s Exclusive Period Can Cost You, No Matter What You Call It

When Things Are Just Outside Your Control

North of the Border Update

Limitation Periods Will Continue to Run During the Appeal of a Bankruptcy Order

Automatic Stay, Chapter 9

Bankruptcy Court Rules that Stay Relief Was Not Required for Action Challenging City’s Proposed Tax Measure

Automatic Stay, Financing, Litigation Issues, Valuation

What Not to Do When Trying to Establish a $20 Million Value for Estate Property (Hint: Don’t Rely Solely on Google Earth)

Claims, Due Process Concerns, Rules & Procedures

A Tale of Two Rules: The Questionable Applicability of Rule 7004(b)(3) to Claim Objections

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Forget Partying Like It’s 1999; the Ninth Circuit Wants to Adjudicate Like It’s 1998

Slice of the Pie, Valuation

A Statutory Review of Bankruptcy Valuation Issues

Chapter 9, Insurance

Now You See Them, Now You Don’t . . . Now Pay – One Court Weighs in on Insurer’s Continued Liability on Bonds Restructured Under a Chapter 9 Plan of Adjustment

Lawyerly Lingo – Defining “Disbursements” for the Calculation of Quarterly Fees

Claims, Tax Issues

Original Issue Discount Claims Arising From Fair Market Value Debt Exchanges: Fair Game for Disallowance?

Contributor(s)

Avoidance Actions

Avoid the Statute of Limitations on Avoidance Actions: Relate-Back!

North of the Border Update

Court Allows a CCAA Stay to Be Lifted for Proposed Litigation by Unsecured Suppliers

No More Separation Anxiety – Court Confirms Operational Separateness of Bankruptcy Remote Entity

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

Plain Vanilla Veil Piercing Still Alive and Well in New York

Claims, Due Process Concerns

You’re on Notice: Publication Notice of the Claims Bar Date Satisfies Due Process Requirements

Bankruptcy Court Decides IRS Form 1099-C Constitutes Admission that Bank Cancelled Claim

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Is a Promise Plus a Right to Win a Lawsuit Enough? How the Right to Demand Adequate Assurance (Under State Law) Attempts to Protect Contract Counterparties

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

The FDIC's Hedgehog Strategy May Hold The Key To Cross-Border Resolution

Cutting in Line Will Not Be Tolerated: Third Circuit Grants Recognition to Australian Bankruptcy Proceedings and Prevents Unsecured Creditor From Seizing U.S. Assets

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Assumption of a Real Property Lease and Then, Ten Months Later, Assignment? SDNY Gives the Green Light in a Case of First Impression

Chapter 11 Plans, Valuation

Court Holds That Experts’ Valuation Testimony Has Little Value

North of the Border Update

The Privileges of Bankruptcy – Court rules that chief restructuring officers may assert privilege against a trustee in bankruptcy

363 Asset Sales: Delaware Bankruptcy Court Agrees That “It ain't over 'til it's over” (And there’s still time to participate in our poll!)

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Stern Files: “No Subject Matter Jurisdiction for You” — Fifth Circuit Questions Bankruptcy Courts’ Jurisdiction Over Certain “Core” Matters…Maybe?

363 Sales, Financing, Secured Claims

To Surcharge or Not to Surcharge: The Third Circuit Says Only in Sharply Limited Circumstances

Claims, Tax Issues

Eleventh Circuit: Tax Refunds Due Pursuant to a Tax Sharing Agreement Are Not Property of the Filer’s Estate

363 Asset Sales: Recent Decision Says “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over”

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Michigan District Court Rejects Blanket Fee Reduction, Requires Specific Explanation of Fee Awards and Reductions

Bankruptcy Court in New Mexico Says U.S. Trustee Is “Never, Ever, Ever, Getting … Together” with Debtor’s Counsel

Chapter 11 Plans, Cramdown, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Circuit Split Watch: When (and Where) an Order Denying Confirmation is Final – and When (and Where) It’s Not

North of the Border Update

Interim Receiver Authorized to Borrow to Fund Debtor's Operations

Avoidance Actions

Transferee Wins Settlement Battle, Loses Avoidance War

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Avoidance Actions

How Safe Is the Section 546(e) Safe Harbor? Part I: Quebecor

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Stern Files: Seventh Circuit Sides with Sixth Circuit in Holding that Consent Does Not Cure Bankruptcy Courts’ Lack of Final Constitutional Authority

Avoidance Actions, Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

I Thought I Went to Law School to Avoid Math: Calculating Recovery in a Chapter 7 Liquidation in the Context of a Preference Action

UK High Court Judgment in MF Global Special Administration on “Client Money Shortfall Application”

Contributor(s)

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims

Is This What Passive-Aggressive Means? Fifth Circuit Allows Secured Creditor that Took No Action During Chapter 11 Case to Protect Its Lien to Exercise Rights Post-Emergence

Claims

Plan Committee Gambles on Postpetition Interest and Loses: Ninth Circuit Finds that Section 502(b)(2) Does Not Stop Accrual of Postpetition Interest for Non-Debtors

North of the Border Update

Court-Approved Asset Sales: Does the Long Arm of the Court Have Any Grip on the Purchaser Post-Closing?

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Good Advice: Third Circuit Reverses District Court on Issue of Advisory Opinions

Arbitration, Claims

“Get It In Writing!” – Sixth Circuit Denies Claims Arising from Binding Mediation for Lack of a Written Record

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Cash Flow vs. Balance Sheet Insolvency in Chapter 11: Who Cares? Insolvency Is Not a Prerequisite to a Voluntary Chapter 11 Filing in the Ninth Circuit

Labor & Employment

Federal Appeals Court Concludes PE Funds are Potentially Liable for Pension Obligations of Portfolio Companies

Contributor(s)

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Is There a “Meating” of the Minds on Retroactive Lease Rejection?

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, Cramdown

BAP Precedent Is Absolute: Bankruptcy Court Defers to BAP and Holds that the Absolute Priority Rule Does Not Apply to Individual Chapter 11 Debtors

Chapter 11 Plans, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Third Circuit Affirms Finding that Debtor’s Co-Defendant Lacked Standing to Object to Plan

North of the Border Update

Privilege Will Not Shield a Trustee Where There Is a Conflict of Interest

News

Weil’s Bankruptcy Blog Is Enjoying Long Weekends in August

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Better Never Than Late: The Limitations of Bankruptcy Rule 8002(a)’s “Relate Forward” Provision

Second Circuit: Automatic Stay May Apply to Non-Debtor Parent and Affiliate

Breaking the Code, Chapter 11 Plans

Section 1127(b) – Postconfirmation Modification of a Plan

A Fact-Driven Analysis Determines Whether You Are a “Professional” under the Bankruptcy Code

Proving for Pensions – UK Supreme Court rules that secondary pensions liability imposed by the Pensions Regulator ranks alongside other unsecured creditors in an administration

Rules & Procedures

SDNY Bankruptcy Court Publishes Local Rule Amendments

Sharia Compliant DIP Financing: Coming Soon, to a Bankruptcy Court near You

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Post-Confirmation Issues, Rules & Procedures

Deadlines are Dead Serious

North of the Border Update

Leave to Appeal Denied – Ontario Court of Appeal Reviews the Test for Leave to Appeal Decisions in CCAA Proceedings

Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

The Cramdown Matrix: Reloaded

363 Sales, Secured Claims

Secured Creditors: Dot Your “Is” and Cross Your “Ts”

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

Delaware Business Judgment Rule Permits Dismissal of Complaint Alleging Breach of Fiduciary Duties

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Contract Assumption Defense Puts Brakes on Mustang Preference Suit

Avoidance Actions, Valuation

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Finds No Value in Litigation Trustee’s Method of Valuing Going Concern of Debtor

Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

Give a Little, Get a Little: Court Crams Down Plan on Oversecured Creditor Who Faces Substantial Risk Under Debtor’s Plan of Reorganization

In Kansas, Arbitration in Bankruptcy is Not Granted Cavalierly

Jurisdiction & Appeals, SIPA Proceedings

Second Circuit: SIPA Trustee’s Attempt to Bring Claims Against Financial Institutions Fails Because He Stands in the Shoes of Madoff and Not Madoff’s Customers

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Anti-Assignment Clauses, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Liquidating Trust Receives Joint Venture Interests Notwithstanding Transfer Restrictions in Operating Agreement

North of the Border Update

Can You Revive a Terminated Contract in a CCAA Restructuring?

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Assume or Reject? Why Not Both?

All Mixed Up, Don’t Know What to Do the Eleventh Circuit Knows What to Do – Sorting Out Commingled Proceeds of a Ponzi Scheme

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Debtor Cannot Avoid Transfer Despite Avoidable Lien

Contributor(s)

Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

Reorganizing a “Refuge from Home Life”: Debtor Rides Rising Hotel Market to Cramdown Confirmation

Assessing “Reasonableness” of Attorneys’ Fees: A Bankruptcy Court Weighs In

The Co-operative Bank – first use of “bail-in” powers by the UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority – or not?

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Stern Files: Back to the Supreme Court!

North of the Border Update

Payroll Processors: Treatment of Customer Claims in Insolvency

Chapter 7 Trustees, Property of the Estate

Shelbyville: A Town Without a Monorail or a Debtor Without a Sufficient Interest in Property?

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, Cramdown, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Absolute Priority Absolutely Applies . . . In This Case

Inherent Sense: High Court Approves Client Money Distribution Procedure

Contributor(s)

Thank You Very Much, Do We Have a Contract? Not So, Says Judge Gerber

Claims

Small Sanctions May Be Big Answer to Deterring Repeated Frivolous Pleadings by Certain Creditors

Rules & Procedures

Department of Justice Issues New Fee Guidelines for Professionals in Larger Chapter 11 Cases

Establishing an Establishment – An Olympian hurdle?

Assumption & Rejection

Coverage of the June 4, 2013 Chapter 11 Reform Commission Hearing: Part 2 of 2

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Coverage of the June 4, 2013 Chapter 11 Reform Commission Hearing: Part 1 of 2

North of the Border Update

Activities giving rise to a claim against D&Os but that precede CCAA Proceedings are not indemnified under a Court-Ordered Directors’ Charge

Litigation Issues

Is the Common Interest Privilege Becoming More Common?

Avoidance Actions

There’ve Been Happ[ier] Days: Ponzi Scheme, But Not Fraudulent Transfer

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Automatic Stay, Avoidance Actions, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Tax Issues

A Majestic Reversal: Third Circuit Holds Tax Status Is Not Estate Property; Revocation Cannot Be Avoided

Avoidance Actions, Claims, Financing

Score One for Federalism – State Law, Recharacterization, and Fraudulent Conveyances in the Ninth Circuit

Securing the Director and Officers Liability Insurance Lifelines!

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Avoidance Actions

It’s Tough to Justify a Non-Ordinary Payment… At Least in the Southern District of New York

Involuntary Petitions, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Why Pasta Cooking Techniques Should Not Be Used in Litigation

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

What a Contract Joins Together, No Court Must Separate

North of the Border Update

Can an Insolvency Court Revive a Terminated Contract?

Dismissal, Case Overviews, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Summer Saga: Bankruptcy Court Construes Operating Agreement to Determine Chapter 11 Filing Authority

Possession Is Not 9/10ths of Bankruptcy Law – Second Circuit Enforces Sanctions Against a Secured Creditor for Refusing to Return Collateral Properly Seized Prior to Bankruptcy Filing

Avoidance Actions

Benefits from Subchapter S Election Constitute Reasonably Equivalent Value for Dividend Payment by Insolvent Debtor

“Auditing” an EDNY Decision with a Plethora of Tax Issues (Part Four)

“Signed, [Un]Sealed, Delivered” – New York Bankruptcy Court Rejects Uncontested Motion to Seal; Sets Gold Standard for Public Access to Court Filings

Automatic Stay, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Investing in an Appeal: The Dilemma Facing an Appellant of Confirmation Orders

Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

I Would Do Anything for [Confirmation], But I Won’t Do That

“Auditing” an EDNY Decision with a Plethora of Tax Issues (Part Three)

North of the Border Update

No way out – Ontario insolvency court approves class action settlement that prohibits any affected person from opting out

Eurosail: Balance Sheet Test of Insolvency

COMI Maybe? The Second Circuit Examines the Relevant Date for Determining a Debtor’s “Center of Main Interests”

363 Sales, Financing

Now That’s What I Call Reasonable! Collateral Dispositions Under Article 9 of the UCC

“Auditing” an EDNY Decision with a Plethora of Tax Issues (Part Two)

(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To [Arbitrate]!)

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Supremely Moot: SCOTUS Denies Challenge to Equitable Mootness Doctrine and Second Circuit’s Charter Communications Decision

Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

Not Everything Is Bigger in Texas – The Fifth Circuit’s Recent Cramdown Interest Decision

Claims, Rules & Procedures

New Fee Alert: New Claims Transfer Fee Takes Effect Today

Claims, Involuntary Petitions

When is a Claim Subject to a Bona Fide Dispute? Bankruptcy Court Examines the Requirements For An Involuntary Petition

North of the Border Update

Relevant Factors When Considering a Receivership Application

Claims

Too Big to Flail: Resolving Claims Efficiently in the GM Cases

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

Fiduciary Duty Bound (Part 2): On Second Thought, Maybe “Default” Fiduciary Duties Do Apply in Delaware LLCs…For Now

Contributor(s)

Automatic Stay, Chapter 11 Plans, Real Estate

SARE Tactics: Placeholder Plans May Not Suffice to Protect a Single Asset Real Estate Debtor from Losing Chapter 11 Protections

Bankruptcy Court to NY Department of Labor: “Tough(er) Luck”

Some Courts Offer Little Guidance in Determining Who Is Considered a 327(a) Professional

There’s No Place Like “COMI”: Court Denies Chapter 15 Recognition of UK Bankruptcy Case After Determining that Debtor’s Center of Main Interests is in the US

Chapter 11 Plans, Cramdown, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Seventh Circuit Holds That Absolute Priority Rule Is Still…Absolute

Avoidance Actions, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Stern Files: Back to the Supreme Court?

North of the Border Update

Fairness prevails: Ontario Court applies “fraud upon the bankruptcy law” principle to void provision of contract

“Auditing” an EDNY Decision with a Plethora of Tax Issues (Part One)

Suntech Power: Challenges under PRC Bankruptcy

Could the U.S. Postal Service File for Bankruptcy Protection? The Answer Is in the Mail.

News

Weil Launches European Restructuring Watch

School’s Out Forever: Lon Morris College, Section 525(a), and Revocation of Title IV Eligibility for Institutions of Higher Education in Bankruptcy

Pre-Filing Considerations

Just Because We’re Siblings Doesn’t Mean I Want to Be Affiliated with You!

Breaking the Code, Chapter 11 Plans

Section 1144 – Revoking a Confirmation Order

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

Claims

Lenders Beware: You Might Not Be in the Clear When a Title Search Comes Up All Clear

Chapter 11 Plans, Pre-Filing Considerations, Real Estate, Secured Claims

The Battle for Camp Bowie: A Fifth-Circuit Story of Artificial Impairment, Cramdown, and the Risks of Secured Creditors

North of the Border Update

On the Flip Side – Canadian Court Grants Initial Order and Denies Receivership Application

Iowa Court Rules that Drunken Comments Can Constitute Violations of the Automatic Stay and Result in Sanctions (We swear this isn't an April Fool's Day Post)

Contributor's Corner

The Solvency Two-Step

Chapter 11 Plans, Throwback Thursday

The Bankruptcy Voting Rights Act – Does the Bankruptcy Code Require Universal Suffrage?

Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

Partial Dirt-for-Debt Plans: No Cushion? No Confirmation

Avoidance Actions

Slipping into the Safe Harbor: When Is a Supply Contract a Protected “Forward Contract”?

SIPA Proceedings

Second Circuit Rules that SIPA Customer Protections Are for Customers Only

Assumption & Rejection, Claims

Timing is Everything: Bankruptcy Court Determines that Post-Confirmation/Pre-Conversion Contract Not Entitled to Administrative Expense Priority

Humor

Stop the Madness

Case Overviews, News

Weil’s Smolinsky Interviewed on Reader’s Digest Bankruptcy

Due Process Concerns

(In)excusable Neglect: In These Courts, You’ll Need Something Stronger than “The Dog Ate My Homework”

North of the Border Update

Can Management be Replaced with a Court-Appointed Monitor? A New Brunswick Court (Surprisingly) Says No

Avoidance Actions, Financing

“Show Me the Money (or Money’s Worth)” — Divided Court of Appeals Finds New Value Defense Protects Surety’s Use of Loan Proceeds

Involuntary Petitions

Bankruptcy Court May Not Second Guess State Court Judgments When Evaluating the Merits of an Involuntary Petition

Taking “9” out of “9019”: California Bankruptcy Court Rules 9019 Motions Are Not Required in Chapter 9 Cases

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

The Bucket Theory: Delaware Provides Guidance on the Definition of “Repurchase Agreements”

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Access Granted: Delaware District Court Rules that Public Has a Presumptive Right of Access to 2019 Statements

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

Fiduciary Duty Bound (Part 1): “Default” Fiduciary Duties Apply in Delaware LLC’s…Or Maybe They Don’t

Contributor(s)

Arbitration, Automatic Stay

Extra Protection: Bankruptcy Court Extends Automatic Stay to Cover Non-Debtor Affiliate in Arbitration Proceeding

Chapter 11 Plans, Cramdown, Secured Claims

Plucked From the Bargain Bin: Testing the Limits of the New Value Exception to the Absolute Priority Rule

Assumption & Rejection

Post-Rejection Damages Claim Survives Dayton Superior Chapter 11

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

North of the Border Update

Allocation of Funds Among Victims of A Fraudulent Investment Scheme

Chapter 7 Trustees, Property of the Estate

What’s Mine is Mine and What’s Yours is Mine: Court Rules a Debtor Can Be Compelled to Turn over Property No Longer in His Possession

Breaking the Code, Tax Issues

Section 505(a) – Authority of Bankruptcy Court to Rule on Tax Claims

Bankruptcy and Arbitration: Like Oil and Vinegar?

Avoidance Actions

Sour Grapes: This Deal May Have Been Corked But Can’t Be Put Back in the Bottle – Court Rules Fire Sale of Vineyard was Unconscionable but not “Fraudulent”

Highlights from the 2013 Wharton Restructuring and Distressed Investing Conference

News

A Look Inside the American Airlines/US Airways Merger

Releases & Exculpations

Don’t Throw Away that Ballot! (You May Be Releasing Third Parties If You Do)

Survey

Weil Restructuring Outlook Survey 2013 Results: “Above All, Don’t Lose Hope”

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

North of the Border Update

Canadian Court Denies Granting of Initial Order in Favour of Receivership

Chapter 9: Where Are They Now? Major Cases We Watched in 2012

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation, Financial Markets

Resolution Lemonade: Finding the Positives in Recovery and Resolution Planning

Chapter 11 Plans, Plan Solicitation & Voting

No Soliciting? Delaware Court Holds that Restructuring Support Agreement Does Not Constitute Premature Solicitation Warranting Designation of Votes

Assumption & Rejection, Claims, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Lording Over Unsecureds: A Commercial Landlord’s Claim for Indemnification

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, Cramdown

Individual Debtors in the Tenth Circuit Can’t Escape the Absolute Priority Rule

A Bankruptcy Case Littered with Environmental Issues

Constitutional Law, Secured Claims, Throwback Thursday

Stare Indecisis – Supreme Court Upholds Depression-Era Law Limiting Ability to Exercise Security Interests After Striking Down Predecessor Law

Claims, Valuation

Bankruptcy Court Allows Full Damage Claim Without Reduction to Present Value

Use Caution: New S.D.N.Y. Fee Guidelines Take Effect Today

North of the Border Update

Supreme Court of Canada Affirms Federal Paramountcy in Insolvency but Leaves Uncertainty for the Credit Community Regarding Provincial Statutory Deemed Trusts

Bankruptcy Court Finds That SIPA Claim is Not “Located” in the U.S.

Constitutional Law, Secured Claims, Throwback Thursday

Bitter Medicine: Debt Overhang Remedy During the Great Depression Turns Out to be a Fifth Amendment Taking

Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners, Claims, Utilities

Is Electricity a “Good”? Montana Bankruptcy Court Says Yes!

Financial Markets, Survey

Reminder: Weil Restructuring Outlook Survey

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

If at First You Don’t Succeed, Don’t Try This! Delaware Bankruptcy Court Dismisses Debtor’s Tactic to “Circumvent” Third Circuit Decision Prohibiting Rejection of a Contract

Claims, Jurisdiction & Appeals

I’m Not a Creditor – Get Me Outta’ Here!! Reflections on Bankruptcy Rule 3006 and Claim Withdrawal in Bankruptcy Cases

Financial Markets, Survey

Weil Restructuring Outlook: 2013 Survey

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Financial Markets, Survey

Day of Reckoning – A Look Back at Our 2012 Restructuring Outlook Survey

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

North of the Border Update

Is it Wrongful to Pay a Dividend While Facing Litigation? A Québec Court May Answer

Assumption & Rejection, Breaking the Code, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Section 365(h) – Rejecting a Lease When the Debtor Is the Landlord

Contributor(s)

Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

Can a Partial “Dirt for Debt” Plan Satisfy the “Indubitable Equivalent” Cramdown Standard?

Don’t Be a Ding Dong: Twinkie’s Cash Collateral Motion Is Not Arbitrable

Releases & Exculpations

The Latest on Third Party Releases

S.D.N.Y. Bankruptcy Court Weighs the “Lease or Rental Agreement” Requirement of Section 362(b)(22) of the Bankruptcy Code

Litigation Issues

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Refuses Opportunity to Create Broad Mediation Privilege from Local Rule

Avoidance Actions

Under Construction: Further Broadening the Securities Settlement Payment Safe Harbor Under Section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code

Cramdown, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Jumpin’ Donuts: Bankruptcy Settlements and the Gifting and Equitable Mootness Doctrines

Chapter 11 Plans, Plan Solicitation & Voting

You Asked Your Buddy to Do What? Non-Statutory Insiders and Vote Designation

North of the Border Update

Director Liability – Revisiting the “Two Hats” Doctrine in Pension Matters

363 Sales, Financing

Diversions and Restorations: A Glimpse into New York Lien Law

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

Arbitration, Automatic Stay, Claims

A Compelling Arbitration Case: Court Grants Motion to Compel Arbitration for Both Bankruptcy and Non-Bankruptcy Issues

Constitutional Law, Secured Claims

Taking Title: the Legal Logic Behind Municipal Proposals to Use Eminent Domain to Seize Underwater Mortgages

Humor

Santa's Workshop Announces Successful Recapitalization in Holiday Miracle

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Holiday Posts, Humor

Eleven Chapters Filing: Thoughts on a Bankruptcy Filing by Santa’s Workshop

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

The Stern Files (Seventh Edition)

North of the Border Update

Environmental Contamination and Regulatory Orders: Who Pays?

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

Resolving Globally Active, Systematically Important, Financial Institutions. What’s the Plan, Batman?

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Second Circuit Construes Pari Passu Clause in Argentine Bond Issuance (But the Saga Continues)

Claims, Post-Confirmation Issues

I’ll Make Your Airplane Parts, but I Won’t Indemnify You: Texas Court Says An Indemnity Obligation is a Claim

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

The Hidden Value in Recovery and Resolution Planning

A Framework for Comity: The Fifth Circuit’s Vitro Decision and the Relationship between Sections 1507 and 1521 of the Bankruptcy Code

Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

When It Comes to Cramdown Interest Rate, Court Rules that Prime Rate is Not So Prime

Avoidance Actions, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Stern Files: The Circuit that Originally Gave Us Stern Creates the First Stern Circuit Split

Avoidance Actions, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Ninth Circuit Weighs In On Stern v. Marshall and Fraudulent Transfer Actions OR Stern v. Marshall (Yet Again): Are We All Just Making a Mountain Out of a Mole Hill?

Avoidance Actions, Chapter 7 Trustees

Can’t Touch This: The Release that Saved a Creditor from a Preference Action

North of the Border Update

The Characterization of Equity Claims – Separating the Forest from the Trees

Rules & Procedures

Twas the Night Before Bankruptcy Rules Amendments

We Can All Use a Little Comity in Our Lives

Pre-Filing Considerations

Bankruptcy Court Transfers Venue of Patriot Coal Chapter 11 Cases from SDNY to St. Louis in the Interest of Justice

Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners, Employment

Bankruptcy Court Warns on WARN

Avoidance Actions

But Judge, Operating in the Red was Ordinary Course for this Debtor!

Ninth Circuit holds that Postpetition Payments Received by Debtor Are Not Proceeds of “Payments to Become Due.”

North of the Border Update

Government Ordered to Pay Full Cost of Unsuccessful Claim as Creditor

Avoidance Actions, Claims

Armor-Plated Agreements – Second Circuit Protects Risk Allocation in Bankruptcy Claim Trader’s Contract

Panels

Views from the Bench: Sales and Executory Contracts Panel: Oct. 5, 2012

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Claims, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Post-Confirmation Issues

Exploring the Limits of a Chapter 11 Discharge: Can Pre-Bankruptcy Conduct Serve as the Basis for Calculating Damages on a Post-Bankruptcy Claim?

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, Real Estate

Eastern District Holds Existence of Personal Guarantee Is Insufficient Basis to Separately Classify Deficiency Claim from General Unsecured Claims

Contributor(s)

Andriana
Georgallas

News

Happy Veterans Day

Narrow Straits: The Limitations of Section 1506 of the Bankruptcy Code

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Once Moot, Always Moot – Second Circuit Adopts Deferential Abuse of Discretion Standard of Review for Equitable Mootness Appeals

363 Sales, Secured Claims

Tenth Circuit Grants Creditor a ‘License’ to Take a Security Interest: Creditor’s Security Interest in Proceeds of FCC License Upheld

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Capital Maintenance Agreements and Section 365(o) – Sixth Circuit Rules ‘To Ensure’ Does Not Mean ‘To Maintain’

North of the Border Update

Protecting Against Systemic Risk: Canada introduces amendments to legislation regarding the insolvency of financial institutions

Avoidance Actions

Don’t Mess With Taxes: Court Holds that Debtors’ Payment of Taxes Owed by a Third Party Constitutes “Reasonably Equivalent Value”

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Substantial Contribution

Unsuccessful Bidders May Have Standing to Seek Substantial Contribution Administrative Expenses, but Indirect Contributions Are Not Sufficient

Litigation Issues

“All Knowledge Is Inferential” – Bankruptcy Court Rules that “To the Best of My Knowledge” Does Not Suggest that a Declarant Does Not Have Personal Knowledge

News

Loosen up, Sandy baby

Claims, Secured Claims

Superpriority under Section 507(b): Powerful but Sometimes Elusive

Winding in the Golden Thread: The English Supreme Court rules that no special treatment applies to recognition of judgments in foreign bankruptcy proceedings

Avoidance Actions

Southern District Affirms Judge Peck’s Quebecor Decision, Broadly Interpreting “Settlement Payments” as Including Payments to Redeem Outstanding Notes

Avoidance Actions, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Sixth Circuit First Court of Appeals to Address Fraudulent Transfers in Light of Stern

North of the Border Update

Critical Supplier Charges in the CCAA

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Leave State Court Litigation to the State Courts: Delaware District Court Issues Warning Regarding Impermissible Advisory Opinions

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation, Financial Markets

FDIC Finalizes Its Trump Card: FDIC Approves Final Rule Implementing Title II Receiver’s Ability to Enforce Subsidiary’s Contracts

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Don’t Break the Cycle – Stern Causes Court to Withdraw Reference, Refer to Magistrate Judge for Report and Recommendation

Dismissal, Automatic Stay, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Pre-Filing Considerations

Hotel Whose Chapter 11 Case Was Filed in Bad Faith Can “Stay” in Bankruptcy – Part II

Eighth Circuit Holds that the "Equities" Do Not Need to Weigh in Favor of a Creditor Seeking Recoupment

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation, Financial Markets

A Better Solution Is Needed for Failed Financial Giants

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties, Jurisdiction & Appeals

The Creditor of My Affiliate Is…Not my Creditor

California Chapter 9: Next Up, City of Atwater?

North of the Border Update

Examining the Scope of Regulatory Carve-Outs in CCAA Proceedings

Closed for Columbus Day

News

Rising to the Occasion – Support Team Weil in Stomping-Out Domestic Violence

Dismissal, Automatic Stay, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Pre-Filing Considerations

Hotel Whose Chapter 11 Case Was Filed in Bad Faith Can “Stay” in Bankruptcy – Part I

Claims, Tax Issues

Second Circuit Issues Summary Order on Section 510(b) Subordination

Chapter 11 Plans, Financing, Real Estate, Secured Claims

Separate But Not Equal: Bankruptcy Court Requires Subordinated Secured Debt to Be Classified Separately from Senior Secured Debt

DIP Financing, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Professionals

Trouble in Paradise: Professional Fee Cap in DIP Carve-Out Held Enforceable in Caribbean Luxury Resort Case, Much to Professionals’ Distress

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

One Company Learns a $20 Million Dollar Lesson on Contractual Commitments

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Appeal-Proof: Court of Appeals Jurisdiction Over Orders Concerning Stays Pending Appeal

News

Out of respect for those who are observing Yom Kippur, we will not be posting a blog entry today.

Substantial Contribution

Third Circuit Contributes to “Substantial Contribution” Debate

North of the Border Update

Québec’s Legislated Marshalling and Its Unclear Ramifications

News

Our Thoughts and Prayers Are with Steven Golick

Chapter 11 Plans, Labor & Employment

Blitz Bonus: Court Approves Bonus Plan with Payments to Insiders

Harvey Miller Speaks About Lehman, Kodak and More on Bloomberg Surveillance

Chapter 11 Plans, Plan Solicitation & Voting, Real Estate

It’s Not Bad Faith to Be Friendly: Arizona Bankruptcy Court Rejects Creditor’s Motion to Designate the Vote of a “Friendly” Creditor

Show Me the Money! Fee Enhancements in the Fifth Circuit

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

Weil’s Sylvia Mayer Quoted on Latest Dodd-Frank Wind-Down Efforts

Due Process Concerns

When Single Publication Notice Is Sufficient – and When It’s Not

Claims, Labor & Employment

Employees Only: Bankruptcy Court Rules that the Section 507(a)(5) Priority Only Covers Employee Benefit Plans Run by the Debtor

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation, Financial Markets

Resolve to Make it Better: Lessons Learned in the Resolution Planning Process

North of the Border Update

A Bird In the Hand: Ontario Superior of Court of Justice Affirms Sales Process and Rejects Late Higher Bid

Case Overviews, Chapter 11 Plans, Pre-Filing Considerations, Real Estate

Plan Accordingly: After Finding “Artificial” Impairment, Court Finds Plan Proposed In Bad Faith

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Judicial Conference Proposes Amended Bankruptcy Rules In Response To Stern

Post-Confirmation Issues

Are You Ready for Some (Fantasy) Football? Or, Why Fantasy Football May Help You to Discharge Your Student Debt

Claims, Tax Issues

Piqued Interest in Interest: Tax Court Rules on Postpetition and Postconfirmation Interest on Tax Claims (Part Two)

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Throwback Thursday

Continental Airlines and Equitable Mootness: Appeals that Never Make It Off the Ground

Piqued Interest in Interest: Tax Court Rules on Postpetition and Postconfirmation Interest on Tax Claims (Part One)

Sixth Circuit Rules that Tortious Use of Property Is Not Protected by the Automatic Stay

North of the Border Update

Pensions v. DIP Charge: The Continuing Timminco Saga Unions' Motion for Leave to Appeal Denied

The Contracts Clause versus the Bankruptcy Clause: Bankruptcy Court Holds Bankruptcy Clause Reigns Supreme

Breaking the Code

Claims, Financing, Secured Claims, Valuation

Who Captures the Upside? Third Circuit Considers Valuation of Collateral Expected to Generate Cashflow in Excess of Secured Claims

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

The Time Value of Rejection Damages

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Terminator II — Second Circuit Revisits the Distinction Between Terminated and Expired Leases Under Section 365(d)(3)

Contributor(s)

Avoidance Actions, Utilities

Safe From Avoidance: Electricity Requirements Contracts

Claims

Whose Choice of Law Governs in Bankruptcy Cases?

North of the Border Update

Clarifying COMI: Ontario Superior of Court of Justice Clarifies the Test for Determining a Debtor’s Center of Main Interest

Eighth Circuit Holds Automatic Stay Inapplicable to Action Challenging Transfer of Collateral to Real Estate Improvement District

Case Overviews, Chapter 11 Plans

Eleven Years in Chapter 11

Avoidance Actions

A Fraud By Any Other Name…

Chapter 11 Plans, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Stop the Presses! Third Circuit Revisits Equitable Mootness in Philadelphia Newspapers Case

News

The Blog is taking Fridays off in August.

Chapter 11 Plans, Tax Issues

Bankruptcy Court Holds No “Blue Light Specials” to Reduce Reorganized Debtor’s Income Tax Liability

Avoidance Actions, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Litigation Issues, Stern Files

A Scatological Analysis of Bankruptcy Court Jurisdiction and Authority After Stern v. Marshall

Arbitration, Automatic Stay

“Release the Kraken” – S.D.N.Y. Affirms Denial of Arbitration, Rules That Determinations Regarding Property of the Estate Belong In Bankruptcy Court

North of the Border Update

A DIP Departure

Pre-Filing Considerations

Small Island Fund, Big Bankruptcy Wave – U.S. Public Pension Fund Deemed Ineligible to Be a Chapter 11 Debtor

Breaking the Code, Chapter 9

Section 109(c) – Filing for Chapter 9

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

The Summer California Went Bankrupt

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Seventh Circuit's Take on Section 365(n) of the Bankruptcy Code: What’s the Point?

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

The Dodd-Frank Act – Two Years Later

Arbitration, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Second Circuit's Regard of the "Manifest Disregard" Standard

Pre-Filing Considerations

Confirm Now and Transfer Later: One Court’s Clever Solution to a Venue Problem

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, Secured Claims

Blocking the Blockers – Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel Rules that Blocking Confirmation Is Not a Good Cause to Change a Vote … Or Perhaps It Is

Dismissal, Chapter 11 Plans, Real Estate, Secured Claims

Chronicle of the “Unforeseeable” Foretold

North of the Border Update

Supreme Court of Canada Hears Appeal of Re Indalex Limited

Chapter 15, Litigation Issues

Target of Investigation “Discovers” that Section 1521(a)(4) of the Bankruptcy Code Permits Broad Discovery of a Debtor’s Property and Affairs

Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners

Inside the Decision to Appoint an Examiner in ResCap Bankruptcy

Chapter 11 Plans

Court Holds that Bar Dates Should Be of Interest to “Interest Holders”

Real Estate, Secured Claims

Another Look at “Absolute” Assignments of Rent Under New York Law

Survey

Weil Bankruptcy Blog: Half Time Match Report

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Happy Independence Day!

Claims, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Creditor Who Waited to File Late Proof of Claim Learns It Can’t Rush Through the Appeals Process: Delaware District Court Denies Leave for an Interlocutory Appeal

North of the Border Update

DIP Financing Rules Crystallized: Interim DIP Financing Arrangements Approved by the Ontario Court of Appeal

Bankruptcy Beach Reading

BANKRUPTCY BEACH READING: Reality Bites: The Behind-the-Scenes Bankruptcy Lifestyles of the (Perhaps Not So) Rich and Famous

Financial Markets

Better Late Than Never? FSB Reports Regulatory Reform Is Advancing, But Slowly

Financial Markets

How High Will the Looming Debt Wall Be? Wall Street, Berlin Wall or Great Wall of China? Pick A Wall, Any Wall…

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Automatic Stay Ruling Previews Court’s Take on Plan Classification

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Stern: One Year Later

Chapter 11 Plans, Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

NO WALLFLOWERS HERE: Bankruptcy Court Holds That Disclosure Statement Containing Third Party Release in Favor of Indenture Trustee Must Specifically and CONSPICUOUSLY Inform Bondholders of Release

Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners, Chapter 7 Trustees

Eastern District of Virginia Applies Barton Analysis to Determine Whether Trustee Can Be Sued in State Court

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

The Yu-Gi-Oh! Anime Series’ Duel for the Future of the Series in the Western World

There’s No Comity Relief Here: U.S. Bankruptcy Court Denies Petition for Recognition of Mexican Plan of Reorganization on Grounds that Releases of Non-Debtor Guarantors Are Contrary to U.S. Public Policy

North of the Border Update

Quick Flip a Flop: Application for Court Appointed Receiver and Order for Quick Flip Asset Sale Denied

Secured Creditor Denied Double Recovery – Bankruptcy Court Approves Postpetition Interest but Rejects Late-Payment Premium

Financing, Secured Claims

“Don’t Have a Cow, Man”: Court Rules that a Lender’s Perfected Security Interest in Cattle Does Not Lapse Where the Lender Fails to File a Postpetition UCC-1 Continuation Statement

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Delaware Court Holds that Contract Remains “Executory” Notwithstanding Prepetition Breach

Avoidance Actions, Claims

Buyers Beware in Delaware—Transferred Claims Remain Subject to Disallowance Under Section 502(d)

It’s Not Whether You Win or Lose – Texas Bankruptcy Court Holds that Professionals Provide a “Material Benefit to the Estate” Even Where Their Efforts Were Ultimately Unsuccessful

Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

A Dollar Today Is Worth More Than a Dollar Tomorrow and Other Lessons on “Indubitable Equivalence”

Avoidance Actions, Jurisdiction & Appeals

TOUSA’s Transeastern Lenders File Petition for Rehearing En Banc in Eleventh Circuit

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

The Stern Files (sixth edition)

North of the Border Update

STEPPING INTO THE EMPLOYEES’ SHOES: Third Party Benefit Providers Entitled to Super Priority Secured Claim for Unpaid Remittances Owed by Employer

Avoidance Actions, Case Overviews, Claims, Energy Sector, Financing

Dynegy Global Settlement Approved

Chapter 11 Plans, Pre-Filing Considerations

One Chapter 11 Is Not Always Enough

Avoidance Actions, Throwback Thursday, Valuation

Mmm mmm (still) good! Five Years Later, the Third Circuit’s Decision in VFB LLC v. Campbell Soup Company Shows No Signs of Spoilage

Claims, Mass Torts, Post-Confirmation Issues

Frenville Leaves Its Footprints Behind as Third Circuit Refuses to Discharge Latent Claims

363 Sales, Chapter 11 Plans

RadLAX: The Decision Is In – Supreme Court Rules That a Secured Lender Must Be Permitted To Credit Bid If Its Collateral Is Sold Pursuant To a Chapter 11 Plan

Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners, Chapter 7 Trustees

Bringing Barton Back: Third Circuit Affirms the Barton Doctrine’s Continued Applicability Despite Changes in Bankruptcy Laws

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation, Financial Markets

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble – FSOC Designates Systemically Important Financial Market Utilities and Adopts Procedures to Contest Designations; Non-Bank SIFI Designations to Follow

Claims, Tax Issues

Bankruptcy Court Decision Lights Up the Priority Accorded to Excise Taxes

Chapter 9 Update: Alabama Municipalities Eligible As “Debtors” Under Section 109(c)

North of the Border Update

Québec Court: DIP Lender Has Priority over Pension Plan Deficit

Defending An Innovative Use of the Bankruptcy Code

Chapter 11 Plans, Insurance, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Mass Torts

Federal Law Trumps: Third Circuit Reaffirms that Section 1123(a)(5)(B) of the Bankruptcy Code Preempts Anti-Assignment Provisions in Insurance Policies

Contributor(s)

Avoidance Actions

Eleventh Circuit Upholds Bankruptcy Court’s Fraudulent Transfer Ruling in TOUSA

363 Sales, Chapter 11 Plans

RadLAX: Further Insight on How the Supreme Court May Approach Credit Bidding

Avoidance Actions, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Sellers Celebrate: Delaware Bankruptcy Court Confirms that Assumption and Assignment of an Executory Contract Offers Protection from Preference Claims

Avoidance Actions, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Southern District Stern Review: Rakoff Rules that Fraudulent Transfer Actions Belong in Bankruptcy Court, But Only for Reports and Recommendations

Chapter 15, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Chapter 15 Offers Safe Harbor But Not Complete Refuge From Foreign Court Rulings

Thanks a Trillium! English High Court holds that a run off of liabilities in England does not comprise "economic activity," a necessary component of the definition of "establishment" required to provide the English courts with jurisdiction to open secondary insolvency proceedings.

Avoidance Actions

Eleventh Circuit Holds that Indenture’s “No-Action” Clause Bars Fraudulent Transfer Actions by Individual Noteholders

North of the Border Update

Please Release Me, Let Me Go: Broad Third Party Releases Sanctioned in BIA Proposal Proceedings

One Plus One . . . Plus One, Equals One: What Constitutes a “Single Project” in the Single Asset Real Estate Context?

Professional Troubles: Payment of Retainers by Third Parties May Be Permitted, But Nondisclosure Is Costly

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Contract Claims Not Necessarily an Ace for Parties Challenging Bankruptcy Court Jurisdiction Under Stern

Chapter 11 Plans

“Notwithstanding Section 510(a)…” – Tribune’s Bankruptcy Court Holds that Contractual Subordination Should Not Be Considered in Unfair Discrimination Analysis

News

Marcia Goldstein speaks with Bloomberg

Automatic Stay, Third Party Claims

Ponzi Plaintiffs Pursue Payment in Third-Party Proceeding, Southern District Sustains Stay of Suit

UK Pensions Regulator Packs its Punches in Box Clever [and news of the next bout in the UK Lehman/Nortel pensions proceedings in the Supreme Court]

Throwback Thursday

SGL Carbon Corporation: Good Faith or Goodbye

Second Circuit Circumscribes 524(g) Protection for Non-Debtors

363 Sales, Chapter 11 Plans

United States Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument on RadLAX Case

North of the Border Update

Rolling Across the Border: Canadian Court Permits Roll-up of Pre-petition Borrowing in Cross-border Proceeding

Claims

Did Your Notary Swear It to Be True? If Not, Your Affidavit May Be Invalid

Claims, Employment

Snipping the Cords on a Creative Golden Parachute—Section 502(b)(7) Limits Executives’ Protections when the Company Lands in Bankruptcy

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, Cramdown

The Absolute Priority Rule is Not So Absolute for Individual Chapter 11 Debtors

Claims, Schedules & SOFAs, Secured Claims

On Tax Day, the Debtor-Taxpayer Wins (But Not Quite)

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Second Circuit Holds that Parmalat Litigation Won’t Spoil in State Court Despite Potential Delay

Avoidance Actions, Chapter 11 Plans, Involuntary Petitions, Secured Claims

2011: A Reminder to Secured Creditors to Take Nothing for Granted

Contributor(s)

Ronit J.
Berkovich

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Bankruptcy Code Preempts State Law Requiring New Chrysler to Offer Right of First Refusal to Rejected Dealerships

Avoidance Actions, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Making Tough Choices: Fifth Circuit Allows Debtor to Bring Avoidance Action After Creditors Have Already Been Paid and Issues Decision on “Applicable Law”

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Rejected! Bankruptcy Court Denies Debtors’ Attempt to Reject Lease While Property Still Occupied by Sublessee

North of the Border Update

Piercing the Corporate Veil to the Privy: Who’s a “Privy” to a Transaction at Undervalue?

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation, Financial Markets

Systemically Important in Three Easy Steps? FSOC Approves Final Rule for Nonbank SIFI Designations

Postpetition Employment at Prepetition Rates? One Court Says, “Not Necessarily.”

Survey

Lehman Wins Our March Madness Tournament

Survey

Titanic Two Championship Bankruptcy Bracket

Automatic Stay, Secured Claims, Valuation

Bankruptcy Roulette: The Uncertainty of Distressed Real Estate Valuation in Bankruptcy Court

Survey

Our Final Four Chapter 11 Match-Ups

Claims, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Post-Confirmation Issues

Continuing Uncertainty About Continuing Claims

North of the Border Update

Changing Horses in Mid Stream: Avoiding a Forced Liquidation by Converting from BIA Proposal Proceedings to CCAA Proceedings

Survey

Elite Eight of Chapter 11

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation, Financial Markets

FDIC Holds the Trump Card: FDIC Issues Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Implementing Title II Receiver’s Ability to Enforce Subsidiary’s Contracts

Avoidance Actions

Losing Control: Court Rejects “Control Test” for Determining if Debtor Has Interest in Dividends it Paid

Survey

March Madness: The Sweet Spot

Weil Comparative Guide to Restructuring Procedures

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Professionals

The Decision Might Not Be “In Vogue,” But You Still Can’t Issue Criminal Contempt in the Fifth Circuit

Survey

March Madness: With the Play-In Results, We Announce Our Sweet Sixteen

Claims, Real Estate

One of These Things is Not Like the Other: 9th Circuit B.A.P. Holds That Bankruptcy Court May Consider the Existence of a Third-Party Source of Recovery When Determining Whether Unsecured Claims Are “Substantially Similar”

Survey

March Madness: The Play-In Round

Automatic Stay, Tax Issues

A Majestic Decision: Delaware Bankruptcy Court Holds Debtor’s QSub Tax Status Is Property of the Estate (Part Two)

Survey

March Madness 2012: Bankruptcies for the Generations

PrimaCom: Stand by, Europe and Beyond, for a New Wave of English Scheme Restructurings

Gimme Shelter: “Transactions Integral to a Sale” Are Given Section 363(m) Protection

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Fifth Circuit Weighs in on Stern’s Effects on Magistrate Judges’ Authority to Enter Final Judgments on State Law Counterclaims

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Labor & Employment

Anything But Ordinary: Debtor’s Severance Payment Obligations Were Neither Made in the Ordinary Course Nor Could Be Assumed as Part of an Executory Contract

Automatic Stay, Tax Issues

A Majestic Decision: Delaware Bankruptcy Court Holds Debtor’s QSub Tax Status Is Property of the Estate (Part One)

UK's Supreme Court Hands Down Judgment on "Client Money" Issues in Lehman

Survey

March Madness Is Coming!

Breaking the Code

The Convenient Truth: A Plan Classification Warning

News

Chief Judge Arthur J. Gonzalez Retires Today

Chapter 15, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Bankruptcy Court Remains the Port of Call – Breach of Contract Claims Remain in Shipping Debtor’s Case

North of the Border Update

To Restructure or Liquidate? – That is the Question: Dueling CCAA and Receivership Applications

Chapter 11 Plans, Real Estate

Third Time Was Not the Charm for This Debtor: After Failing to Confirm Two Plans, Debtor Loses Bid to Confirm Third Plan after the Seventh Circuit Rejects Treasury Bonds as “Indubitable Equivalent” to Building Lien

Throwback Thursday

Still Standing After All This Time: STN Enterprises Affords Derivative Standing to Creditors’ Committees to Bring Actions on Behalf of the Estate

Rules & Procedures

Local Rules Committee for Southern District of New York Wants to Ensure Litigants Keep Things Consensual

Claims

Cold Comfort for Class Action Plaintiffs in the Fourth Circuit: Court of Appeals Permits Filing of Class Claims But Gives Bankruptcy Court Significant Discretion in Applying Bankruptcy Rule 7023

Avoidance Actions

Two Means Two: Delaware Bankruptcy Court Confirms that the Two-Year Look-Back Period for Fraudulent Transfers Is Non-Negotiable

Says the Ninth Circuit, That Argument Isn’t Going to Get You Out of This Single Asset Real Estate Case

Claims, Environmental, Mass Torts, Post-Confirmation Issues

Redefining Unknown Claims in Bankruptcy – Are the Courts Shifting Back to a Test that Might Favor Reorganized Debtors?

Financing, Secured Claims

Imperfect Roses—a Valentine’s Day Lesson for Secured Lenders

North of the Border Update

Avoiding Indalex: Canadian Pension Law and Insolvency Law Collide Again

Dead or Alive – Liquidation or Restructuring under the Hungarian Insolvency Law?Part 3 — Out-of-Court Workouts

Insurance, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Mass Torts

Other People’s Money – Revisited (Or, When Do Insurers Have Standing to Challenge a Bankruptcy Plan?)

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Legal Mirage: Seventh Circuit Dismisses Appeal of Final Order upon Finding No Final Order to Review

What You Don't Know Can Hurt You: Successor Liability and Sec. 363 Sales

Claims, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

If It Had Only Called. . . Second Circuit Finds that Picking up the Phone May Have Allowed Payphone Company to Avoid Claim for Lost Profits

Dead or Alive – Liquidation or Restructuring under the Hungarian Insolvency Law? Part 2 — Liquidations

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Southern District of New York Takes a Stand on Stern

Avoidance Actions, Claims

Have Your Cake and Eat It Too: Defendants in Insider Preference Actions under State Law May Doubly Benefit from the New Value Defense

Survey

Weil Restructuring Outlook Survey: 2012 Results Global Restructuring Community’s Message: Keep Calm and Carry On

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

North of the Border Update

“Preferring” Taxes in a Bankruptcy: Attacking Payments of Income Tax as a Fraudulent Preference

Dead or Alive – Liquidation or Restructuring under the Hungarian Insolvency Law?

Survey

Throwback Thursday

Absent “Clear Abuse,” Shareholders Continue to Control Company During Chapter 11 Case

Chapter 7 Trustees, Claims

The Operation of the “Operations” Rule: The Seventh Circuit’s Primer On the Priority of Postpetition Tort Claims

Colonial Bancgroup Appellate Court Finds FDIC Entitled to Setoff Rights for Deposits at Failed Bank Subsidiary

Putting Bankruptcy Remoteness on Trial in the Seventh Circuit – Defining the Parameters of “Operational Separateness” for an SPE

Bankruptcy-Related Expenses: Are They Deductible?

Involuntary Petitions

At What Point Does a Dispute Become Bona Fide?

Survey

Weil Restructuring Outlook: 2012 Survey

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

North of the Border Update

All Creditors are Equal – But Some Are More Equal Than Others: A Refinement on Distribution of Proceeds of Sale from Canadian Ponzi Schemes

A Little Reminder: That /s/ Means Something

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

The Stern Files (fifth edition)

Jurisdiction & Appeals

The Seventh Circuit Rules the “Nullity Rule”—A Business Attorney’s Best Friend—Is Discretionary and Not Jurisdictional

Survey

Year of Volatility – Final True Up for the 2011 Weil Restructuring Outlook Survey

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Chapter 11 Plans, Pre-Filing Considerations, Secured Claims

Taking the Long View: How Reorganization is More Like a Marathon and Less Like a Sprint

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Post-Confirmation Issues

When Is a Debtor Really Off the Hook on a Rejected Lease? (The Answer May Not Be as Simple as You Think)

Automatic Stay, Claims, Financing, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Pre-Filing Considerations, Secured Claims

Aggressive Creditors: Go Overboard, And You May Find Yourself Walking the Plank

Dismissal, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Single-Asset Entities Beware: Bankruptcy Court Dismisses Chapter 11 Petition Filed By Single Asset Limited Liability Company

North of the Border Update

Protecting Employee Wages in Insolvency: Canada Amends the Wage Earner Protection Program Act

Holiday Posts, Humor

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE BANKRUPTCY BLOG

Survey

It’s Almost Survey Time Again

Chapter 11 Plans, Chapter 9

All aboard! – Owner of Las Vegas Monorail Fails to Ride Out of Bankruptcy

Chapter 7 Trustees, Schedules & SOFAs

Drop It Like It’s Hot – Abandoning Property of the Estate

Chapter 11 Plans, Financing

Torpedoing Plans 101: Court Refuses to Enforce Assignment of Junior Creditor’s Right to Vote on a Plan

Avoidance Actions

Keep Your Claws Off My Principal: Eleventh Circuit Weighs in on Recovery of Fraudulent Transfers in Ponzi Schemes

Breaking the Code

Section 1128(b) — Objections to Confirmation

Will Secured Creditors’ Right to Credit Bid be a ‘Cert’ain Thing? Supreme Court Grants Certiorari to Resolve Circuit Split

Do As I Say AND As I Do: The Tenth Circuit Reverses Its Long-Standing Holding That the Automatic Stay Does Not Apply to Appeals Initiated by a Debtor

North of the Border Update

Receivers Beware: The “Cost” of Pursuing Assets in Ontario

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

The Stern Files (fourth edition)

Case Overviews, Chapter 11 Plans

Hawaii: The Islands of Aloha, Surf, Sunshine, and Bankruptcy Courts that Increase Attorneys’ Hourly Rates Sua Sponte

Section 366(c)(2): Electric BoogalooS.D.N.Y. Court Affirms Order Approving Debtors’ Contested Adequate Assurance to Utility Providers

Secured Lenders Beware! Your Security Interests on All Real Property Assets and Rents of a Hotel May Not Extend to Room Revenues

The Politics of Municipal Bankruptcy

Rules & Procedures

Creditor Cooperation and the New 2019: A Look at the Rule and the Usual Players

Rules & Procedures

It’s Here! The New Rule 2019 Arrives

Employment, Labor & Employment

Severance Payments as Administrative Expenses? One Court Says, “Don’t Count On It.”

North of the Border Update

Comity In Cross-Border Insolvencies: Determining the Proper Scope of a Court’s Jurisdiction

Chapter 11 Plans, Chapter 7 Trustees, Post-Confirmation Issues

Picking at the Carcass: Thanksgiving Thoughts from the Weil Bankruptcy Blog

Claims, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Don’t Take It Personally: Navigating Derivative Suits Granted to a Liquidating Trustee

German Insolvency Law Reform (ESUG): More Creditors’ Influence, More Debt-For-Equity Swaps, More Self-Administration?

Avoidance Actions, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Back to Bankruptcy Court: District Court Denies Motion to Withdraw the Reference Even Though It Finds that Bankruptcy Court Lacked Authority to Finally Decide Claims

Bridgeport – Distressed but not Insolvent

Chapter 15, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Balancing Act: Comity, Public Policy, and the Protection of “Other Interests” in Chapter 15

Claims

Because of Its “Ordinary Course” Nature, Eighth Circuit Rules that Employee’s Administrative Expense Request For Employment Discrimination Is Not Subject to Discharge

North of the Border Update

Going, Going, Gone!: First Asset Sale Without a Proposal Approved under BIA Proposal Provisions

Constitutional Law

Honoring Our Veterans (Without Any Discharge Jokes)

No “Mulligans” Allowed: Seventh Circuit Refuses to Set Aside Bankruptcy Court’s Order Authorizing the Sale of Debtor’s Golf Course

Contributor(s)

Reaffirmation Agreements – Not Just for Individual Chapter 7 Debtors

Chapter 15, International

You Are Now Entering the Twilight Zone: The British Virgin Islands, The Only Place Where Madoff, Stern, and Chapter 15 Meet

Survey

Crystal Ball Gazing: Corporate Default Concerns Rise

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Automatic Stay, Chapter 15, International

Bankruptcy Court Holds That Foreign Debtor’s Chapter 15 Stay Is Not Here to Stay

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

The Stern Files (third edition)

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

Living Wills Rule Becomes Final

North of the Border Update

Risky Business: Terminating Contracts Under the Master ISDA Contract

Chapter 7 Trustees, Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Haunted Houses, Headless Pregnant Women, and Immortal Evil Zombies: A Weil Bankruptcy Blog Spooktacular

Breaking the Code

Section 1108—Authorization to Operate Business

Throwback Thursday

Bankruptcy 101 – Back to Basics with Butner

Chapter 11 Plans

The Dangers of a Premature Plan Filing

You Say Potato, Court Says Solvent: Idaho Bankruptcy Court Dismisses Municipality’s Chapter 9 Case for Lack of Evidence of Insolvency.

Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

All or Nothing? Bankruptcy Court Determines that the Partial Surrender of Collateral to a Secured Creditor Is Not the Indubitable Equivalent of the Secured Creditor’s Claim

Substantive Consolidation

R2D2’s Affiliates Might Be Safe from Substantive Consolidation, but Some Nondebtors in the Ninth Circuit Might Get Pulled Over to the “Dark Side”

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

When to Pull the Plug on a Sick Business: The Third Circuit Continues to Allow Deepening Insolvency Claims Under Pennsylvania Law

Third Circuit Addresses What Happens When Fraud Results in Two First Priority Liens on the Same Assets

Case Overviews, Chapter 9, Labor & Employment

A Distressed Municipality with a Plan: The City of Vallejo’s Plan of Adjustment

North of the Border Update

Please Release Me, Let Me Go: Directors’ Protection Under the CCAA Explored

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

FSOC Three Step: Financial Stability Oversight Council Issues Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Outlining Criteria for Designating Nonbank SIFIs

Southern District of New York Says Environmental Injunctions are Not Claims Subject to Discharge in Bankruptcy

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Putting the “Limited Liability” into “Limited Liability Company”: Delaware Supreme Court Affirms Limited Scope of Derivative Standing to Pursue Claims on Behalf of LLCs

Chapter 15, International

The British Virgin Islands: A Paradise to Tourists and Mutual Fund Investors Alike… with Blue Skies, Full Moon Parties… and Clawback-Free Zones

Chapter 11 Plans, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Pre-Filing Considerations

The Other Subject Matter Jurisdiction Issue: Courts Disagree Over When to Apply the “Close Nexus” Test to Post-Confirmation Disputes

Avoidance Actions

District Court’s Dismissal of Madoff Trustee’s Constructively Fraudulent Claims Against Customers Reaffirms a “Settled” Principle

Avoidance Actions

Members May Be Insiders of an LLC Debtor in the Seventh Circuit

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

FSB Approves Systemic Risk Regulation Policy Proposals

Financing, Jurisdiction & Appeals

You Can’t, But We Can: DB Capital Follow-Up

North of the Border Update

Preference Proceeds: Court Prefers Secured Creditors

363 Sales, Breaking the Code

363 Sales, Throwback Thursday

A Lion(el) of Bankruptcy Jurisprudence

Case Overviews, Events

Goldstein on Restructuring: Video Interview

Substantive Consolidation

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Tells Aviation Company That Its Request for a Retroactive Petition Date Doesn’t Fly

Billing for Billing: When Do Retained Professional’s Outside Counsel Fees Constitute a Reimbursable Expense?

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

The Stern Files (second edition)

Chapter 15, Schedules & SOFAs

For Your Eyes Only: AWAL Bank Succeeds in Limiting Its Bankruptcy Code Disclosure Obligations

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Update on U.S. Oncology: New York State Court Considers Prepayment Calculation Method, Decision Forthcoming This Fall

A Debtor Must Obtain Relief from the Automatic Stay Before Seeking to Equitably Subordinate Another Debtor's Secured Claims Against Its Estate

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

Resolution Plan Redux: Rule Requiring Insured Depository Institutions to Submit Resolution Plans Under the FDIA Closely Parallels Rule Requiring Bank Holding Companies to Submit Resolution Plans under the Dodd-Frank Act

North of the Border Update

Elephant in Canada: Where is the COMI?

Chapter 11 Plans, Financing, Secured Claims

Tranche Warfare, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love Bankrupt CDOs

Major Banking Reforms to Be Implemented in the UK … Eventually …

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

FDIC Approves Final Rule Regarding Submission of Resolution Plans: Significant Changes Made in Response to Comments

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

FDIC is Meeting Today on Living Wills

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

The Claims Resolution Process in a Dodd-Frank Liquidation

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

Living Wills Final Rule Scheduled for Approval

Second Bankruptcy Trivia Contest Answers

Chapter 11 Plans

What’s Fraud Got to Do With It? Permitting Confirmation Orders to Control Over Plan Language

Chapter 11 Plans

The Latest on Colonial Bancorp

North of the Border Update

Assignment Without Consent: Caveat Counterparty

Events

It's Official: Labor Day is a Better Bankruptcy Holiday

Bankruptcy Beach Reading, Contest

BANKRUPTCY BEACH READING: Our Second Bankruptcy Trivia Contest

Avoidance Actions

It’s Settled — the Securities Safe Harbor Has Been Expanded

Avoidance Actions, Claims

The Only Things Certain in Life: Death, Taxes, and…the Finality of Foreclosure Sales?

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Second Circuit Affirms Madoff Trustee’s Utilization of the “Net Investment Method” In Determining the “Net Equity” Value of Customers’ Claims

Automatic Stay, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Peering Through the Muck: Court Analyzes Operation of Ipso Facto Provisions in LLC Membership Agreements Under Section 541 of the Bankruptcy Code

MERS

We thought it was a good phrase too…

Jurisdiction & Appeals

“It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over”: Final Orders Appealable Under 28 U.S.C. § 158(d)

Claims, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Throwback Thursday

After 29 Years, Northern Pipeline Still Has Teeth

Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

The Stern Files

North of the Border Update

Remitting is not Optional: Personal Liability of Directors for Source Deductions and Sales Taxes – The Best Intentions are Not Always a Defence

Pre-Filing Considerations

New York City Bar Blasts Proposed Venue Legislation

News

Harvey Miller Featured on CNBC's "Squawk Box"

Chapter 11 Plans, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Bankruptcy Court’s Post-Confirmation Subject Matter Jurisdiction Has Limitations – Especially Where Discovery Disputes with Post-Confirmation Trusts Are Concerned

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Second Circuit Upholds Madoff Trustee's Use of "Net Equity" Method

Jurisdiction & Appeals

SIPA Trustee Lacks Standing to Assert Certain Claims Against Third Parties on Behalf of Defrauded Customers

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims

Disclosure Statement Saves the Day! Fifth Circuit Provides Guidance on Preserving Claims In a Plan of Reorganization

Breaking the Code, Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners

Section 1104(d) – Appointment of Trustee or Examiner

Bankruptcy Beach Reading

BANKRUPTCY BEACH READING

Canceling The Wire: U.S. Bankruptcy Court Declines to Recognize and Enforce German Mail Interception Order

Health Care Industry Facing Crisis? Reduction in Medicare Fees May Be the Catalyst

Avoidance Actions, Energy Sector, Financing

Be Careful What You Draft for: Delaware Chancery Court Blesses Dynegy’s Reorganization

Contributor(s)

Gabriel A.
Morgan

North of the Border Update

Letters of Credit – Avoiding the Piaggio Piège

Bankruptcy Beach Reading, Contest

BANKRUPTCY BEACH READING Bankruptcy Trivia–Answers Revealed

Receiver Battles Holder of Right of First Refusal and Wins…This Time

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Other People’s Money (Part II)

Pre-Filing Considerations

Proposed Legislation Introduced to Prevent Alleged “Forum Shopping”

UK Pre-Pack Proposals Given the Thumbs Down

Bankruptcy Beach Reading, Contest

BANKRUPTCY BEACH READING Bankruptcy Trivia

Chapter 11 Plans, Cramdown, Throwback Thursday

Los Angeles Lumber Remains Absolute More Than 70 Years Later

Avoidance Actions

Second Circuit Affords Safe Harbor Protections to Redemption of Commercial Paper

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

FSB Issues Recommendations on Global Resolution Planning

North of the Border Update

Ancillary Recognition Orders – To “Probe” the Legitimate Expectations of Creditors

Survey

And the survey says…

Claims, Labor & Employment

In the Fourth Circuit, Terminated Employees Are Entitled to Priority Claim for Severance. Why? Because They Earned It (When They Were Fired)

Contributor's Corner

“I surrender!” Public Securities Considerations Relating to Surrender and Record Date Events

Chapter 11 Plans, Releases & Exculpations

Catch Me…If You Can: Plan Release Carve-Out May Have Limited “Real Life” Application

Insurance, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Mass Torts

Other People’s Money (Part I)

Survey

Weil Bankrupty Blog Wants Your Opinion

Constitutional Law

For Richer or for Poorer… Department of Justice Agrees to Recognize Same-Sex Marriages (At Least in Bankruptcy Court)

Secured Lenders Thrown A Lifeline? The Seventh Circuit Protects Secured Lenders’ Right to Credit Bid

When Conspiracy Is a Good Thing—Pittsburgh Corning’s Latest Attempt to Protect Affiliates from Asbestos Liabilities

North of the Border Update

Who's in Control? Replacing Management During a Restructuring

Survey

Reality Check: 2011 Predictions at the Half-Year Mark

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Claims, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Stern Files

Stern Views on Bankruptcy Court Jurisdiction – United States Supreme Court Addresses Bankruptcy Court Jurisdiction in the Anna Nicole Smith Case

English Courts Scheming Widely

Happy Independence Day!

Bankruptcy Beach Reading

BANKRUPTCY BEACH READING:Letters From the Bench

Substantive Consolidation, Throwback Thursday

Owens Corning: To Sub Con or Not to Sub Con?

Claims

Eleventh Circuit Does Not Hesitate to Disallow Procrastination

North of the Border Update

Supreme Court of Canada Upholds Secured Lender’s Claim to Collateral Secured by Fraud

Survey

The Great Wall Looming Over Wall Street – 2014 and Beyond: Get Your Climbing Gear Ready!

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Jurisdiction & Appeals

“Clear Heads . . . and Honest Hearts” – United States Supreme Court Pares Bankruptcy Court Jurisdiction in the Anna Nicole Smith Case

Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners

What Do You Do with a Completed Bankruptcy Examiner's Report?

Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

A Cram Session on Cramdown Interest Rates

Claims

Pennies from Heaven: A Proposal for Streamlining De Minimis Distributions in Bankruptcy Cases

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Equitable Mootness Doctrine Examined (Part 2): Is a Confirmation Order Truly Final? Or Can An Appellant Take Another Bite at the Apple?

Shop Rights – Court Imposes Notice and Due Process Rights for Even the Smallest of Transactions

363 Sales, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

What Happens When a Debtor Seeks to Reject a Right of First Refusal?

Mass Torts, Releases & Exculpations

Are Third Party Releases "All in the Family"?

Survey

The Great Wall Looming Over Wall Street – 2014 and Beyond

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

North of the Border Update

A Second Kick At the Can? Substantive Amendments to a Plan After Court Sanction

News

Chambers USA Announces 2011 Awards for Excellence

Exacting Their Tolling Period: Chapter 15 Debtors Entitled to Benefit of Section 108 of the Bankruptcy Code

Breaking the Code, Chapter 15

Section 1503. International Obligations of the United States

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Avoidance Actions

Bet You’ve Never Heard This One Before, Your Honor . . . Why Pleading Constructive Fraud May Be Just as Hard – If Not Harder – Than Pleading Actual Fraud in the Bankruptcy Context

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Equitable Mootness Doctrine Examined (Part 1): Is a Confirmation Order Truly Final? Or Can an Appellant Take Another Bite at the Apple?

Bankruptcy Beach Reading

BANKRUPTCY BEACH READING

Assumption & Rejection, Automatic Stay, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Evictors Beware! Southern District of New York Denies Postpetition Rent to Landlord Stayed from Executing a Warrant of Eviction

Pre-Filing Considerations

How Good Are "Best Efforts"?

North of the Border Update

Yum! Restaurants’ Largest Canadian Franchisee Files For CCAA Protection

Pro se Claimants Say the Darnedest Things

Chapter 9, Plan Solicitation & Voting, Throwback Thursday

Can They Do That? A Look Back At Precedent for the Bankruptcy Court’s Equitable Powers

MERS

The MERS Morass, Part III

The Point of No Return: The English Appeal Court Interprets the Balance Sheet Test for Insolvency

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

It’s Too Late, Baby, Now It’s Too Late: the New Cure Standard for Nonmonetary Defaults Under Section 365(b)

MERS

The MERS Morass, Part II

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

FDIC Clarifies Provisions of FDIC’s Orderly Liquidation Authority Relating to Preferential and Fraudulent Transfers

Contributor(s)

The [Un]Interesting Side of Prepayment Premiums: Delaware Court Rules that Make-Whole Provision Gives Rise to Liquidated Damages, Not Interest Payments

Jurisdiction & Appeals

This Is a Firm Deadline… And I Mean It!

North of the Border Update

CCAA Judge Without Jurisdiction To Issue Claims Procedure and Bar Order

MERS

The MERS Morass, Part I

Chapter 11 Plans, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Potential to Increase Size of Post-Confirmation Trust Is Insufficient Basis for Exercise of Bankruptcy Court Jurisdiction

Avoidance Actions

New York and Delaware Are Now at Odds over Application of Section 546(e)’s “Safe Harbor” to Private Stock Transactions

Rules & Procedures

Almost There: This Year’s Nascent Bankruptcy Rule Amendments Head Toward the Finish Line

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

Don’t Point Fingers If You’re Standing in the Shoes of a Fraudster

Weak Sauce: Requirements for Prepetition Negotiations in Municipal Bankruptcies and the City of Vallejo Experience

Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

Secured Lenders to Brace for a Longer Race with “Mace” in Place

363 Sales, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Third Party Claims

The Fight For Mortal Kombat Exits Bankruptcy As Part of Midway Games Sale

Rules & Procedures

The New Rule 2019 Is Headed Into the Home Stretch

North of the Border Update

Gyro-Trac: COMI Under Part IV of the CCAA

Chapter 11 Plans, Pre-Filing Considerations

Think You’re Out of Hot Water Once Disclosure Statement Is Approved? Think Again . . . Court Denies Confirmation Over Inaccurate Disclosures

Secured Claims, Throwback Thursday

“Till” is Cherished Still… (Despite Losing the Blog’s Sweet Sixteen Contest)

Chapter 11 Plans, Releases & Exculpations

Sacrificing Clarity on the Altar of “Comprehensiveness”: Judge Gerber Suggests Using White Space and Headings in Drafting Complicated Plan Provisions

I Wish I May, I Wish I Might…File Chapter 11 Tonight: Authorization and D&O Considerations When Filing Chapter 11

Claims

Third Circuit Court of Appeals Provides Guidance on Relationships (of the Substantive Legal Variety)

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

FDIC Proposed Rule Will Determine Which Companies Are Covered By the New Orderly Liquidation Authority

Chapter 11? No Thank You! Courts Find Restrictions on Bankruptcy Filings in LLC Agreements Enforceable

Chapter 11 Plans

Wrapping up Gifting

North of the Border Update

Ontario Court of Appeal Grants Retirees Priority over Secured Creditors

Death and Taxes are Certain, Except When it Comes to Post-Confirmation Setoffs

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

Will Dodd-Frank Get At the Too-Big-To-Fail Issue?

Is the Debtor Bankrupt Enough? Application of the Chapter 9 Insolvency Test to the City of Vallejo

Bad Boys, Bad Boys…Whatcha Gonna Do When They Come For You?

363 Sales, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Certificate Holders Are Told to Take a Seat: Court Denies Standing and Finds that Certificate Holders Are Not Parties in Interest

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

FDIC Issues Significant Proposed Rulemaking With Respect To Dodd-Frank’s Orderly Liquidation Authority

Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Assignments of Rent and Property of the Estate

Claims, Due Process Concerns

Unknown Creditors (Whoever You Are), Read Your Newspaper!

Survey

MARATHON: Greatest Bankruptcy Decision of All Time

North of the Border Update

A Review of the Basis for the Court-Appointment of a Receiver

Survey

March Madness: The Weil Bankruptcy Blog’s Championship

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: Can a DIP Lender Say “So Long” to Its Debtor-Borrower by Phone Call and Email?

Survey

March Madness: The Weil Bankruptcy Blog’s Final Four

Assumption & Rejection, Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

More Time to Make the Donuts: Court Holds Debtor-Franchisee Is Not Bound By the Deadline to Assume or Reject Nonresidential Real Property Leases

Survey

March Madness: The Weil Bankruptcy Blog's Elite Eight

Automatic Stay, Claims, Employment, Jurisdiction & Appeals, Labor & Employment

WARNing: Bankruptcy Courts Take Their First Crack at The NY WARN Act

Word to the Wise: The Doctrine of Equitable Subrogation May Permit a Lender to Obtain Priority Over Earlier Perfected Mechanic’s Liens

Events

Dr. Edward I. Altman Enlightens Financial and Restructuring Community on “Current Conditions and Outlook for Global Corporate and Sovereign Debt Markets,” Hosted by Weil and Charles River Associates

Survey

March Madness: The Weil Bankruptcy Blog’s Sweet Sixteen

News

American College of Bankruptcy Induction

North of the Border Update

Creeping Rollups: Repaying Pre-Petition Secured Debt Under the CCAA Under a DIP Facility

Moral Hazard for Officeholders? The Lehman Brothers/Nortel Networks Decision

Events

Bankruptcy Community Celebrates 19th Annual Duberstein Moot Court Competition at Gala Awards Reception and Dinner at Chelsea Piers in New York City

Claims

Good Samaritan: Beware! Your Claim May Not Be Entitled to Administrative Expense Status

Financing, Secured Claims

In re Chemtura Corporation: An Analysis of the Enforceability of Make-Whole and No-Call Provisions in the Southern District of New York

Debtors Need Not Apply…At Least In Some Circuits

Do As I Say, Not As I Do: Tenth Circuit Holds Automatic Stay Does Not Apply to Appeals Initiated by a Debtor, But Instructs Bankruptcy Courts to Rule the Other Way

363 Sales, Claims

Sale Free and Clear of Any Interest in Property… Until a Bridge Collapses

Court Holding “Value” in Section 363(f)(3) Means Actual Aggregate Value of Liens Securing the Property Rather Than Face “Amount” of Liens Gets Undersecured Lenders Wired Up

Chapter 7 Trustees

Who’s the Boss? Tenth Circuit Says It’s the Chapter 7 Trustee

North of the Border Update

Ontario Court of Appeal Considers Circular Priorities

Chapter 11 Plans

Texas Bankruptcy Court Warns: Don’t Be Left “Straightjacketed” By Ambiguous Reservation Provisions In Your Plan!

Cross-Border Update on German Restructuring – Who Pays Next Time?

Substantive Consolidation

Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York Offers Practical Solution in Substantive Consolidation Conundrum

Securitizations & Hedges

American Home Mortgage: Market or Sale Price Is Not the Only Determinant of Value Under Section 562

Court Allows Borrower’s Proof of Claim in Light of Questionable Practices by Lender

Chapter 11 Plans

Lazarus Raised: Eleventh Circuit Rules that the Bankruptcy Code Preserves Unasserted Challenges of Cram-Down Plans for Appeal

Litigation Issues

Watch What You Say and (When You Say It): When the Common Interest Privilege Attaches in Settlement Negotiations

Step Off! Colonial BancGroup Bankruptcy Court Rejects FDIC Setoff Attempt

North of the Border Update

The Court Rules that the Fees of a Court Appointed Receiver of a Low Value Estate are Too Excessive

U.S. Oncology: An Update on Recent Disputes in Make Whole Provisions

Chapter 11 Plans

No Gift for You! The Second Circuit's DBSD Decision Rejects Gifting Under Chapter 11 Plans

Cross-Border Update on German Restructuring – Who Pays Next Time?

Chapter 11 Plans

How Far is Too Far?: An Analysis of the Second Circuit’s Decision Upholding the Designation of DISH Network’s Vote on the DBSD Plan

Avoidance Actions

District Court Quashes TOUSA Fraudulent Transfer Decision

Chapter 11 Plans, Secured Claims

Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself: Partial Involvement in a Bankruptcy Case May Cause Parties to Lose Protections Under the Bankruptcy Code

Chapter 11 Plans

Pay Me or I’ll Appeal: Second Circuit Recognizes Standing of “Out-of-the-Money” Creditors to Appeal

Avoidance Actions

Attorneys Beware! Good Faith Required for “Mere Conduit” or Control Exception to Initial Transferee Liability

Chapter 11 Plans

DBSD: The Second Circuit’s Analysis Revealed at Last

North of the Border Update

Equity Claims Under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act

Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners, Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

When the Debtor's Management Loses the Court's Confidence, It May Soon Lose Control of the Debtor

Claims

Claims Purchasers: Think a Trading Order Doesn’t Apply to You? Think Again…

363 Sales, Financing

Senior Lenders “Shocked” By Sale Order Holding Second Liens Have Standing to Oppose Sale

Cross-Border Update on German Restructuring – Who Pays Next Time?

The Creditor of My Creditor Is My . . . Friend?

Cash Collateral Keeps Trico Marine Afloat

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

It’s a Small World, But There’s No Need to Recuse: Judges Need Not Recuse Themselves Where They Will Be Marrying a “Mere Employee” of a Litigant’s Counsel

Due Process Concerns

Que Pasa En El Mundo De Los Avisos?

Claims, Environmental

To Pay or Not to Pay: Bankruptcy Court Twice Holds that a Claim Remains Contingent for Purposes of Section 502(e)(1)(B) Until a Creditor Makes an Actual Payment

North of the Border Update

Supreme Court of Canada Rules that Government Loses Priority for GST Under CCAA

Releases & Exculpations

Court Clarifies That Debtor May Release Estate Causes of Actions (Sort of)

363 Sale Order Approving Sale of Electric Company’s Assets Generates Some “Electricity” of Its Own

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

UPDATE TO: Rejection of an Executory Contract Does Not Relieve a Debtor of Assumed Liabilities

France Gives the Thumbs Up to a Pre-Pack Restructuring Procedure – Introducing the Sauvegarde Express

Survey

Results of Our First Ever Reader Survey

Ninth Circuit Reminds Creditors that Requests for Professional Fees Are Not Rubber-Stamped for Approval

Assumption & Rejection

Delaware Decision Reminds Landlords to “Speak Now or Forever Hold Their Peace”

Financing, Secured Claims

Noteholders in the Southern District of New York Not Entitled to an Unsecured Claim for Expectation Damages Resulting From a No-Call Provision in an Indenture

North of the Border Update

Proposed BIA and CCAA Amendments Contemplate Enhanced Pension Protection

Jurisdiction & Appeals

“Deferring in Earnest” – Sixth Circuit Crafts New Standard of Review Over Chief Judge’s Strong Dissent

Survey

Test Out Your Crystal Ball: Weil Bankruptcy Blog Wants to Know Your Predictions of What Lies Ahead in 2011

Jurisdiction & Appeals

The Delaware Bankruptcy Court Explores the Limits of Bankruptcy Jurisdiction and Holds that It Cannot Exercise Supplemental Jurisdiction

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, Releases & Exculpations

Enjoining the Bank: Arizona Bankruptcy Court Considers Post-Confirmation Injunction Against Enforcing Guarantee

Help Energy Clients Survive Tough Times

Humor

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases

Rejection of an Executory Contract Does Not Relieve a Debtor of Assumed Liabilities

Financing, Secured Claims

Solvent Debtors Beware – Noteholders May Be Entitled to an Unsecured Claim for Expectation Damages Resulting From a No-Call Provision in Indenture

North of the Border Update

Supreme Court of Canada Puts an End to Uncertainty in Competing Priority Interests: Bank Act (Canada) Security vs. Security Interest Taken Under Provincial Personal Property Security Legislation

Navigating the Cross-Border Insolvency Regulations 2006

Holiday Posts, Chapter 11 Plans

Despite the Holiday Season, the Second Circuit Apparently Suggests that It Does Not Believe in “Gifting”

Can you Subcon Your Way into a Setoff?: An Analysis of Garden Ridge Corp.

Has Bankruptcy Remoteness Become, Well, More Remote in the Seventh Circuit?

JUST WAIT ‘TIL YOUR ARBITRATOR GETS HOME!

CIT – One Year On

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

The Continuing Saga of the Perils of Inadequate Documentation in Loan Transfers

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

“The Dog That Has Not Barked” – Delaware Court of Chancery Holds That Delaware LLC Act Bars Creditor Derivative Suits on Behalf of LLCs

Canadian Restructuring Issues, Chapter 15, Tax Issues

IRS May Find Decision Interpreting the U.S. Anti-Injunction Act in a Chapter 15 Case Taxing

Canadian Restructuring Issues, North of the Border Update

Canadian Court Approves Sale of U.S. Real Estate Owned by Delaware Partnership

Litigation Issues, Rules & Procedures

If It’s December, It Must Be Time for New Rules

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

One Way that Dodd-Frank's Liquidation Authority Could Achieve Parity with the Bankruptcy Code

Rules & Procedures

Amendments to the Bankruptcy Rules Go into Effect Today

Avoidance Actions

Trustees Beware! Securitization Trustees May Be Liable for Fraudulent Transfers

Avoidance Actions

Equitable Subrogation as a Defense to a Preference Action? Maybe…But Don’t Bank on It!

Adequate Protection: Snoozing May Not Mean Losing…in the Ninth Circuit

Avoidance Actions

Early Payments to Trade Creditors May Fall Outside the “Ordinary Course of Business” Defense to a Preference Action

Canadian Restructuring Issues, North of the Border Update

Canwest Global Communications Corp. and Asset Sales Under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act: When is a Sale in the Ordinary Course of Business?

Chapter 11 Plans, Pre-Filing Considerations

Getting out the Vote: Quigley Court Designates Votes of Creditors Settling Prepetition with Debtor’s Parent

Avoidance Actions

District Court Tries to Make Sense of the Good Faith Defense under Section 548(c)

Post-Confirmation Issues

Being In Love Means Never Being Able To Get Your Student Loans Discharged, Or Why Stedman Graham Should Have To Pay His Student Loans

Due Process Concerns

Return to Sender – Make Sure the Address Is Known

European Directories: English Court of Appeal Gives Thumbs Up to Senior Lenders’ Enforcement Strategy and Throws Out Junior Creditors’ Challenge on Intercreditor Release Provisions

Automatic Stay, Secured Claims

The Devil Is in the Documentation

Dodd-Frank & Financial Institution Regulation

FDIC Holds "Living Wills" Roundtable

Contributor(s)

Chapter 11 Plans, Pre-Filing Considerations

Keeping the (Good) Faith: Quigley Plan Rejection Highlights Importance of Sustaining Bankruptcy Code’s Key Underlying Principles

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Post-Confirmation Issues

A Debtor's Chapter 11 Case: It’s Not Over ’Til It’s Over – or Is It?

Every Debtor Has a CoMI

Chapter 11 Plans, Releases & Exculpations

Third Party Releases Cause Quigley Plan to Fail the Best Interest Test and Equal Treatment Requirement

Distressed M&A: Finality of Section 363 Asset Sales

Third Party Claims

In Pari Delicto: Alive and Well in New York

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

Legitimate Protection from Parental Abuse or Just Another Blame Game?

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

In California (Unlike Delaware), No Need to Let Your Alter Ego Get in the Way of Suing a Debtor’s Sole Shareholder Directly

Claims, Environmental

Mark IV Industries, Inc. – Cleaning Up Confusion Regarding Dischargeability of Environmental Liabilities

Chapter 11 Plans, Claims, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Administrative Claims Catch: After Consummation of the Plan, Fifth Circuit Allows $29.7 Million Administrative Expense

Counsel Beware: 327(e) Special Purpose Representation Not Applicable Where Counsel Did Not Previously Represent the Debtor

Walking the Tightrope: Disclosing Too Little or Too Much about Exit Fees?

CBGB Heebie Jeebies, or Hey, Ho, Foreclose!

Truvo – A Developing Trend in Turbo-Powered Injunctions with Cross-Border Impact?

Claims

A Timely Filed Proof of Claim Is Not a Requirement to Establish Co-Liability under Section 502(e)(1)(B)

Releases & Exculpations

Court Denies Plan Confirmation Over Impermissible Third-Party Releases

Litigation Issues

Friends and Enemies: Application of the Common Interest Privilege in Bankruptcy

Chapter 11 Plans, Jurisdiction & Appeals

Bankruptcy Court Finds that it Lacks Jurisdiction to Preside over State Law Cause of Action Transferred to Liquidating Trust

Supreme Court’s Denial of Certiorari in Apex Oil Leaves Standing Seventh Circuit Ruling that Environmental Cleanup Injunctions are Not Dischargeable in Bankruptcy

Chapter 11 Trustees & Examiners

Is the Appointment of Examiners in Cases Involving More than $5 Million of Unsecured Debt Mandatory or Discretionary?

Mass Torts, Releases & Exculpations

Recent SDNY Bankruptcy Decision Raises Issues About How to Value a Third Party’s Contribution to a Plan

Sixth Circuit Reaffirms the Vitality of 363(m)

Chapter 9, Labor & Employment

Rejection of Collective Bargaining Agreements in Chapter 9 Cases

Releases & Exculpations

The Future of Third-Party Releases and Exculpations: A Look at the Fifth Circuit

Backstop Fees, Chapter 11 Plans, Committees

The Bankruptcy Court Refuses to Compel Debtors to Pay Backstop Fees Incurred by Alternative Plan Proponents

Roll-up, Roll-up, Read All about It!

Contributor(s)

David
Griffiths

Eurofinance: English Court Enforces as an English Judgment a U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judgment

SDNY Narrows the Extraterritorial Reach of the Automatic Stay Available under Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code for a Debtor in a Foreign Main Proceeding

Securitizations & Hedges, Utilities

Section 366’s Backdoor: Closing the Forward Contract Loophole for Utility Suppliers

Jurisdiction & Appeals

Debate Over Preemption Scope of Section 1123(a) Continues

Litigation Issues

Texas Bankruptcy Court Holds that Counterclaimant Waived Right to Jury Trial

Can a Board of Directors of a Foreign Entity Appoint the Foreign Representative in a U.S. Chapter 15 Filing Without First Obtaining Authority from the Foreign Bankruptcy Court?

Labor & Employment

What Will Be the Consequences of the Third Circuit’s Decision to Impose 1114 Process on all Chapter 11 Debtors?

Corporate Governance & Fiduciary Duties

Thornburg Mortgage Case Highlights Risks Presented by Potential Conflicts

Recent Guidance in the Southern District of New York on Professional Fee Applications

Executory Contracts & Unexpired Leases, Financing, Letters of Credit

Abstention Decision Raises Troubling Issues on Letters of Credit