Bankruptcy & Restructuring
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Keep On Truckin’: Priority Rules Still Rule in Structured Dismissals
April 11, 2017 | Blog | By Aaron Williams
In 2015, Distressing Matters reported on the Third Circuit’s decision in In re Jevic Holding Corp., wherein that panel ruled that, in rare circumstances, bankruptcy courts may approve the distribution of settlement proceeds in a manner that violates the Bankruptcy Code’s statutory priority scheme.
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Can a Creditor’s Inaction Violate the Automatic Stay?
March 28, 2017 | Blog | By Amanda M. Blaske
The filing of a bankruptcy case puts in place an automatic injunction, or stay, that halts most actions by creditors against a debtor. But can a creditor violate the automatic stay by not acting?
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Delaware Bankruptcy Court Issues Important Guidelines Concerning Payment of Indenture Trustee's Professional Fees
March 15, 2017 | Blog
In Nortel Networks, Inc., Case No. 09-0138(KG), Doc. No. 18001 (March 8, 2017), the Delaware Bankruptcy Court ruled on the objections of two noteholders who asked the Court to disallow more than $4.4 million of the $8.1 million of the fees sought by counsel to their indenture trustee.
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Buyer Beware: Bankruptcy Assets not “Free and Clear” if Due Process is Lacking
February 28, 2017 | Blog
One of the most powerful and oft used devices in bankruptcy is the sale of assets “free and clear” of liens, claims and interests. One issue a buyer at a bankruptcy sale must consider, however, is whether due process has been met with respect to parties whose liens, claims and/or interests are released through such sale.
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Massachusetts Bankruptcy Court Sends a Reminder on Avoiding the Substantive Consolidation Trap
February 13, 2017 | Blog
There are numerous reasons why a company might use more than one entity for its operations or organization: to silo liabilities, for tax advantages, to accommodate a lender, or for general organizational purposes. Simply forming a separate entity, however, is not enough.
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Make-Whole Momentum Halted: Third Circuit Rejects Momentive Rationale and Requires Debtor to Pay Make-Whole Premium
November 28, 2016 | Blog | By Kaitlin R. Walsh
In a recent decision (“Energy Future Holdings”) poised to have wide-reaching implications, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decisions of the Bankruptcy and the District Courts to hold that a debtor cannot use a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing to escape liability for a “make-whole” premium if express contractual language requires such payment when the borrower makes an optional redemption prior to a date certain.
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Can the Corporate Veil be Pierced Against a Former Shareholder?
October 19, 2016 | Blog
A recent opinion issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois reminds us that corporate veil-piercing liability is not exclusive to shareholders. Anyone who is in control of and misuses the corporate structure can be found liable for the obligations of the corporation.
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Bankruptcy Settlements may not have to Comply with the Absolute Priority Rule? Not so fast...
June 29, 2016 | Blog | By Eric Blythe
In an earlier blog piece we reported on the Third Circuit's 2015 decision in In re Jevic Holding Corp. where the Court approved a settlement, implemented through a structured dismissal, which allowed junior creditors to receive a distribution prior to senior creditors being paid in full. The decision was appealed and the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and decide whether structured dismissals are permissible in bankruptcy.
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TRANQUIL WATERS ONCE AGAIN IN THE SAFE HARBOR: Bankruptcy Safe Harbor Protects Shareholders From State Constructive Fraud Claims
April 13, 2016 | Blog
Shareholders who received nearly $8 billion from the Tribune Company leveraged buyout (LBO) do not have to give back that money as a constructive fraudulent transfer.
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Oil, Gas and Mineral Companies Take Note: Agreements Purporting to “Run with the Land” may be Rejected in Bankruptcy
April 6, 2016 | Blog
A recent bankruptcy court decision from the influential Southern District of New York permitted a debtor to reject executory contracts with midstream gathers as an exercise of sound business judgment.
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You Can Lead a Horse to Water, But You Can’t Call it an Airplane: Supreme Court Oral Arguments Suggest Puerto Rico’s Recovery Act May Recover
March 24, 2016 | Blog | By William Kannel
A few thoughts on Tuesday’s oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in the litigation over whether Puerto Rico’s Public Corporations Debt Enforcement and Recovery Act, an insolvency statute for certain of its government instrumentalities, is void, as the lower federal courts held, under Section 903 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code:
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DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS’ ULTIMATE ESCAPE FROM PERSONAL LIABILITY
March 15, 2016 | Blog
In the Ultimate Escapes bankruptcy case, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware recently held that the “business judgment rule” may protect fiduciaries who negotiate and enter into unconventional financing agreements in an attempt to save the company. In short, a failed business strategy by itself does not lead to liability for breach of fiduciary duty.
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Draft Treasury Legislation Would Give Puerto Rico Access to “Super Chapter 9” and Chapter 9 Bankruptcy
February 25, 2016 | Blog | By Eric Blythe
A draft of the U.S. Treasury’s proposed debt restructuring legislation began circulating earlier today. The draft legislation would give Puerto Rico, as well as other U.S. territories, and their municipalities access to U.S. bankruptcy court under a new chapter of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code (so-called “Super Chapter 9”) as well as making Puerto Rico’s instrumentalities (but not Puerto Rico itself) potentially eligible to file for bankruptcy under existing Chapter 9.
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Mintz Receives M&A Advisor’s Restructuring Community Impact Award
February 23, 2016 | Blog | By Eric Blythe
Mintz was recently honored at the 10th Annual M&A Advisor Awards dinner with the Restructuring Community Impact Award in connection with the Acquisition of Assets of Alsip Acquisition, LLC by Paper Mill Acquisition LLC.
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Turning A Blind Eye Cost Lender Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars; Inquiry Notice Spoils Lender’s Good Faith Defense In Fraudulent Transfer Case
February 12, 2016 | Blog
Lending credence to the old adage “if it’s too good to be true, then it probably is,” the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that a secured lender was on inquiry notice of possible fraud by its borrower in impermissibly pledging customers’ assets to secure loans.
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Third Circuit Permits Chapter 11 Debtor to Reject Expired CBA
January 26, 2016 | Blog | By Eric Blythe
It is a familiar scenario: a company is on the verge of bankruptcy, bound by the terms of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA), and unable to negotiate a new agreement. However, this time, an analysis of this distressed scenario prompted a new question: does it matter if the CBA is already expired, i.e., does the Bankruptcy Code distinguish between a CBA that expires pre-petition versus one that has not lapsed?
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Insider Loans Equitably Subordinated
January 22, 2016 | Blog
In SGK Ventures, LLC, the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois ordered that the secured claims of two entities controlled by insiders of the debtor be equitably subordinated to the claims of unsecured creditors.
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Revel: To Stay or Not to Stay? Third Circuit Reveals the Answer (ABI Journal)
January 14, 2016 | Blog
Check out the recent American Bankruptcy Institute Journal cover article in which Rick Mikels and Adrienne Walker explore the circumstances under which a stay pending appeal is appropriate, with a particular focus on 363 sales, through an analysis of the Third Circuit’s decision in In re Revel AC Inc.
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Que Certa, Certa: Supreme Court’s Review of Puerto Rico Recovery Act May Hinder Creditor Negotiations
December 8, 2015 | Blog | By William Kannel, Eric Blythe
It is said that muddy water is best cleared by leaving it be. The Supreme Court’s December 4 decision to review the legality of Puerto Rico’s local bankruptcy law, the Recovery Act, despite a well-reasoned First Circuit Court of Appeals opinion affirming the U.S. District Court in San Juan’s decision voiding the Recovery Act on the grounds that it conflicts with Section 903 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, suggests, at a minimum, that at least four of the Justices deemed the questions raised too interesting to let the First Circuit have the last word.
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Piercing The Corporate Veil Takes More Than Just Fraud By The Individual
December 1, 2015 | Blog
Many of us have endured the nightmare of a disastrous home renovation or at least enjoyed Tom Hanks in The Money Pit (How long? Two weeks, of course). Well imagine spending half a million dollars, not for a new and improved home, but rather chasing your contractor for paid, but never completed, work.
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