Lavie v. Ran, 406 B.R. 277 (S.D. Tex. 2009)
Date:
Mon, 03/30/2009 (All day)
Foreign proceeding:
Israeli involuntary personal bankruptcy.
Summary:
District Court affirmed Bankruptcy Court order denying recognition of a foreign proceeding under Chapter 15 where individual debtor, who was the subject of an involuntary bankruptcy in Israel, was living in the U.S. at the time the Chapter 15 petition was filed. The Court concluded that the debtor was not the subject of a foreign main or nonmain proceeding and accordingly, the foreign representative – the trustee of the debtor’s Israeli bankruptcy case – was ineligible for Chapter 15 relief.
Key Issues:
- 11 U.S.C. § 1501 – purpose of Chapter 15
- 11 U.S.C. § 1508 - interpretation; international origin
- 11 U.S.C. §§ 1502, 1517(b) – what constitutes a foreign main or nonmain proceeding
- COMI – “center of main interests”
- 11 U.S.C. § 1516(c) – rebuttable presumption
Circuit:
5