On Tuesday, March 22, 2016, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust and Acosta-Febo v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust, which address the constitutionality of Puerto Rico’s June 2014 Debt Enforcement and Recovery Act (the “Recovery Act”). The Recovery Act created a bankruptcy-like regime through which select Puerto Rican public corporations could restructure their debt obligations without unanimous creditor consent.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s widely reported recent settlement agreement with The Renco Group, Inc. illustrates the risks inherent in pursuing certain transactions where underfunded pensions are present. Among the highlighted risks is the potential for the joint and several liability provisions of federal pension law to enable the PBGC to reach for assets unrelated to a pension plan sponsor’s business, including personal assets of controlling persons, to satisfy underfunded pension claims.

With the return of acquirer stock as a featured form of consideration in many recent deals, dealmakers are once again focusing on “social” issues in striking a merger agreement.

In the latest turn in the fraudulent conveyance litigation arising out of the liquidation of Bernie Madoff’s securities firm, on March 14, 2016, Judge Bernstein of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York issued a decision on motions to dismiss the intentional fraudulent transfer claims, constructive fraudulent transfer claims, and state-law fraudulent transfer claims brought by Irving H. Picard, the trustee appointed for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, against defendants Legacy Capital Ltd and Khronos LLC. Picard v. Legacy Capital Ltd. (In re BLMIS), No.

On March 8, 2016, Judge Shelley C. Chapman of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the "Court") issued a bench decision (the "Decision"), granting Sabine Oil & Gas Corporation's ("Sabine") motion to reject four executory gathering agreements with pipeline operators in its chapter 11 bankruptcy case.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, among the most important courts in the country for securities suits, has recently held that there exists no per se duty to disclose regulatory investigations, or even Wells Notices, to shareholders under Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act or Rule 10b-5. As the court previously decided in Richman v.

In arguably its most focused attempt at tailoring a post-crisis rule yet, the Federal Reserve has re-proposed rules establishing single-counterparty credit limits for large bank holding companies and foreign banking organizations. The re-proposal draws from industry comments on the original 2011 and 2012 proposals, various quantitative analyses and impact studies, and further developments among international financial services regulators. Industry comments and quantitative analyses have led to some significant improvements from the banking industry’s perspective.

The US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has issued a ruling in a chapter 11 case that could have a significant impact on future restructurings in the oil and gas industry. Read more. (Subscription required.)

Recently, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), an inter-agency committee authorized to review transactions that could result in the control of a U.S. business by a foreign person in order to determine the effect of such transactions on the national security of the United States, released its unclassified Annual Report to Congress for the 2014 calendar year.

Cage-free, antibiotic-free, artificial-free. Sound familiar? Many of the world's biggest food companies announced major changes this year — in what they purchase and how they manufacture their food.