On April 23, 2019, Judge Cote of the District Court for the SDNY, issued an opinion in In re Tribune Company Fraudulent Conveyance Litigation,[i] finding that the Tribune Company, which employed Computershare Trust Company (“CTC”) to handle payments made to shareholders as part of its leverage buyout (“LBO”), would be considered a “financial institution” as defined in

On March 26, 2019, the First Circuit Court of Appeals, affirming a decision by the District Court emanating out of the Puerto Rico Title III bankruptcy cases, found that Sections 928(a) and 922(d) of the Bankruptcy Code “permit, but do not require, continued payment during the pendency of the bankruptcy proceedings.”[i] The First Circuit found that these provisions pr

On February 14, 2019, Judge Lane of the Bankruptcy Court for the SDNY issued an opinion in Republic Airways Holdings Inc. addressing whether the liquidated damages provisions in certain aircraft “true leases” under Article 2A of the New York UCC were enforceable and, if not, whether they would still be enforceable against the debtor-guarantor of the leases.

Background: Grupo OAS, a Brazilian construction conglomerate linked to a massive corruption scandal (“OAS”), filed for Chapter 15 creditor protection in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on April 15, 2015, two weeks after entering bankruptcy in Brazil. If “recognized” by Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein, the Chapter 15 petition would, among other things, essentially bind OAS creditors in the United States to the restructuring terms approved by the Brazilian court overseeing OAS’s reorganization.