On November 6, 2023, WeWork Inc. and several hundred of its affiliates filed voluntary chapter 11 cases in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. According to a press release issued simultaneously with the filings, WeWork also intends to file recognition proceedings in Canada under Part IV of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. The press release also states that WeWork’s locations outside of the United States and Canada are not part of the reorganization process.

They say every man needs protection, they say that every man must fall.¹

What’s an ABC? If you ask ChatGPT, “ABC” is an acronym that can have multiple meanings, depending on the context—for example, referring to the alphabet. But here we are talking about a type of business liquidation process in the United States known as an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (“ABC”). An ABC is governed by state law and has long been viewed as an alternative to a liquidation under Chapter 7 of the US Bankruptcy Code.

In a recent opinion arising from the Chapter 11 proceedings of Arcapita Bank, Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York affirmed a bankruptcy court decision denying safe-harbor protection to Shari’a-compliant Murabaha investment agreements.¹ Specifically, the district court held that the Murabaha agreemen

In a recent decision, Judge David Novak of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia vacated the Chapter 11 plan confirmation order entered by the bankruptcy court in the Mahwah Bergen Retail Group (formerly known as Ascena Retail Group) case, holding that the plan’s non-consensual third-party releases were unenforceable.¹ The ruling arrived shortly after an

In a December 16, 2021, decision,¹ Judge Colleen McMahon of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York reversed the bankruptcy court order confirming the Chapter 11 plan of Purdue Pharma, L.P.

On May 5, 2020, Judge Mary Walrath of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware delivered a bench ruling that denied a minority shareholder’s motion to dismiss the Chapter 11 cases of Pace Industries and certain of its affiliates on the grounds that the shareholder’s contractual right to block a bankruptcy filing under the debtor’s certificate of incorporation was contrary to public policy.

On remand from the Fifth Circuit, in its October 26, 2020, decision in In re Ultra Petroleum Corp.,¹ the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled that (1) make-whole premiums are allowed by the Bankruptcy Code under appropriate circumstances and (2) a solvent debtor must pay pos

On November 26, 2019, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in Ultra Petroleum Corp. v.

In recent weeks, the dispute in Windstream’s bankruptcy between Windstream and its REIT spinoff Uniti Group over the lease transaction that ultimately led to Windstream’s chapter 11 bankruptcy has continued to escalate with Windstream filing an adversary complaint against Uniti. In its complaint, Windstream seeks to recharacterize the lease as a disguised financing alleging that the lease resulted in a long-term transfer of billions of dollars to Uniti to the detriment of Windstream’s creditors.