As the brick and mortar retail industry continues to decline, landlords are likely to engage in an increasing number of lease disputes with delinquent tenants. As we have seen over the past five years, those disputes often end up in bankruptcy court and may drag on for months before a landlord is able to shake its non-performing tenant. But what if the landlord terminated the lease before the tenant filed for bankruptcy relief? Can the tenant revive and assume the lease? In some instances, yes.
In the newest episode of our energy law podcast, the head of KRCL’s Distressed Strategies Practice Group, Michael Ridulfo, discusses some of the bankruptcy pitfalls facing even the healthiest of companies operating in the upstream and midstream segments.
Click here to listen to the podcast.
Late last week, the United States Supreme Court said that it erred when it granted certiorari to resolve a bankruptcy dispute over whether state or federal law should apply to the recharacterization of debt. In In re Province Grande Olde Liberty, LLC, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the judgment of the bankruptcy court and district court, both of which had relied on the Bankruptcy Code to recharacterize a debt from a secured claim to a capital investment. The high Court took the matter up in June presumably to address the current circuit split on the issue.
The United States Supreme Court will soon decide whether state or federal law will apply to the recharacterization of debt. On June 27, 2017, the Court granted certiorari in In re Province Grande Olde Liberty, LLC, a decision out of the Fourth Circuit.
In a bout of déjà vu, the Supreme Court decided to hear California Public Employees’ Retirement System v. ANZ Securities, Inc., et al. to settle the issue of whether the Securities Act of 1933’s (the “Securities Act”) three-year statute of repose is subject to tolling.[1] On June 26, 2017, the Supreme Court made the following noteworthy and defendant-friendly holdings:
Lots of people and companies buy old debt—for example, hedge funds, private equity firms, and even some commercial bank affiliates. Typically, this is debt that the original creditor has charged off and sold for a fraction of the legal balance. In some cases, the debt has grown so old that a statute of limitations makes it technically unenforceable. But that doesn’t always stop the debt buyer from attempting collection.
The recent Fifth Circuit decision in Janvey v. The Golf Channel, Inc. ("Golf Channel") reminds us again that sometimes, despite our best efforts, bad things happen to good people. In that case, the Golf Channel learned a painful lesson arising out of its innocent involvement with Stanford International Bank, Ltd.
How would you like to be paid only for work which, in hindsight, unquestionably resulted in a material benefit to your employer? That unsuccessful sales call? Freebie. That account you spent hours trying to collect, but ultimately had to write off? That’s on your time. Thanks. Well, bankruptcy lawyers wouldn’t like that compensation arrangement any more than you. And on April 9, 2015, the Fifth Circuit issued an important opinion in Woerner v.
A. Where We Left Off
The Supreme Court is currently considering the case of Wellness International Network, Ltd. v. Shariff.