Perusing recent opinions, we came upon a bankruptcy case in the First Circuit of some interest, In re: Palladino 17-1334.

On Friday, August 23, President Trump signed into law the “Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019.” The SBRA will take effect in February 2020 and, at long last, may provide some (although probably minimal) relief to businesses, large and small, from the threat of questionable and small dollar bankruptcy preference claims.

On December 3, the First Circuit (Judges Torruella, Thompson and Kayatta) heard another appeal emanating from the much-litigated federal Promesa legislation enacted in 2016 addressing Puerto Rico’s restructuring (i.e., essentially bankruptcy). A LOT of money is involved – Puerto Rico’s public debt exceeds $70 billion. So each side brought out big guns. You may have heard of two lawyers arguing in this matter: Ted Olson and Donald Verrilli. Here’s the argument.

On August 15, 2014, the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure published a preliminary draft of proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure and Official Forms. If adopted, several of the amendments will have a noticeable effect on mortgagees.