As predicted at the Commercial Finance Association’s Fourth Annual Energy Summit on September 16th, we should start seeing more and more oil & gas companies struggle to survive in the wake of continued low commodity pricing. While we witnessed some rebound in pricing towards the end of the summer, the price of oil again dipped to under $50 a barrel in September and the price of gas continues near historic lows, at just under $3.00 MMBtu. As Philip Cook, the Chief Financ
Lumbermens Mutual Group, formerly known as Kemper Insurance Company (or just as Kemper), is comprised of Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company, American Motorists Insurance Company, and American Manufacturers Mutual Insurance Company. These Kemper Entities sold property and casualty insurance policies throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, covering (among other things) liabilities arising from long-tail, toxic tort claims such as asbestos and environmental exposures. They are now in insolvency proceedings and important deadlines for perfecting claims against them are fast approaching.
On October 7, 2015, Taylor-Wharton International LLC and Taylor-Wharton Cryogenics LLC filed a Chapter 11 petition seeking protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The case is docketed as case no. 15-12075, and has been assigned to The Honorable Brendan L. Shannon.
An insolvent corporate subsidiary’s payment of its parent’s contractual obligations was not a fraudulent transfer when “the [subsidiary] Debtor received reasonably equivalent value in exchange for [its cash] transfers,” held the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Sept. 4, 2015. In re PSN USA, Inc., 2015 WL 5167803, at *7 (11th Cir. Sept. 4, 2015) (per curiam).
On Sept. 30, a district court resolved a significant portion of outstanding litigation in the bankruptcy proceeding of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and its subsidiaries.See Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (In re Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc.), No. 1:11-cv-06760 (S.D.N.Y. Sept., 30, 2015). This litigation flows from the debtors’ allegations that JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JPMC) coerced billions of dollars from Lehman on the eve of its bankruptcy filings in September 2008. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Technology companies can preserve both significant sums of money and valuable intellectual property rights if they take action when a customer or business partner files for bankruptcy protection. Far less effort is usually required to preserve these rights than what may be involved in a major piece of litigation; but, in almost every case, the company must take timely steps to ensure that its interests are protected.
In American Federated Title Corp. v. GFI Management Services, Inc., the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Is a debtor required to pay default rate interest when it reinstates a loan under a plan of reorganization? According to a recent Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision, In re Sagamore Partners, Ltd., 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 15382 (Aug. 31, 2015), the answer depends upon the underlying loan documents and applicable non-bankruptcy law.
On June 1, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Bank of America, N.A. v. Caulkett, 135 S. Ct. 1995 (2015) in a unanimous opinion—except for a footnote—authored by Justice Thomas, and determined that a chapter 7 debtor may not void a junior lien under § 506(d) of the Bankruptcy Code even when the debt owed on the senior lien exceeds the present value of the property.
Restructurings are all about alternatives. It is one thing for a creditor to hold an instrument that entitles it to payment of $X on Y date. But if the debtor does not have the cash to satisfy the obligation when due, some type of restructuring must occur.