The Bankruptcy Protector

The war in Ukraine is now in its fourth month with no visible end in sight to the hostilities and little prospect that the disruptive global economic impacts of the war will dissipate anytime soon. On the contrary, a new $40 billion weapons and aid package to Ukraine by the United States, coupled with 20 other nations pledging further security assistance for Ukraine, and Sweden and Finland applying to join NATO have further ratcheted up tensions between Russia and the Western Alliance nations.

A confession of judgment clause may allow a creditor to seek a judgment immediately against the debtor if the debtor fails to pay an obligation. Confession-of-judgment clauses, by which a debtor waives most rights to contest a debt, often appear in contracts, promissory notes, guaranties and other agreements. Signing a confession-of-judgment clause may help a debtor get credit not otherwise available. But although the confession-of-judgment clause is designed to streamline collections, enforcing one is not always simple or easy.

It seems like a small thing: Chapter 11 debtors in two states paying lower quarterly fees than Chapter 11 debtors in the other 48 states.

What’s the big deal?

Alabama and North Carolina throw a political hissy fit, three or four decades ago. They want their own Bankruptcy Administrator system (not the U.S. Trustee system established everywhere else). And they are rewarded. The reward includes lower quarterly fees.

Where’s the harm in lower quarterly fees? What follows is an attempt to:

Stimwave Technologies Inc., a Pompano Beach, Fla.-based medical device manufacturer and provider of permanently implanted neurostimulation products for chronic pain, filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 22-10541).

A Texas judge rejected a request by one of Brazos Electric Power Cooperative’s (Brazos) creditors to arbitrate a contract dispute with Brazos over a shared coal plant, citing concerns that the arbitration could delay the bankruptcy case. Brazos is currently in a bankruptcy proceeding stemming from the historic 2021 Texas winter storm.

The Fifth Circuit recently weighed in on the hotly contested issue of whether the Federal Energy and Regulatory Commission (FERC) or the bankruptcy court has controlling jurisdiction when it comes to the question of a bankruptcy debtor’s ability to reject contracts regulated by FERC. FERC-regulated contracts include electricity power purchase contracts, as well as transportation services agreements involving oil and gas.

“The Congress shall have Power To . . . establish . . . uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States.”

–U.S. Constitution’s Bankruptcy Clause (Art. 1, Sec. 8, cl. 4).

An Old Losing Streak—Article III

On June 6, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Siegel v. Fitzgerald, in which the Court held that the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017, Pub. L. 115-72, Div. B, 131 Stat. 1229 (the “2017 Act”) was unconstitutional.

As we’ve previously reported, on February 19, 2020, Congress enacted the Small Business Reorganization Act (“SBRA”) to, among other things, streamline the chapter 11 bankruptcy process for small businesses. Under the SBRA, a “small business” was one with less than $2,725,625.00 in debt. Few businesses, however, were eligible to take advantage of these new provisions because their debts exceeded the cap.