Yesterday, the Georgia Department of Banking & Finance closed American United Bank, headquartered in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and the FDIC was named as receiver.

It seems safe to assume that no lender would extend high-dollar credit without first having a deep knowledge of the party accepting the funds. Certainly, such deep knowledge would include the precise legal name of that borrower. Nevertheless, recent cases continue to demonstrate the prevalence of filing UCC-1 financing statements that may be deemed “seriously misleading” as to the name of the debtor and, therefore, ineffective to fix the secured creditor’s place in the chain of priority.

Today, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law held a hearing to discuss the role of bankruptcy and antitrust law in financial regulatory reform, particularly with respect to institutions that may be regarded as “too big to fail,” as highlighted during the financial crisis.

Testifying before the Subcommittee were the following witnesses:

Panel I

On October 13, 2009, a Florida bankruptcy judge in the TOUSA, Inc.

The October 15, 2009 decision of the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in In re Pillowtex opens the door for creditors in the Third Circuit to increase their "new value" preference defense under the "subsequent advance" approach.In re Pillowtex, No. 03-12339 (Bankr. D. Del. filed Oct. 15, 2009).

A trustee’s power to avoid preference payments is circumscribed by the statutory defenses set forth in section 547(c) of the Bankruptcy Code. The "subsequent new value" defense set forth in section 547(c)(4) has three well-established elements:

The following is a list of some recent larger U.S. bankruptcy filings in various industries. To the extent you are a creditor to any of these debtors, or other entities which may have filed for bankruptcy protection, you as a creditor are entitled to certain protections under the Bankruptcy Code.  

AUTOMOTIVE

Accuride Corp., an Evansville, Ind.-based maker of medium- and heavy-duty steel and aluminum wheels may file for bankruptcy under a prearranged agreement with bondholders and senior lenders.  

Yesterday, the California Department of Financial Institutions closed San Joaquin Bank, headquartered in Bakersfield, California, and the FDIC was named as receiver.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved debtor Magna Entertainment Corp.’s proposed bidding procedures for the sale of Maryland’s Pimlico Race Course, home to the Preakness Stakes, and Laurel Park race course over the objections from former owners and state authorities. The former owners, together with Baltimore’s mayor and city council and the state of Maryland, objected to the expedited time frame, arguing that the debtor failed to provide parties in interest with sufficient time to respond to the proposed procedures.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has granted debtors Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s request to pursue a plan for developer SunCal Co., which is subject to a pending bankruptcy case in the Central District of California. Prior to LBHI’s bankruptcy filing, the debtors had provided SunCal with funding in an amount of approximately $2.2 billion. In January, SunCal commenced an adversary proceeding in its own bankruptcy case seeking to have LBHI’s claims subordinated. SunCal opposes LBHI’s filing a plan and has put forth its own plan in the case.

When the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency placed the $1.9 billion asset-sized ANB Financial, National Association in receivership with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on May 9, 2008, it was one of the largest bank insolvencies in recent years. In a matter of days, plaintiffs’ attorneys were actively seeking future clients. Attorneys ran newspaper advertisements soliciting former employees, depositors and shareholders of the failed Bentonville, Arkansas bank and its holding company.