Recent Developments
Global—On 10 January 2014, the US Supreme Court agreed to resolve a court split over the scope of discovery orders aimed at enforcing judgments against foreign states. In Argentina v. NML Capital, Ltd., No. 12-842, 2014 BL 7274 (Jan. 10, 2014), the Supreme Court granted a petition for a writ of certiorari to hear an appeal stemming from Argentina's default on its government debt in 2001. Argentina restructured its defaulted debt in 2005 and 2010.
Section 552(b)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code provides that if a creditor prior to bankruptcy obtained a security interest in rents paid to the debtor, that security interest extends to postpetition rents to the extent provided in the security agreement. Courts have disagreed, however, on the question of whether the debtor must provide adequate protection with respect to such postpetition rents. The resolution of this issue typically determines whether the debtor may use a portion of the postpetition rents that it receives to fund the administrative costs of its bankruptcy.
Recent Developments
Affirming the bankruptcy and district courts below, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, in In re Federal-Mogul Global Inc., 684 F.3d 355 (3d Cir. 2012), held that a debtor could assign insurance policies to an asbestos trust established under section 524(g) of the Bankruptcy Code, notwithstanding anti-assignment provisions in the policies and applicable state law.
Asbestos Trusts in Bankruptcy
In Industrial Enterprises of America v. Burtis (In re Pitt Penn Holding Co., Inc.), 2012 WL 204095 (Bankr. D. Del. Jan.
A significant consideration in a prospective chapter 11 debtor’s strategic prebankruptcy planning is the most favorable venue for the bankruptcy filing.
U.S. federal courts have frequently been referred to as the “guardians of the Constitution.” Under Article III of the Constitution, federal judges are appointed for life by the U.S. president with the approval of the Senate. They can be removed from office only through impeachment and conviction by Congress. The first bill considered by the U.S. Senate—the Judiciary Act of 1789—divided the U.S. into what eventually became 12 judicial “circuits.” In addition, the court system is divided geographically into 94 “districts” throughout the U.S.
As attention shifts from the global financial crisis of 2008–2009 to the global sovereign crisis that currently is affecting much of Europe, lawmakers are scrambling to create new laws and regulations designed to stave off the next financial crisis.[1] Meanwhile, a different threat quietly has been growing in America's states, cities, towns, municipalities, and other political subdivisions.