Advances in production technology have led to an unprecedented supply of natural gas in the United States, putting downward pressure on market prices. Both the Henry Hub cash price and the NYMEX price closed below $2.00/MMBtu at times in the past month and prices continue to hover in the $2.00 range.
Late the night of Nov. 25, LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc. and its subsidiary, LandAmerica 1031 Exchange Services, Inc., filed a Chapter 11 petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ("Bankruptcy Court"), seeking bankruptcy protection for both entities. The action does not cover Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company or Lawyers Title Insurance Company, two LandAmerica subsidiaries that are each domiciled in the State of Nebraska.
On December 29, 2011, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued an opinion in the chapter 11 bankruptcy case In re Nortel Networks, Inc., holding that the "automatic stay" on creditor collection actions outside the bankruptcy applied to prevent the UK Pension Protection Fund and the Trustee of the UK Nortel Pension Plan from participating in UK pensions proceedings initiated by the UK Pensions Regulator.
The US Court has approved a bankruptcy settlement under which a US-listed parent company is liable for the buy-out deficits in its UK subsidiary's pension schemes. Key to the court's considerations was the issue of Financial Support Directions (FSDs) by the UK Pensions Regulator against the US parent company.
The court decided that:
On January 6, 2012, Judge Thomas Bennett of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama (the "Court") issued a 57-page opinion in the chapter 9 bankruptcy case of Jefferson County, Alabama (the "County") on several critical jurisdictionally related issues raised by the state court appointed receiver of the County's sewer system, the indenture trustee for the special revenue warrants for the sewer system (the "Indenture Trustee") and certain other joining creditors.
On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ("Lehman Holdings") filed for Chapter 11 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Case No. 08-13555). None of Lehman Holdings’ U.S. subsidiaries have filed for bankruptcy at this point. In addition, while Lehman Holdings has certain subsidiaries that are regulated entities (e.g., banks, insurance companies, etc.), none of those entities has yet been placed into any kind of insolvency proceeding by the applicable regulators.
In our previous update dated 5 November 2020, we looked at when it is reasonable for insolvency practitioners to continue litigation. In this article, we explore the circumstances in which personal costs orders may be made against liquidators.
Key points
On November 15, 2011, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") and the U.S. Department of Treasury ("Treasury") issued final regulations under Section1 108(e)(8) and certain other Sections relating to the application of Section 108(e)(8) to partnerships (collectively, the "Final Regulations").
Bankruptcy practitioners and plan beneficiaries should take note of a little-known ERISA amendment that impacts bankruptcy cases filed on or after September 16, 2006. On June 30, 2008, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the "PBGC") released a proposed rule clarifying how Section 404 ("Section 404") of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (the "PPA") will be implemented. Section 404 amends Title IV of ERISA in certain key respects.
Judgment has now been handed down by Marcus Smith J in another important case regarding the Lehman estate. This gives much needed clarity on how subordinated debts rank as between themselves.
The judgment concerned: