Buried inside the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, which the President signed into law on December 27, 2020, is a critical provision that will help keep U.S. trade flowing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the bankruptcy relief section temporarily amends the U.S.

In the recently-passed Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the "Act"), Congress provided much-needed cover for landlords that enter into forbearance agreements with their tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic by protecting landlords from exposure to preference litigation arising out of the deferred rent payments if the tenant were to later file bankruptcy.

What is a preference?

On December 21, 2020, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA 2021). Similar to the March 2020 CARES Act, several temporary changes to the Bankruptcy Code are included in Title X of the CAA 2021. Below, we examine four of the CAA 2021’s most significant changes to consumer bankruptcy laws.

The United States Congress revived the age-old tradition of passing a lame-duck Christmas Tree appropriations bill to fund the government and provide a second wave of much-needed COVID-19 relief legislation.[1] The nearly 5,600-page bill, which President Trump signed into law on December 27, 2020, inclu

While many California homeowners have heard of the homestead exemption, few understand how this powerful tool can be used to ensure that homeowners stay in their homes, despite creditors, judgments, and even bankruptcies. Below, the experienced California bankruptcy attorneys at Talkov Law provide the tips and tricks to maximize your California homestead exemption.

In In re Palladino, 942 F.3d 55 (1st Cir. 2019), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit addressed whether a debtor receives “reasonably equivalent value” in exchange for paying his adult child’s college tuition. The Palladino court answered this question in the negative, thereby contributing to the growing circuit split regarding the avoidability of debtors’ college tuition payments for their adult children as constructively fraudulent transfers.

Background

The Federal Reserve recently announced that it’s Municipal Liquidity Facility (MLF) is taking applications from eligible issuers and will soon purchase notes at the following interest rates.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Eighth Circuit recently reversed a bankruptcy court’s disallowance of postpetition interest at the default contract rate, holding that “the bankruptcy court erred in applying a liquidated damages analysis and ruling the default interest rate was an unenforceable penalty,” and also erred in weighing “equitable considerations” to avoid enforcing the contractual default interest rate.

The current Coronavirus crisis is opening up opportunities for competitors as well as investors to purchase businesses in financial distress. While such businesses may be often acquired on advantageous terms, these transactions can also entail various significant legal risks. 

As businesses experience diminishing revenues, falling stock prices, and other economic hardships resulting from Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), some economists project the possibility of an unprecedented number of business bankruptcies. Some of these businesses own brands, and some have entered into relationships, most commonly trademark licenses, under which they allow others to use their brands. What happens to a trademark license when a brand owner becomes insolvent, particularly in the context of a reorganization under Chapter 11?