In Lane v. Bank of New York Mellon (In re Lane), No. 18-60059, 2020 WL 2832270 (9th Cir. June 1, 2020), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit was asked to decide whether a bankruptcy court may void a lien under section 506(d) of the Bankruptcy Code when a claim relating to the lien is disallowed because the creditor who filed the proof of claim did not prove that it was the person entitled to enforce the debt the lien secures. Employing a narrow reading of section 506(d), the Ninth Circuit answered the question in the negative.
“My hospital filed bankruptcy - now what do I do?” This question frequently confronts affected medical providers when faced with the strange and often bewildering new world ushered-in by a hospital bankruptcy. A recent Washington Post article noted that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, “the health-care industry is suffering a historic collapse in business that is emerging as one of the most powerful forces hurting the U.S.
As businesses continue to feel the impact of COVID-19, many vendors and service providers should be aware what actions they should take if their customer files for bankruptcy. Here are several key concepts to know if you are a vendor or supplier:
One of the pleasures of life is re-encountering old friends, catching up on what’s happened while your lives have gone their separate ways, reminiscing about the good old days and reconnecting. It comes back so fast, it’s like you never were apart.
Me and the Liquidating Trust had just such an experience the other day.
In many bankruptcy cases, disappointing recoveries lead creditors to look for deep pockets as targets. This scrutiny is frequently directed at a bankrupt company’s directors and officers (D&Os or fiduciaries) in so-called D&O suits. These lawsuits are most often brought by bankruptcy trustees, creditors’ committees, liquidating trusts, and other bankruptcy estate representatives.
For the past several months, businesses across the country have grappled with the question of whether the pandemic and local “stay at home” or “shelter in place” orders aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 trigger force majeure clauses in their leases and other contracts. In one of the first cases to consider this question, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois held in In re Hitz Restaurant Group that a restaurant tenant was entitled to a rent reduction under its force majeure clause due to Illinois Gov. J.B.
In a recent bench ruling, the Delaware bankruptcy court denied a motion to dismiss a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, notwithstanding the fact that the filing contravened an express bankruptcy-filing blocking right, or “golden share,” held by certain preferred shareholders.
McKool Smith principal John Sparacino shared his expertise in bankruptcies filings with Business Insider’s article, “Some Cash-Strapped US Oil Companies Can't Even Afford Chapter 11 Bankruptcies. That Means They Have to Wait Things Out or Liquidate” In May, the oil price surged almost 90%; however, many upstream producers and oilfield-service companies are already in bad shape that they might not be able to afford Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.
The landlord argued that the force majeure clause did not apply at all for three primary reasons. The Bankruptcy Court rejected each of the landlord’s arguments.