Unable to reach a last-minute deal with investors, rental car mainstay Hertz filed for bankruptcy late Friday night, doing so “without a clear plan with creditors in place—a rare move for a company of its size.” Though, like the other big-name bankruptcies in recent weeks, the pandemic pushed the company over the edge, Hertz has been in pretty miserable shape for years, beset by “a series of strategic missteps and other blunders that kept Hertz behind competitors and buried in debt” –
The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Mexico recently held that a federal credit union chartered under the Federal Credit Union Act, 12 U.S.C. §§ 1752, et seq., constitutes an “instrumentality of the United States” included in the definition of a “governmental unit” under the United States Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. §§ 101, et seq. (“Bankruptcy Code”), qualifying federal credit unions for the longer 180-day deadline to file bankruptcy claims. In re Marquez, Case No. 19-10284-j7 (Bankr. D. N.M. Sept. 30, 2020).
In the best of times, a chapter 11 reorganization is an uncertain and stressful process for all involved. When the disruptive effects of COVID-19 are added to the mix, and many businesses face significant economic difficulties, one can begin to appreciate the daunting task facing bankruptcy courts, debtors, creditors, and their lawyers.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), one of the largest bills ever passed by Congress, was signed into law on December 27, 2020.
A recent decision of the New York Court of Appeals, Sutton v. Pilevsky held that federal bankruptcy law does not preempt state law tortious interference claims against non-debtors who participated in a scheme that caused a debtor—in this case a bankruptcy remote special purpose entity—to breach contractual obligations intended to ensure that the entity remains a Special Purpose Entity (SPE) and to facilitate the lenders’ enforcement of remedies upon a future bankruptcy filing, if any.
Introduction
The holidays came early for the United States Trustee (the “U.S. Trustee”) on November, 3, 2020, when a three-judge panel of the United States Circuit Court for the Fifth Circuit, on direct appeal, reversed the bankruptcy court and upheld the constitutionality of a 2017 increase to quarterly fees payable to the U.S. Trustee in Hobbs v. Buffets LLC (In re Buffets LLC), No. 19-50765, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 34866 (5th Cir. Nov. 3, 2020). Although the Fifth Circuit’s opinion addresses a variety of constitutional challenges to the recent increase to U.S.
A recent decision of the New York Court of Appeals, Sutton v. Pilevsky held that federal bankruptcy law does not preempt state law tortious interference claims against non-debtors who participated in a scheme that caused a debtor—in this case a bankruptcy remote special purpose entity—to breach contractual obligations intended to ensure that the entity remains a Special Purpose Entity (SPE) and to facilitate the lenders’ enforcement of remedies upon a future bankruptcy filing, if any.
Key Notes: