After almost eighth months of dealing with the severe economic impact of COVID-19, it is not surprising that more and more businesses are turning to bankruptcy for relief. Commercial filings continue to rise as many government-backed programs expire and the lasting effects of COVID-19 take hold. For many corporate counsel, interactions with bankruptcy may be limited, but how you respond to a vendor, supplier, or customer bankruptcy after a filing can have a significant impact on your company’s ability to mitigate its losses and avoid liability.
In the latest saga concerning “covenants running with the land” and the rejection of midstream gathering agreements under section 365 of the Bankruptcy Code (the Code), the Honorable Christopher Sontchi, Chief Judge of the Delaware Bankruptcy Court (the Court), issued three1 decisions holding that certain of Extraction Oil & Gas, Inc.’s (Extraction) gathering agreements with its midstream service providers did not create real property interests and, thus, that Extraction could reject such gathering agreements in its chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
In December of last year, we wrote about the Fifth Circuit’s two decisions – Ultra I, from January 2019, and Ultra II, from December, which replaced Ultra I – regarding make-whole claims in the Ultra Petroleum bankruptcy cases. That blog post provides important background for this one. You can find it here.
Introduction
The financial distress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has left many companies reeling. With no clear end in sight, the bad news is that some businesses will be forced to pursue options for winding down or reorganizing. The good news is, there are options.
In a victory for minority noteholders opposing an out-of-court restructuring of their distressed issuer, New York's highest court ruled last week that a holder's right to receive or sue for payment on its notes survived an exercise of statutory remedies by the trustee, conducted at the direction of a noteholder majority, that would have cancelled the holder's notes without its consent and replaced them with equity securities.
There are several ways in which property owners can advantageously use the Bankruptcy Code to effectuate strategic dispositions of assets. But the bankruptcy process can be fraught with uncertainty that can upend the best laid plans. The matter of In re Wansdown Properties Corp. N.V., No. 19-13223 (SMB), 2020 WL 5887542 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Oct. 5, 2020) provides an instructive and cautionary example.
As predicted in Holland & Knight's Energy and Natural Resources Blog post on March 16, 2020, "Midstream Providers Can Prepare for the Next Wave of Restructurings," the dual impact of a COVID-19 demand slump and market pricing pressures would lead to a host of bankruptcy filings by exploration and production (E&P) companies.
In an important affirmation of the rights and duties of a creditors’ committee, Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Mexico has confirmed that a bankruptcy court may confer derivative standing on a committee to assert estate claims if a debtor in possession declines to assert them.[1]