Bellflower Funding, LLC and Wall 123, LLC, two affiliates of the Woodbridge Group of Companies, LLC, have filed petitions for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case Nos. 18-10507 & 18-10508).

Orexigen Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of obesity based in La Jolla, CA, has filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 18-10518). According to the Petition, as of November 30, 2017, Orexigen had $265.1 million in assets and $226.4 million in liabilities.

Date

6/22/2017

Action

Testimony of Keith Noreika, Acting Comptroller of the Currency, before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Key Provisions

The Comptroller made a series of recommendations for regulatory reforms directed at promoting economic growth and reducing regulatory burden. He stated that the OCC’s recommendations are consistent with the Treasury Report.

Key recommendations include:

Would Handle Liquidation of Failing Financial Firms and Limit the Use of Orderly Liquidation Funds as Established in the Dodd-Frank Act

On March 5, 2018, the Federal Maritime Commission voted to launch an investigation into the detention, demurrage, and per diem charges of vessel operating common carriers and marine terminal operators. The investigation will be headed by Commissioner Rebecca Dye, who will have broad authority to issue subpoenas, hold public and non-public inquiries, and require reports.

The key issues Commissioner Dye will investigate are:

In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court in Merit Management Group, LP v. FTI Consulting, Inc., 2018 WL 1054879 (Feb. 27, 2018) has made it easier for bankruptcy trustees to claw back money received as part of certain transactions, while emphasizing that bankruptcy law still protects the financial institutions that facilitate those transactions. The transfers at issue in Merit Management were not a debtor’s ordinary loan payments to a lender.

On March 1, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) released Mortgagee Letter ML 2018-02 (ML 2018-02), which extends the 180-day foreclosure moratorium on FHA-insured properties in Puerto Rico & the U.S. Virgin Islands affected by Hurricane Maria for an additional 60-days. The foreclosure moratorium is now in effect until May 18.

On March 5, 2018 the United State Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision in U.S. Bank NA v. The Village at Lakeridge, LLC, 583 U.S. ___ (2018), answering the narrow question of what is the proper standard of review for appellate courts in reviewing a bankruptcy court’s determination of non-statutory insider status.

In another decision affecting Chapter 11 cases, U.S. Bank National Association v. Village at Lakeridge, --- S. Ct. ---, 2018 WL 1143822 (2018), on March 5, 2018, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision, authored by Justice Kagan, affirming the Ninth Circuit’s decision to review the Bankruptcy Court’s determination of a mixed question of fact and law for clear error, rather than de novo.

The Walking Company Holdings, a Santa Barbara, CA-based designer, manufacturer and retailer of comfort footwear and casual apparel, has, along with its wholly owned subsidiaries The Walking Company, Big Dog USA, Inc. and FootSmart, Inc., filed