On Wednesday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals put a nail in the coffin of the attempt by Thelen LLP’s bankruptcy trustee to claw back fees on work that the firm’s former partners took with them to their new firm, Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Here’s the opinion.
Donald Rumsfeld might sum up a recent decision by Judge Isgur out of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas as follows: “We also know there are known unknowns; that it to say we know there are some things we do not know.
Originally appeared in the August 2014 issue of The Bankruptcy Strategist.
Dishi & Sons v. Bay Condos LLC, 510 B.R. 696 (S.D.N.Y. 2014) –
In approving the sale of a Chapter 11 debtor’s assets, a bankruptcy court found that a tenant of the debtor was entitled to continue in possession of the leased portion of the sold property for the remainder of its lease. The successful bidder at the sale appealed, arguing that the sale was “free and clear” of the tenant’s interests.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, on July 30, 2014, affirmed a district court’s dismissal of a litigation trustee’s $2.5-billion fraudulent transfer suit against the Chapter 11 debtor’s corporate parent based on the debtor’s solvency. U.S. Bank Nat’l Ass’n v. Verizon Communications, Inc., 2014 WL 3746476 (5th Cir. July 30, 2014). The district court, using a market capitalization valuation, found the debtor to be solvent when it closed a major transaction with its parent.
Ormet, a Delaware corporation, recently went bankrupt and shuttered its facilities in Ohio and Louisiana. As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, Ormet agreed to sell its Ohio plant for $25 million. The Steelworkers Pension Trust, the union representing Ormet’s employees, tried to delay the closing on the theory that the deal approved by the judge improperly extinguished the Trust’s $5.5 million pension claim and that the Section 363 sale violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act or the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act. The Trust lost.
August is that hot, humid time of the year when many professionals in the concrete jungles across this country decide to quietly slip away to more scenic locales (if you don’t believe us, try calling up your stockbroker right now… go ahead, we’ll wait). Unfortunately, fellow bankruptcy practitioner, the law waits for no one.
Rounding out the festivities in Washington, D.C., OFCCP Director Pat Shiu addressed attendees on the closing morning of the 32nd Annual ILG National conference. Keeping to the conference theme of “Learning from the Legacy, Focusing on the Future,” Director Shiu’s remarks centered around the “unfinished business of America” to address issues
Before Ruth Heffron passed away in 2001, she named her daughter, Heidi Heffron-Clark, as the beneficiary of her individual retirement account (“IRA”). What seemed like a simple part of Ruth’s estate planning resulted in a U.S. Supreme Court decision that would cause many to reconsider how to address IRA beneficiary designations for creditor protection purposes.
In bankruptcy proceedings involving the US retailer Crumbs Bake Shop Inc (Crumbs), the US trustee has opposed the sale of Crumbs’ customer lists on the basis that this would violate Crumbs’ privacy policy. The privacy policy allows personal data held by Crumbs to be transferred only where this is required by government authorities, needed to provide services or following customer consent.