Last month the Delaware Chancery Court sent a clear message to Delaware companies that failure to strictly comply with the Delaware Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (“ABC”) statute will result in severe consequences, including dismissal.

Last November we wrote about the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Highland Capital Management, L.P., where the court reversed the bankruptcy court’s approval of a plan’s exculpation clause for non-debtors and limited the universe of parties covered by that provision. Relying on Bank of New York Trust Co., NA v. Official Unsecured Creditors’ Comm.

The recent decision in Re Astora Women’s Health LLC illustrates the importance of cross-border recognition of insolvency processes, highlighting the benefits of a joined-up global approach which recognises that modern business do not stop for international borders.

With Astora hot off the presses and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the UNCITRAL Model Law on the horizon the team at SPB have taken stock of the cross-border recognition framework from the perspective of the UK and the US.

Astora

While the Judge-made doctrine of equitable mootness continues to beguile and often stymie parties-in-interest seeking to appeal an order confirming a chapter 11 plan (as well as other orders which are on appeal prior to confirmation of a plan), appellants in the Fifth Circuit can continue to rest assured that the doctrine will be applied only as a “scalpel rather than an axe.” That is because in the Fifth Circuit, the doctrine—which can be described as a form of appellate abstention—is applied only on a claim-by-claim, instead of appeal-by-appeal basis.

Filing an involuntary bankruptcy petition is fraught with risk. If the court dismisses the involuntary petition, the creditors who filed the petition (referred to as the petitioning creditors) may be liable for damages caused by the filing and even punitive damages. A recent opinion from the District Court for the District of Nevada in State of Montana Department of Revenue v.

A recent opinion by the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware underscores how important it is for creditors to file complete and well-reasoned proofs of claim. The opinion also highlights the problems creditors may encounter if they have to amend their claims.

In an opinion by Judge Roth issued on March 30, 2017, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that two suppliers who had sold electrical materials to a bankrupt contractor had violated the automatic stay by asserting a construction lien against the owner of the development where the contractor had installed the materials supplied.