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Will We Have New Rules for Corporate Bankruptcies? Recently Proposed Legislation That Could Reform Chapter 11 Practice

Overview

USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, US Congress
No Setoff Here: Third Circuit Resolves Triangular Setoff Debate Once and for All

Introduction

USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP
Delaware Bankruptcy Court Weighs in: Debtors Are Not Excluded From Bankruptcy Code’s Definition of “Financial Participant” and Safe Harbor

Introduction

USA, Delaware, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP
Third Circuit Ruling on Constitutional Authority of Bankruptcy Courts Can Provide Guidance for the Looming Wave of COVID-19 Cases

The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic will leave in its wake a significant increase in commercial chapter 11 filings. Many of these cases will feature extensive litigation involving breach of contract claims, business interruption insurance disputes, and common law causes of action based on novel interpretations of long-standing legal doctrines such as force majeure.

USA, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, Medicare, Medicaid, Bankruptcy, Fraud, Force majeure, Coronavirus, Supreme Court of the United States
syncreon’s Financial Restructuring Implemented by Landmark English Schemes of Arrangement with Parallel Chapter 15 and CCAA Recognition

syncreon Group Holdings B.V. (the “Company” and together with its subsidiaries, “syncreon”) completed its landmark financial restructuring today. As has been widely reported, syncreon’s reorganization is perhaps the first-ever use of an English scheme to restructure debt issued by a U.S.-based global enterprise. This also appears to be the first time that CCAA recognition of an English scheme has been granted.

The Restructuring

USA, Company & Commercial, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP
PG&E Bankruptcy Judge to FERC: What Part of “Exclusive” Jurisdiction Do You Not Understand?

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali recently ruled in the Chapter 11 case of Pacific Gas & Electric (“PG&E”) that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) has no jurisdiction to interfere with the ability of a bankrupt power utility company to reject power purchase agreements (“PPAs”).

USA, Banking, Energy & Natural Resources, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, Debtor, FERC
Mission Products v Tempnology - Supreme Court Declines to “Vaporize” Licensee’s Rights Under Rejected Trademark License Agreement

The Supreme Court this week resolved a long-standing open issue regarding the treatment of trademark license rights in bankruptcy proceedings. The Court ruled in favor of Mission Products, a licensee under a trademark license agreement that had been rejected in the chapter 11 case of Tempnology, the debtor-licensor, determining that the rejection constituted a breach of the agreement but did not rescind it.

USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Trademarks, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, Debtor, Fourth Circuit
The Devil’s Triang(ular Setoff) - Delaware Judge Rejects Corporate Parent’s Attempt to Set Off Debt Owed to Subsidiary

Few issues in bankruptcy create as much contention as disputes regarding the right of setoff. This was recently highlighted by a decision in the chapter 11 case of Orexigen Therapeutics in the District of Delaware.

USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Real Estate, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP
Square Peg / Round Hole - The Supreme Court and the Constitutional Authority of U.S. Bankruptcy Courts

The judicial power of the United States is vested in courts created under Article III of the Constitution. However, Congress created the current bankruptcy court system over 40 years ago pursuant to Article I of the Constitution rather than under Article III.

USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Patents, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, Bankruptcy
A Check is Transferred When It’s Honored, Not Delivered

Readers familiar with contract law undoubtedly know the “mailbox rule,” that an offer is accepted the moment a document goes in the mail.1 The United States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit (the “BAP”) recently dealt with its own variant of the mailbox rule: does the issuance of a check constitute a transfer of estate assets on the date the check is delivered or on the date it is honored?

USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, Ninth Circuit, Bankruptcy Appellate Panel