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This latest installment of our ongoing coverage of the Report of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11 discusses the Commission’s proposals regarding plan content, voting, confirmation issues, and exit orders (Report sections VI.E, F, and G). The recommendations are geared toward creating greater efficiencies in the plan process by reducing what the Commissioners view as opportunities for litigation and gamesmanship, and clarifying the permissibility of certain plan provisions and orders that have divided courts.

Providing proper notice to existing and potential creditors is an important consideration for debtors’ counsel. A seminal Supreme Court decision established that due process for “unknown” claimants is generally satisfied by publication notice, so long as it is reasonably calculated to reach such creditors under the circumstances.

Those of us old enough to remember the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (or NAFTA) recall its promise of free movement of goods, services, persons, and capital between Canada, the United States, and Mexico, and greater economic prosperity in each of these countries.

This is the second of two posts on Saracheck v. Crown Heights House of Glatt, Inc., a recent decision from the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Iowa regarding an avoidance action against food distributor, Crown Heights House of Glatt, Inc.

The question “Where’s the Beef?” is typically associated with the famous Wendy’s television commercial from 1984 and its lovable actress, Clara Peller. But the recent decision in the chapter 7 case of a national meat processor had an avoidance action defendant asking, “Where’s the Beef … (with me)?” after the debtor’s chapter 7 trustee attempted to avoid over $5 million in transfers made by the debtor to the defendant prepetition.

On June 19, 2014, the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York once again granted Australia-based Octaviar Administration Pty Ltd. chapter 15 recognition as a foreign main proceeding, six months after the Second Circuit overturned an earlier order granting the same relief.

Project Bank Accounts (PBA) are a payment mechanism based on ring-fenced bank accounts created to increase the security of contractors and sub-contractors in a building project. Their main benefits include security and speed of payment and protection of funds in potential insolvency. Sounds too good to be true? PBAs are becoming increasingly common, and with the Government commitment to use PBAs “unless there are compelling reasons not to do so”, their joint value in public sector contracts is expected to reach £4bn by this year.