You represent the unsecured creditors committee in a complex Chapter 11 case, where you have reason to believe that the debtor’s officers and directors have, and continue to, engage in self-dealing and are breaching their fiduciary duties by not advancing a plan in the best interest of creditors. So, the committee asks you to seek the appointment of an examiner to investigate.
The Bankruptcy Protector
The Bankruptcy Protector
Procedure
In brief
The courts were busy in the second half of 2021 with developments in the space where insolvency law and environmental law overlap.
In Victoria, the Court of Appeal has affirmed the potential for a liquidator to be personally liable, and for there to be a prospective ground to block the disclaimer of contaminated land, where the liquidator has the benefit of a third-party indemnity for environmental exposures.1
The Bankruptcy Protector
In brief
Australia's borders may be closed, but from the start of the pandemic, Australian courts have continued to grapple with insolvency issues from beyond our shores. Recent cases have expanded the recognition of international insolvency processes in Australia, whilst also highlighting that Australia's own insolvency regimes have application internationally.
Key takeaways
The Bankruptcy Protector
In brief
With the courts about to consider a significant and long standing controversy in the law of unfair preferences, suppliers to financially distressed companies, and liquidators, should be aware that there have been recent significant shifts in the law about getting paid in hard times.
The Bankruptcy Protector
In 2017, Congress enacted an amendment imposing a sharp increase in quarterly fees owed to the United States Trustee program by many chapter 11 debtors. Expectedly, the constitutionality of that decision has been challenged on several grounds, and there is considerable disagreement among the circuits.