InIn re Juarez, 603 B.R. 610 (9th Cir. BAP 2019), the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit addressed a question of first impression in the circuit with respect to property that is exempt from creditor reach: it adopted the view that, under the "new value exception" to the "absolute priority rule," an individual Chapter 11 debtor intending to retain such property need not make a "new value" contribution covering the value of the exemption.

Background

In In re Palladino, 942 F.3d 55 (1st Cir. 2019), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit addressed whether a debtor receives “reasonably equivalent value” in exchange for paying his adult child’s college tuition. The Palladino court answered this question in the negative, thereby contributing to the growing circuit split regarding the avoidability of debtors’ college tuition payments for their adult children as constructively fraudulent transfers.

Background

Die enormen wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen der weltweiten COVID-19-Pandemie haben die deutsche Wirtschaft massiv getroffen. Für viele Branchen hat sich das Geschäftsklima erheblich verschlechtert.

The huge economic impact of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has long since reached the German economy. For many industries, the business climate has deteriorated massively. Stores remain closed, supply chains are affected, customer numbers have significantly dropped and businesses have to impose reduced work hours (Kurzarbeit) or forced leave to reduce costs.

Die Unsicherheit, die von einer weltweiten Ausbreitung des neuartigen Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 ausgeht, hat längst die deutsche Wirtschaft erreicht.

Für viele Branchen hat sich das Geschäftsklima massiv eingetrübt. Selbst wenn staatliche Hilfen ausgezahlt werden wird man sich besser früher als später ernsthafte Überlegungen zu einer umfassenden Restrukturierung machen müssen. Ein hilfreicher Weg ist die Sanierung durch Planverfahren, oft verbunden mit Schutzschirm oder sonstiger Eigenverwaltung.

Die wesentlichen Vorzüge auf einen Blick:

Am 16. Juli 2019 ist die Richtlinie (EU) 2019/1023 über präventive Restrukturierungsrahmen in Kraft getreten. Ihre Umsetzung in das nationale Recht der Mitgliedstaaten wird von Sanierungsspezialisten vor dem Hintergrund sinkender Wachstumsprognosen und Warnungen vor einem Wirtschaftseinbruch mit Spannung erwartet.

The Preventive Restructuring Frameworks Directive (EU) 2019/1023 is finally in force. Following its implementation into EU member states’ national law, the directive will hopefully prove an effective tool for Europe’s restructuring practitioners, just as the continent’s economic outlook darkens.

Recently the German legislature passed a new law, exempting extraordinary profits created by the waiver of claims under restructurings from income tax liability. The amendment was necessary because the German Federal Tax Court had previously held the original administrative decree (which in a conceptually different manner avoided the tax burden on such profits) unlawful. This article gives a brief overview over the legislative history and the practical consequences of the amendment.

1. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

In a matter of first impression, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of New York recently analyzed whether a debtor may exempt from her bankruptcy estate a retirement account that was bequeathed to her upon the death of her parent. In In re Todd, 585 B.R. 297 (Bankr. N.D.N.Y 2018), the court addressed an objection to a debtor’s claim of exemption in an inherited retirement account, and held that the property was not exempt under New York and federal law.

In Kaye v. Blue Bell Creameries (In re BFW Liquidation), 899 F.3d 1178 (11th Cir. 2018), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit found that a liability for an allegedly preferential transfer may be reduced by the amount of new value given, regardless of whether that new value has already been repaid by the debtor before its bankruptcy filing.