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Sovereign Debt Restructuring. Stay of Proceedings. District court grants stay of proceedings for breach of contract claim against Sri Lanka pending restructuring negotiations with bilateral and private commercial creditors.

Hamilton Reserve Bank Ltd. v. Sri Lanka, No. 22-cv-5199 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 1, 2023) [click for opinion]

USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie
BlockFi Unsecured Creditors Seek to Liquidate the Company and End the “Extortion”

On June 27, 2023, the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (the “Committee”) in the BlockFi Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization case filed an Objection to the company’s Plan and essentially requested that the company be liquidated. The Official Committee is made up largely of 600,000 individual customers of BlockFi.

USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, FTX
SEC Agrees to Let Company Investors be Paid First in BlockFi Bankruptcy

BlockFi is a wealth management and trading firm for cryptocurrency holders that first commenced operations in 2017. In July 2021, we wrote about BlockFi’s bumpy road to going public, even though its valuation had just hit $5 billion.

USA, Capital Markets, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, FTX
Interest Rates. Currency of Judgment. New York state court holds that interest rate set in bankruptcy proceeding controls over contractual interest rate and that New York law requires a New York judgment be rendered in U.S. dollars.

Lehman Bros. Int'l (Europe) (In Admin.) v. AG Fin. Prod., Inc., No. 653284/2011 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. County May 17, 2023) [click for opinion]

USA, Derivatives, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, International Swaps and Derivatives Association
Arbitration. Confirmation of Award. District court confirms arbitration award of $2 million in fees and costs to prevailing party and refuses sanctions against petitioner who sought to vacate the award.

Cognac Ferrand S.A.S. v. Mystique Brands LLC, No. 20 Civ. 5933 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 31, 2021) [click for opinion]

USA, Arbitration & ADR, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, US District Court for the Southern District of New York
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
Bankruptcy. Discovery. Sanctions. Bankruptcy court sanctions attorney for failing to make reasonable efforts to obtain discovery materials held outside the U.S. by incarcerated debtor's agents and attorneys.

In re Markus, 607 B.R. 379 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2019) [click for opinion]  

USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, Bankruptcy, Debtor, Title 11 of the US Code, United States bankruptcy court
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