Courts and professionals have wrestled for years with the appropriate approach to use in setting the interest rate when a debtor imposes a chapter 11 plan on a secured creditor and pays the creditor the value of its collateral through deferred payments under section 1129(b)(2)(A)(i)(II) of the Bankruptcy Code. Secured lenders gained a major victory on October 20, 2017, when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that a market rate of interest is preferred to a so-called “formula approach” in chapter 11, when an efficient market exists.

Over the years, the United States Supreme Court has had to interpret ambiguous, imprecise, and otherwise puzzling language in the Bankruptcy Code, including the phrases “claim,” “interest in property,” “ordinary course of business,” “applicable nonbankruptcy law,” “allowed secured claim,” “willful and malicious injury,” “on account of,” “value, as of the effective date of the plan,” “projected disposable income,” “defalcation,” and “retirement funds.” The interpretive principles employed by the Court in interpreting the peculiarities of the Bankruptcy Code were in full view when the Court r

The absolute priority rule of Section 1129(b) of the Bankruptcy Code is a fundamental creditor protection in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. In general terms, the rule provides that if a class of unsecured creditors rejects a debtor’s reorganization plan and is not paid in full, junior creditors and equity interestholders may not receive or retain any property under the plan. The rule thus implements the general state-law principle that creditors are entitled to payment before shareholders, unless creditors agree to a different result.

Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law concluded its series of hearings on the ramifications of auto industry bankruptcies. Testifying before the committee were:

Panel I:

Today, Treasury Secretary Geithner released a statement on the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry.

Yesterday morning, Chrysler Group LLC (formerly New CarCo Acquisition LLC), backed by Italian automaker Fiat S.p.A., acquired substantially all of Chrysler’s assets. Under the terms of the deal, a union retiree trust will initially own 55% of the new company, Fiat S.p.A. will own 20% and the U.S.

Late Sunday night, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez approved the sale of most of Chrysler's assets to Italian Automaker Fiat S.p.A., as contemplated in the Master Transaction Agreement between the two companies.

In an order dated May 7, 2009, Judge Arthur Gonzales approved Chrysler’s proposed bidding procedures for the sale of substantially all of the Company’s assets to a newly formed entity that would continue business under Chrysler’s name.

On Thursday, under pressure from the Obama administration, Chrysler and 24 of its wholly owned U.S. subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. None of Chrysler’s Mexican, Canadian or other international subsidiaries are part of the filing.