On July 18, 2016, Judge Walrath issued a concise written opinion ruling upon whether an executive’s claim for unpaid stock-based compensation was an equity security or rather a general unsecured claim against the Debtors’ estate. The opinion is styled as GSE Environmental, Inc., et al. v. Sorrentino (In re GSE Environmental, Inc., et al.), Adv. Pro. No. 16-50377 (MFW) (Bankr. D. Del.
On July 1, 2016, Gold Alchemy LLC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. According to the petition, the debtor’s estimated assets are $10 to 50 million, and estimated liabilities are $50 to 100 million.
Alchemy is a distribution company formerly known as Millennium Entertainment. According to Deadline Hollywood:
On July 1, 2016, SynCardia Systems, Inc. (“Debtor” or “SynCardia”) filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
According to the Declaration of Stephen Marotta, the Debtor’s Chief Restructuring Officer, SynCardia is a medical technology company that develops artificial heart implants. In the months leading to the Debtor’s filing, SynCardia attempted but then withdrew an IPO attempt due to adverse market conditions. Since then it has become insolvent.
On June 16, 2016, the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (the “Committee”) of Kid Brands Inc., et al. (the “Debtors”), filed approximately 64 complaints seeking the avoidance and recovery of allegedly preferential and fraudulent transfers under Sections 547, 548 and 550 of the Bankruptcy Code. The Committee also seeks to disallow claims of such preference defendants under Sections 502(d) and (j) of the Bankruptcy Code.
In the recent decision of Gavin Salmonese, LLC v. Shyamsundar, et al. (In re AmCad Holdings, LLC, et al.) (Bankr. D. Del.
Recently on June 6, 2016, the Delaware Bankruptcy Court considered a motion to dismiss the Intervention Energy Holdings, LLC, et al. bankruptcy proceeding. On May 20, 2016, Intervention Energy Holding, LLC (“IE Holdings”) and Intervention Energy, LLC (“IE”) filed a voluntary chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the “Voluntary Petition”).
In 2015, the Court of Chancery ruled upon the then novel issue under Delaware law as to what priority level advancement claims should be afforded in a receivership action. Then Vice Chancellor Parsons held that claims for advancement are not entitled to administrative priority, and instead are considered to be pre-petition, non-priority unsecured claims. For a link to a summary of the Court of Chancery decision, click here.
On June 5th and 6th, 2016, Houston-based energy firm Hercules Offshore Inc. and its affiliated debtors (“Hercules” or “Debtors”) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
The senior board members (other than Sir Philip Green) are next to face the committees comprising Lord Grabiner, non-executive chairman of Traveta Investments Limited and Traveta Investments (No 2) Limited; Ian Grabiner, CEO of Arcadia; Paul Budge, FD of Arcadia and former BHS board member; Gillian Hague, group financial controller of Arcadia; and Chris Harris, group property director for Arcadia. This group of individuals (other than Lord Grabiner and Ian Grabiner) together with Sir Philip Green comprised the Traveta board’s sub-group responsible for negotiating the sale of BHS.
On May 20, 2016, Joao Bock Transaction Systems, LLC (“Debtor” or “Joao Bock”) filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy relief before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Joao Bock has been described by some as a “patent troll” that engages in litigation over intellectual property disputes in order to extract favorable settlements.