Key Point

A provisional liquidator may be appointed if the evidence justifies it even where the tax assessments upon which the winding up petition is based are under appeal.

Facts

One month ago, Judge Christopher Klein ruled in the city of Stockton, CA bankruptcy case that public employee pension obligations can be impaired in municipal bankruptcy cases under Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code.  Last week, however, Judge Klein approved the plan of adjustment for Stockton that left public pension obligations intact over the vociferous objection of Franklin Investments, a major city bondholder whose claim was substantially reduced.  The confirmation of the Stockton plan underscores that even as there now appears to be a sound legal foundatio

The perception that public employee pension obligations cannot be impaired in bankruptcy suffered a damaging blow several months ago in the City of Detroit bankruptcy case, and has now been fatally wounded by 

Key Point

Subrogation operates not by assigning the benefit of the relevant third party's security but by creating new security rights in the hands of the subrogated creditor similar to those held by that third party.

Facts

Key Point

An administrator appointed under a qualifying floating charge can "adopt" an existing winding up petition for the purposes of liquidating the company where the benefit to the creditors of the insolvent estate is manifest on the facts.

Facts

General Motors LLC (“New GM”) came into being in the summer of 2009, when it acquired substantially all of the assets of General Motors Corporation (“Old GM”) in a sale undertaken pursuant to section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code.  The July 2009 Sale Order approved by U.S.

Key Point

Liability for utility bills arising in an administration after trading had ceased did not rank as an expense of the administration.

The facts

Key Point

The Court of Appeal has held that a UK company undergoing a financial restructuring was not entitled to recover VAT charged by accountants who prepared reports for the company's lenders use during the restructuring process.

The facts

Three years ago, in Stern v.

Key Point

Two recent cases have resulted in innovative structures for restructuring the finances of groups of companies being sanctioned by the English Courts pursuant to schemes of arrangement. The trend for using such a mechanism for financial restructuring shows no signs of abating. On the contrary the innovative scope of such schemes appears to be expanding

Stemcor restructuring

The scheme