In a departure from prior precedent in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), a recent opinion by Judge Michael E. Wiles in In re Cortlandt Liquidating LLC,[1] effectively lowered the Bankruptcy Code section 502(b)(6) cap on rejection damages that a commercial real estate landlord may claim, by holding that the cap should be calculated using the “Time Approach,” rather than the “Rent Approach.”

Calculation of Lease Rejection Damages

In New York, it is a standard practice to name all tenants residing in a building when foreclosing upon the property.

On Sunday, December 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which provides $900 billion in a second wave of economic stimulus relief for industries and individuals faced with challenges from the COVID-19 coronavirus.

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered unprecedented levels of business disruption and forced numerous companies into bankruptcy in an effort to preserve dwindling liquidity and postpone creditor demands. Retailers, whose brick-and-mortar locations were already struggling to adapt to an increasingly online marketplace, have been among the hardest hit. A number of bankruptcy judges, faced with the prospect of an avalanche of forced liquidations, have thrown these debtors a lifeline by approving requests to suspend lease payments.

If the current coronavirus (COVID-19) situation persists, real estate lenders increasingly will be faced with the need to restructure loans in their portfolios. Lenders that held non-performing real estate loans during prior real estate downturns (e.g., 2008, 1990s) have no doubt embarked on the real estate workout process countless times before. However, with the passage of time, the lessons learned by real estate lenders of earlier eras may have faded from memory. Moreover, many of the lenders active in real estate finance today were not even on the scene during prior recessions.

A recent decision of a specialist tribunal in Dubai could have far-reaching consequences for the maritime industry. In this article Robert Thomas QC, of Quadrant Chambers, and Robert Lawrence and Leonard Soudagar, of Clyde & Co, examine how it is now possible, in certain circumstances, for a shipowner to set up a limitation fund in the UAE.

When Hanjin Shipping went into administration in late 2016, reportedly over 500,000 containers were stranded or arrested at ports worldwide, including many in the Middle East. Cargo owners who find themselves in such circumstances can be critically affected (particularly if the cargo is temperature sensitive, perishable or urgently required), and they will often look to their cargo insurers. This note highlights a number of issues which are likely to arise when a carrier becomes insolvent during a laden voyage, and claims are made under a marine cargo policy in the UAE.