On November 3, 2023, the Court in the Chapter 9 bankruptcy case of the City of Chester, Pennsylvania issued its ruling in an adversary proceeding challenging the perfection of the liens securing certain revenue bonds issued by the City.1 Confirming the municipal bond market’s longstanding understanding, the Court concluded that the liens on revenues were prope
Darty Holdings SAS v Carton-Kelly(as additional liquidator of CGL Realisations Limited) [2023] EWCA Civ 1135
Overview
After years of litigation involving state, federal, Irish, and (to a lesser extent) Swiss law; transfers of numerous assets, including Ireland’s priciest-personal residence; a jury trial; and extensive post-trial briefing, the Second Circuit made short shrift of a former real estate mogul and his ex-wife’s appeal of a judgment rendered against them for fraudulent conveyances.
On March 12, 2023 the New York State Department of Financial Services appointed the FDIC as receiver for Signature Bank. The FDIC created a bridge bank, Signature Bridge Bank (“Bridge Bank”), and transferred all deposits and substantially all of Signature Bank’s assets to the Bridge Bank. No consents or other restrictions on transferring rights and obligations of Signature Bank are applicable for the transfer to the Bridge Bank. The receivership is governed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (“FDIA”). Under the FDIA, the FDIC succeeds to the rights and powers of Signature Bank.
Federal law assigns to U.S. district courts original jurisdiction over all cases under Title 11 (the Bankruptcy Code) and all civil proceedings arising under Title 11 or arising in or relating to Title 11. See 28 U.S.C. § 1334(a), (b). Federal law permits each U.S. district court to refer such cases and civil proceedings to bankruptcy courts, and district courts generally do so. But bankruptcy courts, unlike district courts, are not courts under Article III of the Constitution, and are therefore constrained in what powers they may constitutionally exercise.
The United States Trustee Program is responsible for the efficient administration of bankruptcy cases throughout most of the country. Since 1986, the Trustee Program has covered all states except North Carolina and Alabama, where an Administrator Program oversees bankruptcy filings instead. Although there are many similarities between the two programs, there is a significant difference in the funding structure. The Trustee Program is entirely self-funded through quarterly fees paid by debtors that file in the Trustee Program districts.
Bankruptcy Judge James J. Tancredi appeared to give a chapter 7 debtor one last chance to avoid being incarcerated.
An appeals court ruled recently that chapter 5 avoidance actions are property of a debtor’s bankruptcy estate that can be sold in section 363 sales. In re Simply Essentials, LLC, No. 22-2011, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 21814 (8th Cir. Aug. 21, 2023). The decision follows similar rulings by other appeals courts.
Three years have passed since the COVID-19 pandemic reached the United States and its effects are still being felt today. Even though lockdown measures have largely disappeared and many workers have returned to the office, flexible work has become a fixture in the workplace. The shift to remote and more flexible work arrangements have impacted many segments of the economy, perhaps most directly, commercial real estate companies.
Section 544(b)(1) of the Bankruptcy Code enables a trustee to step into the shoes of a creditor and avoid a transfer “of an interest of the debtor in property” that an unsecured creditor could avoid under applicable state law. See 11 U.S.C. § 544(b)(1). Thus, for example, if outside of bankruptcy a creditor could avoid a transaction entered by a debtor as a fraudulent transfer, in bankruptcy, the trustee acquires the power to avoid such a transaction.