On January 17, 2019, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion holding that a creditor whose rights have been affected by operation of the Bankruptcy Code may nevertheless be “unimpaired” under a chapter 11 plan of reorganization.
In 2012, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment issued a clean-up order against 13 former directors of Northstar Aerospace Canada. Northstar was bankrupt and the directors had to pay millions because the company’s D&O policy excluded pollution. A recent article by Greg Meckbach in Canadian Underwriter examines the effect that order has had on the commercial insurance industry in Canada.
On June 27, 2018, the Second Circuit denied Nordheim Eagle Ford Gathering, LLC’s petition for a panel rehearing and request that the court certify issues of Texas property law to the Texas Supreme Court. The denial leaves in place the Second Circuit’s May Summary Order affirming the widely publicized decisions of the bankruptcy and district courts below which concluded that the midstream contracts could be rejected because they did not create covenants running with the land under Texas law.
Summary of Key Takeaways
What does it take to represent a private equity client entangled in a complex restructuring involving an important investment in a portfolio company?
Ask David Meyer, the Vinson & Elkins New York-based restructuring partner who led the V&E team representing Riverstone Holdings in the restructuring of Gulf of Mexico oil producer Fieldwood Energy.
In many ways, the case serves as a template for navigating amid a set of highly challenging circumstances.
Background
On February 27, 2018, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in the Merit Management Group, LP v. FTI Consulting, Inc. case, holding that funds that are merely transferred through a financial institution are not afforded the Bankruptcy Code “safe harbor” protections of 11 U.S.C. § 546(e), which precludes the avoidance or “clawback” of certain transfers; rather, whether the safe harbor applies in a given case will depend on the whether the parties to the overarching transfer are listed as protected parties in the statute.
In this Update
- on April 24, 2017, the Alberta Court of Appeal affirmed the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench’s decision in Redwater Energy Corporation (Re), 2016 ABQB 278 (Redwater)
- reasons for the Redwater decision
- the issues in Redwater raise various important policy concerns regarding land owners, the public at large and the oil and gas industry
- background and significant implications of Redwater
Introduction
In Caetano v Quality Meat Packers, 2017 ONSC 1199, Justice Belobaba of the Ontario Superior Court recently had opportunity to consider whether two representative proceedings commenced on behalf of two separate groups of employees against an insolvent employer ought to be struck because, despite the actions having been commenced within the applicable two year limitation period, the plaintiffs in those two actions had failed to obtain the necessary representation orders within the two year period.
In Essar Steel Algoma Inc. (Re), Justice David Brown of the Ontario Court of Appeal held that the ambit of orders “made under” the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-36 (the “CCAA”), and thus requiring leave to be appealed, is broad. Though concluding that the appellant in this case required leave to appeal, he nonetheless ordered the leave motion be expedited.
In his decision in Global Royalties Limited v. Brook, Chief Justice Strathy of the Ontario Court of Appeal explained that the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (“BIA”) does not provide a bankrupt with a right to appeal an order lifting a stay of proceedings against him. Despite there being a multi-party bankruptcy, he rejected the submission that “the order or decision is likely to affect other cases of a similar nature in the bankruptcy proceedings”.