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We don’t know about you, but we’ve been following the contentious litigation between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and debt-relief services company Morgan Drexen pretty closely. The CFPB filed its lawsuit in August 2013, alleging, among other things, that the company deceived consumers into paying unlawful up-front fees for debt relief services by disguising them as fees related to “sham” bankruptcy services.

Client Alert February 5, 2015 Second Circuit to Lenders: Get Your UCC Filings Right By Geoffrey R. Peck and Jordan A. Wishnew1 INTRODUCTION On January 21, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an opinion regarding a mistaken UCC-3 termination statement that all loan market participants should consider carefully.

In its recent decision, Executive Benefits Insurance Agency v. Arkison (In re Bellingham Insurance Agency, Inc.),1 the Supreme Court reiterated and expanded on the reasoning in Stern v.

In another judicial decision springing from Lehman Brothers, as a result of the likely surplus in the estate of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (in administration) (LBIE) after all the provable debts have been paid, Mr Justice Richards has issued a ‘statement of conclusions’ in what is called the Waterfall Application. A more detailed judgement is expected in late March 2014. We summarise the conclusions below.

Ranking and Contributions of Shareholders of Inlimited Companies

The Third Circuit in In re KB Toys, Inc.1 recently affirmed a decision of the Delaware District Court, holding that trade claims are subject to disallowance under section 502(d) of the Bankruptcy Code despite their subsequent sale to a third party. This case is of particular interest to investors in distressed debt.

The Personal Insolvency Act 2012 (the “PI Act”) was signed into law on 26 December 2012 and introduces significant changes to the personal insolvency regime in Ireland, as described in our previous client briefing concerning the PI Act (issued in December 2012 and available on our website). All provisions of the PI Act, other than Part 4 which relates to bankruptcy, have now been commenced and it is expected that debtors will shortly be able to avail of the new insolvency measures.

The Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2013 (“the Act”) has been enacted. The Act addresses the unintended consequences arising from the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 (“the 2009 Act”).

Summary

On April 9, 2013, Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (“Ambac”) submitted a proposed settlement with the United States to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. If approved, the proposed settlement would resolve more than two years of litigation concerning the tax treatment of losses sustained by Ambac in connection with credit default swap contracts entered into during the 2008 financial crisis. The settlement would result in a payment by Ambac to the Government of $101.9 million, as well as possible future additional payments of up to $14.9 million.

In another recent private letter ruling,19 the IRS ruled that an ownership change pursuant to a bankruptcy reorganization plan qualified for an exception to the general rule limiting net operating loss ("NOL") carryforwards under Section 382(a).