A few weeks ago in In re S. White Transportation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit permitted a secured creditor that had indisputably received notice of the debtor’s chapter 11 case, but took no steps to protect its interests until after the confirmation of the debtor’s plan, to continue to assert a lien against the debtor’s property post-confirmation.
Two years ago in Stern v Marshall, the Supreme Court surprised many observers by placing constitutional limits on the jurisdiction of the United States Bankruptcy Courts. The Court, in limiting the ability of a bankruptcy court judge to render a final judgment on a counterclaim against a party who had filed a claim against a debtor’s bankruptcy estate, re-opened separation of powers issues that most bankruptcy practitioners had thought settled since the mid-1980s. While the
The Issue
The Issue
Fiduciaries who breach their duties may pay the consequences far longer than they may think, for they may not even be able to escape liability through personal bankruptcy. In Raso v. Fahey (In re Fahey), No. 11-1118 (June 11, 2013), the U.S Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts became the first court to apply the new defalcation guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in Bullock v. BankChampaign, NA, 133 S. Ct.
Everyone gathered last week at the meeting convened by Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr knew that the news would be dire. Nonetheless, Orr’s report on Detroit’s financial condition and his proposal for the treatment of the city’s creditors – an offer of approximately ten cents on the dollar for the city’s unsecured bonds - still managed to drop jaws. Therein lies
Kevyn Orr, the emergency manager appointed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to try to resolve the Detroit financial crisis, has effectively replaced the Detroit mayor,
It is no surprise to anyone in the business of secured lending that valuation matters. It is worth noting, however, that collateral valuation may be outcome-determinative in litigation over a plan of reorganization in bankruptcy. Although valuation was not the central focus of the Fifth Circuit’s recent decision in Western Real Estate Equities, L.L.C. v. Village at Camp Bowie I, L.P. (Matter of Village at Camp Bowie I, L.P.), No. 12-10271, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 3949 (5th Cir. Feb.
Recently, an NLRB administrative law judge ruled that two policies maintained by subsidiaries of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (“UPMC”) violated Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act. See UPMC, Case No. 6-CA-81896, 4/19/13. Specifically, ALJ David Goldman found that the hospitals’ electronic mail and messaging and acceptable use of information technology resources policies impermissibly interfered with employees’ Section 7 right to engage in protected concerted activity.
GGW LLC and its affiliates (“GGW”), which produce and distribute the soft core pornography videos known as “Girls Gone Wild”, recently filed for relief under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. The filing follows years of legal troubles for the company’s founder, Joe Francis, including criminal charges of racketeering and tax evasion, and