In an important decision for private equity sponsors and other insiders who advance loans to their businesses, on April 30, 2013, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in In re Fitness Holdings International confirmed that bankruptcy courts may recharacterize debt as equity, but held that recharacterization is determined by state law. In its ruling, the Ninth Circuit joins the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in deferring to state law on this issue and explicitly rejects the various federal law based tests that have been adopted by a majority of U.S.
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
The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware recently upheld a secured lender’s claim for a $23.5 million “makewhole” premium (the “Makewhole Claim”) over the heavily litigated objection raised by the unsecured creditors’ committee in In re School Specialty, Inc., No. 13-10125 (KJC) (Apr. 22, 2013).
Nearly nine months after it filed for protection under Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code, a federal bankruptcy judge last week determined that the city of Stockton, California has satisfied the requirements of Section 109(c) of the Bankruptcy Code a
Distressed m&a is the “new normal” in Chapter 11 cases, as noted here and elsewhere. Two large media marketing and advertising companies, Super
Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code provides debtors with a number of tools to restructure comprehensively their debts and other liabilities as well as immediate protection from secured and unsecured creditors.
The School Specialty chapter 11 case began in what has become all too typical fashion. The company, overleveraged and short of cash, had no choice but to accept a lifeline extended by its second lien secured lender, a private investment fund. The terms of the debtor in possession (“DIP”) financing
By nearly any measure, the Chapter 11 cases of Hawker Beechcraft and its affiliates (the “Debtors”) stand as a significant success. The cases began as a standalone reorganization predicated upon a restructuring support agreement (the “RSA”) among the Debtors’ senior lenders and noteholders, which soon thereafter gained the support of the
A recent Pennsylvania case, Graystone Bank v. Grove Estates, LP, upheld the enforceability of a confessed judgment provision even in light of alleged inconsistencies. In most cases, a confessed judgment is a debtor’s statement signed prior to a default that a stipulated amount is owed to a creditor and permits bypassing certain legal proceedings.
Atari, Inc., the creator of the primordial video game “Pong”, filed for Chapter 11 yesterday in the U.S.