On August 2, the English Court of Appeal handed down its judgment on the client money directions application made in the Administration of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (LBIE). The Court of Appeal overturned Mr. Justice Briggs’ High Court decision in part, holding unanimously that:

Introduction
108 N State
Olde Prairie case
Comment


Introduction

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has announced that it will amend its Regulation 190.04(d)(2) regarding the operation of a commodity broker in bankruptcy. Currently, a bankruptcy trustee is prohibited, immediately upon the commencement of the commodity broker’s bankruptcy case, from processing any new trades on behalf of customers of the commodity broker, with limited exceptions.

Judge John Koeltl in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently denied a motion to dismiss a securities class action arising, in part, from the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy filing.

This paper is designed to provide a brief update of recent decisions of note that concern various ethical issues bankruptcy attorneys often encounter, focusing on conflicts of interest and privilege issues.

On May 5, the judge overseeing the bankruptcy case of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc issued an opinion refusing Swedbank AB's request to keep several million dollars in post-bankruptcy Lehman deposits as a setoff against pre-bankruptcy swap termination claims.

Debt for Equity Exchanges Outside Bankruptcy

The recession has highlighted a new risk for borrowers – the risk that a lender will be insolvent and default on its obligation to fund loans under the credit agreement. This has created unexpected issues under credit agreements, which were written at a time when lender insolvency was not a perceived risk.”34

On April 1, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) closed the sale of an equity interest in a limited liability company (LLC) created to hold certain assets transferred from 19 failed bank receiverships. The purchaser of the interest in the Multibank Structured Transaction Single Family Residential 2010-1 is Roundpoint Mortgage Servicing Corporation (Roundpoint). The sale was the result of a competitive auction held on February 24.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has amended its bankruptcy rules (17 C.F.R. Part 190) to create a new “account class” for cleared over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives for purposes of calculating customer “net equity” and “allowed net equity” in the event of the bankruptcy of a futures commission merchant.