Summer 2024 Editor: Melanie Willems IN THIS ISSUE “Seething on a jet plane” - conditions precedent and time of the essence in commercial contracts by Jack Spence 03 09 11 24 Diamonds aren’t forever: who is vicariously responsible when they have been stolen?
On May 16th, the DOL released interim final rules (the “Final Rules”) and an amendment to Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2006-06 (the “Amendment to PTE”), effective July 16, 2024, amending the DOL’s Abandoned Plan Program (the “APP”) to allow Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustees to use the APP to terminate, wind up, and distribute assets from a bankrupt company’s retirement plan.
The Aldrich Pump Texas Two-Step bankruptcy may have survived dismissal at the bankruptcy court level, but now the asbestos claimants have appealed to the Fourth Circuit following Judge Whitley's approval of their motion for direct appeal.1
The Fifth Circuit recently issued an opinion that increases the marketability of estate assets often viewed as untouchable. In In re S. Coast Supply Co. ("South Coast"), 91 F.4th 376 (5th Cir. 2024), the Fifth Circuit held that a bankruptcy "preference" action may be sold to a third party under section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code even if the buyer is not an estate fiduciary and does not represent the bankruptcy estate. A preference action is an "avoidance" claim arising under section 547 of the Bankruptcy Code.
The long anticipated law of 7 June 2023 implementing the European Directive on restructuring and insolvency brings about a major reform of Belgian insolvency law. Among various other innovations, it introduces a new judicial reorganisation through collective agreement for large enterprises.
The new law will apply to all procedures opened as from 1 September 2023.
In this second of two client alerts, we will examine to which extent creditors can seek to impose a debt-to-equity swap on shareholders within the new judicial reorganisation for large enterprises.
The new Belgian restructuring plan for large enterprises: secured creditors no longer entitled to the reorganisation value.
The long anticipated law of 7 June 2023 implementing the European Directive on restructuring and insolvency brings about a major reform of Belgian insolvency law. Among various other innovations, it introduces a new judicial reorganisation through collective agreement for large enterprises.1
The new law will apply to all procedures opened as from 1 September 2023.
Two recent court decisions may indicate more uncertainty with respect to the enforceability of “make-whole” premiums in bankruptcy. Make-whole or prepayment premiums are common within loan agreements, bond issuances and other debt instruments.
The English High Court case Duneau v Klimt Invest SA & Ors [2022] EWHC 596 (Ch) is perhaps the first decision where a public listed company was wound up under section 122(1)(g) of the UK Insolvency Act 1986 on the just and equitable ground for loss of substratum. The case also considered whether a public listed company can be subject to equitable considerations and constraints such as those which apply in the context of quasi-partnership cases.
The English High Court case Duneau v Klimt Invest SA & Ors [2022] EWHC 596 (Ch) is perhaps the first decision where a public listed company was wound up under section 122(1)(g) of the UK Insolvency Act 1986 on the just and equitable ground for loss of substratum. The case also considered whether a public listed company can be subject to equitable considerations and constraints such as those which apply in the context of quasi-partnership cases.
In our original article, we prefaced that Johnson & Johnson (“J&J”) would likely utilize the Texas Two Step to attempt to resolve its tort liabilities related to talc powder.1 On October 12, 2021, J&J did just that. The company used Texas’s divisive merger statute to spinoff the talc liabilities into a new entity, LTL Management, LLC (“LTL”).