It’s been several years since I last posted about objections to bankruptcy claims, and the topic is so important to creditors that it’s time to revisit it.

While the best men’s national soccer teams from around the world are battling in Brazil to be crowned the World Cup champion, some club teams in the U.S. have their sights set on more modest goals.

Recoveries from fraudulent conveyance lawsuits can be a significant source of recovery for creditors of bankruptcy estates.  Because a plaintiff seeking to avoid a prepetition transfer as constructively fraudulent must demonstrate that the debtor was insolvent or inadequately capitalized at the time of the challenged transfer, valuation analyses that support allegations of insolvency are critical.

The Order Re Summary Judgment issued on June 11, 2014 by Judge Charles R. Breyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in the Heller Ehrman LLP bankruptcy case may prove to be a knock-out punch against “unfinished business” claims by insolvent or bankrupt law firms and their trustees.

Trademark Licenses At Risk. I have written a number of times on the blog about the impact of bankruptcy on trademark licenses, with a special focus on the risk that trademark licensees face if their licensors file bankruptcy.

Absolute Priority has regularly covered the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in Stern v. Marshall on the world of bankruptcy litigation.  In Stern, the Supreme Court held that Article III of the United States Constitution prohibits bankruptcy courts from finally adjudicating certain “core” causes of action (often called “Stern claims”), notwithstanding Congress’s explicit grant of such power to the bankruptcy court.

One deliberately ironic facet of the 2004 film Howard Hughes bio-pic The Aviator (the one with Leonardo DiCaprio) is the fact that the airlines fighting for world dominance in the 1940s were Howard Hughes’ TWA and Juan Trippe’s Pan Am.  By the time of the movie, of course, both famous airlines were gone.  Pan Am’s final descent into bankruptcy court ended in 1991.  Following its own troubles (and two bankruptcies in the 1990s), TWA was acquired by American Airlines in 2001.  But does the death of an airline mean an end to litigation?  Of course not.

The health of the healthcare industry can be summarized as follows: as go federal reimbursement rates, so goes the financial viability of healthcare providers, whether hospitals, nursing homes or medical practices.

The First Circuit held in a recent decision that bankruptcy courts have wide discretion to apply a flexible approach when valuing (and potentially re-valuing) collateral for purposes of determining whether a secured creditor is oversecured and therefore entitled to receive postpetition interest pursuant to section 506(b) of the Bankruptcy Code.   

The Stern v. Marshall Decision. In its 2011 decision in Stern v. Marshall, decided by a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court held that even though Congress designated certain state law counterclaims as “core” proceedings, Article III of the U.S. Constitution prohibits bankruptcy courts from finally adjudicating those claims. Stern v.