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Good evening.

Following are this week’s summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of May 2nd, 2022.

In Poirier v. Logan, the Court upheld the permanent stay of an action for failure to disclose a partial settlement agreement with some of the defendants.

Good afternoon.

These are our summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of April 25, 2022.

An insolvency moratorium first introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic applies to nearly all Russian legal entities, individuals, and sole entrepreneurs, and bans the commencement of insolvency proceedings against Russian obligors.

It begins with an awkward mouthful. Outside a bankruptcy brief, is “unimpairment” even a word? (No, per Merriam-Webster.) Inside Chapter 11, it’s much more: a trend.

Want to refinance your bonds cheaply? Are you an otherwise sound and solvent business, forced into bankruptcy by a massive fire (PG&E), persistent low commodity pricing (Ultra Petroleum), or a pandemic (Hertz, whose airport rental business was shuttered in 2020 by COVID-19)?

Or would you just prefer to boost your stock value by lowering your coupon?

Good afternoon.

Following are this week’s summaries of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of March 21, 2022.

Areas of law covered in the cases this week included bankruptcy and insolvency (setting aside discharge from bankruptcy and after-acquired property), municipal liability for building inspections, two child protection decisions, guarantees and a partnership dispute.

Wishing everyone an enjoyable weekend.

Table of Contents

Civil Decisions

Good afternoon.

Following are our summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of March 14, 2022.

Topics covered this week included property of a bankrupt (beneficial interest in trust property), testamentary capacity and extensions of time to perfect appeals.

Wishing everyone an enjoyable weekend.

Table of Contents

Civil Decisions

Good evening.

Following are our summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of March 7, 2022.

In Ernst & Young Inc. v. Aquino, the court upheld the application judge’s decision to grant the orders the Bondfield monitor and trustee in bankruptcy requiring payments made at undervalue to be repaid.  In coming to its decision, the Court applied the corporate attribution doctrine.

This is how Tribune ends: not with a bang, but a whimper. The 12-year litigation saga, rooted in the spectacular failure of the media and sports conglomerate’s 2007 leveraged buyout, reached an end in late February with a curt “cert. denied” from the US Supreme Court.

Morgan Lewis was one of the firms that captained the defense for Tribune’s former shareholders. This post notes some lessons that we learned—and relearned.

Lesson One: Section 546(e)’s ‘New’ Safe Harbor

The US Supreme Court tends to hear a couple of bankruptcy cases per term. Most of these cases deal with interpreting provisions of the Bankruptcy Code. However, every few years or so, the Supreme Court decides a constitutional issue in bankruptcy. Some are agita-inducing (Northern Pipeline, Stern), some less so (Katz). The upcoming case is a little more nuanced, but could have major consequences.

Insight

Consider a lender that extends a term loan in the amount of $1 million to an entity debtor. The loan is guaranteed by the debtor’s owner. If both the debtor and the guarantor become subject to bankruptcy cases, it is settled that the lender has a claim of $1 million (ignoring interest and expenses) in each bankruptcy case. However, the lender cannot recover more than $1 million in total in the two cases combined. (Ivanhoe Building & Loan Ass'n of Newark, NJ v. Orr, 295 U.S. 243 (1935).)