Judge Rhodes has approved the plan of adjustment for Detroit to emerge from bankruptcy.  More analysis to come, but most critically for our purposes it affirms the Grand Bargain and the security of the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts.  We’ll post the full opinion when it’s published, but notably, Nathan Bomey at the Detroit Free Press reported from the courtroom that Judge Rhodes praised the decision not to sell the DIA collection: “Maintaining the art at the DIA is critical to maintaining the feasibility of the city’s plan of adjustment and the city’s future.

BACKGROUND

Throughout the Detroit bankruptcy and the attendant speculation about what role, if any, the collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts that is owned by the city should play, a parallel parlor game has been to try to guess what Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s endgame and motivation really was.  He has dropped hints a

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts has answered a lingering  question about the interpretation of Massachusetts’s fine art consignment  law, G.L. c. 104A, § 2. Laying to rest any doubts about whether a written  agreement is required at the time of delivery to create a consignment  under the statute, the SJC has interpreted the 2006 amendments to the  law for the first time and clarified the roles of everyone involved.

After Syncora Capital settled its objections to the Detroit bankruptcy plan of adjustment, it looked like the battle over the Detroit Institute of Arts collection would subside.  Not so fast, it turns out.  A major contest looms next week with a remaining creditor, Financial Guaranty Insurance Corporation, over the valuation of the collection.  Just to recap, the creditors (including both Syncora and FGIC) submitted a valuation of the entire DIA collection that put the value between $8 billion, performed by Victor Wiener Associates, while DIA and the city advanced an appraisa

The US Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California (the "Court") recently upheld the validity of a commercial lease provision by which a debtor/tenant waived its rights to seek relief from forfeiture (i.e., termination) of the lease under California law. As a result, the debtor/tenant had no right in the bankruptcy case to assume the lease. In re Art and Architecture Books of the 21st Century, Case No. 2:13-bk-14135-RK (September 18, 2014).

The Supreme Judicial Court, the high court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, has answered a certified question from the Bankruptcy Court about the interpretation of Massachusetts’s fine art consignment law, G.L. c. 104A.  The case, Eve Plumb et al. v.

Fourteen former MF Global executives, including Jon Corzine, the former chairman and chief executive officer, are entitled to access most of a US $200 million directors and officers liability insurance policy purchased by MF Global Holdings prior to the firm filing for bankruptcy in October 2011, under the decision of a US bankruptcy court in NYC last week. The executives had previously made a motion to access the insurance.

Opening statements concluded in the Detroit Bankruptcy trial yesterday, and as expected, the role of the art at the Detroit Institute of Arts played a central role. Although opening statements constitute nothing of evidentiary value, they obviously show the road map that the various sides intend to follow. Thanks to courtroom reporting, we have a number of clues about the themes that the lawyers intend to develop.

International businesses involved in transactions associated in some way  with U.S. citizens received a measure of relief over the 4th of July holiday  weekend.