As widely expected, GM and all of its domestic subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on June 1, 2009. Besides General Motors Corporation, the other three associated debtors are: Chevrolet-Saturn of Harlem, Inc., Saturn, LLC and Saturn Distribution Corporation. Please note that GMAC is not included in these bankruptcy filings.
Judge Arthur J. Gonzalez presided over hearings May 20, 2009, in this mega bankruptcy case. There were 21 matters on the agenda, as well as an emergency motion, that were heard or adjourned to a later date, in approximately two and a half hours of hearings (click here for a link to the audio file provided by the Clerk of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York; it may take a moment to load before playing).
Our first update1 discussed various initial proceedings in the Chrysler bankruptcy cases. This update provides certain information on the Order Approving Bidding Procedures for the Sale of Substantially all of the Debtors’ Assets, which was entered by the court on May 7, 2009, and the Interim Order Approving a DIP Credit Facility and Authorizing the Debtors to Obtain Post-Petition Financing, which was entered by the court on May 4, 2009. The final DIP Financing and Sale hearings are scheduled for May 20, 2009, and May 27, 2009, respectively.
As widely reported, on April 30, 2009, (the Petition Date), Chrysler LLC and its 24 domestic and indirect subsidiaries (the Debtors) filed voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the Court).
American Bankruptcy Institute: Caribbean Symposium 2009
Introduction
The recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Saulnier (Receiver of) v. Saulnier has changed the basis for determining whether a licence is property under a provincial Personal Property Security Act (“PPSA”) and the federal Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (“BIA”).
In Thabalt v Chait (Nov. 2008), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld an award of damages against PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP (PWC) based on PWC’s alleged negligent audit of the Ambassador Insurance Company. Plaintiff, the Vermont Insurance
The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on May 30, 2008, issued a memorandum opinion in which it refused to dismiss claims of breach of fiduciary duty against directors and officers of a company who approved the sale of the company’s assets on the eve of its filing for bankruptcy protection. In issuing its opinion inIn re Bridgeport Holdings Inc., the court provided some guidelines for directors and officers, particularly during challenging economic times.
On July 7, 2008 specific provisions of the Insolvency Reform Act, 2005 and the Insolvency Reform Act, 2007 were proclaimed into force by Order in Council. As a result, the Wage Earner Protection Program Act (the “WEPPA”) and certain related amendments to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (“BIA”) have come into immediate effect.
Certain of those amendments are intended to protect current and former employees of insolvent companies and will affect lenders to insolvent businesses.
The relationship between Canada and the United States is one of the closest and most extensive in the world. With the equivalent of $1.6 billion in bilateral trade every day3, it is no surprise that a large number of US companies have subsidiary operations and assets located in Canada. Despite numerous socio-economic similarities between both countries and legal regimes both anchored in the tradition of common law, there are a number of legal differences that have the potential to significantly impact US companies doing business in Canada.