After reporting its lowest annual recovery from False Claim Act (“FCA”) cases in Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has reportedly bounced back. On February 1, 2021, DOJ released detailed statistics regarding FCA recoveries during FY 2021, during which DOJ reportedly obtained more than $5.6 billion in civil FCA settlements and judgments, of which $5 billion related to matters involving the health care industry.

Last week was a bad week for landlords, with challenges to the restructuring plan proposed by the Virgin Active Group and the company voluntary arrangement ("CVA") implemented by New Look both being unsuccessful in the courts. Whilst the recent revocation by the court of the Regis CVA may provide a glimmer of hope, the general outlook is not optimistic.

Business headlines have warned of a potential “chilling effect on buyouts” as a result of the decision recently issued by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in In re: Nine West LBO Securities Litigation (Dec. 4, 2020). Contrary to the views of some other commentators on the decision, we do not believe that the decision is likely to chill leveraged buyout activity, to upend how LBOs have been conducted, or to significantly increase the potential of liability for target company directors selling the company in an LBO.

On December 14, 2020, Judge Marvin Isgur of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, issued an important decision in the CEC Entertainment, Inc. (Chuck E. Cheese) bankruptcy case, Case No. 20-33163, denying the Debtors’ motion to abate their obligations to pay post-petition rent due to government shutdown orders issued as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Memorandum Opinion [Dkt. No. 1492].

*Fried Frank published a memorandum titled COVID-19 Pandemic: Key UK Government and Bank of England Initiatives to Support Businesses on March 30, 2020 and published updates to this memorandum on April 15, 2020, May 13, 2020 and June 15, 2020. As we approach the expiry of a number of the UK Government's initial COVID-19 business support initiatives, this memorandum summarises the UK Government measures that have been announced and that are to be available to eligible UK businesses as we move into 2021.

In a case litigated by the authors, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held in In re Marzieh Bastanipour, Case No. 20-1373 (7th Cir. June 10, 2020) that Chapter 13 debtors are not permitted in forma pauperis fee waivers absent a showing of extraordinary circumstances.

In 2018, the Debtor, Marzieh Bastanipour, filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. This was the third Chapter 13 petition filed by the Debtor since 2013.

Force majeure clauses and the doctrines of impossibility and/or impracticability remain among the most-discussed legal topics of the COVID-19 pandemic. Courts across the country, finally open, are grappling with those issues and giving some insight as to how these topics may play out in future cases.

On 20 May 2020, the UK Government presented the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill (the “Bill”) to the House of Commons. The Bill is being fast-tracked through Parliament, with the aim of completing all stages and becoming law during July 2020. On 3 June 2020, the Bill was passed by the House of Commons and the Bill is now to be considered by the House of Lords, and if approved, it will require Royal Assent before becoming law.

Seyfarth Synopsis: In acquiring a company in bankruptcy, there is often a tendency to think this guarantees the purchaser will be “free and clear” of any liability (including so-called “successor liability”). This is not necessarily so with wage and hour liability, particularly if the purchaser merely continues to operate virtually the same business that was acquired.

*Fried Frank published a memorandum titled COVID-19 Pandemic: Key UK Government and Bank of England Initiatives to Support Businesses on March 30, 2020 ("March 30 Memorandum") and published an update to the March 30 Memorandum on April 15, 2020 (the "April 15 Update"). In light of the rapidly developing situation and government response, the April 15 Update has been further updated to include the latest guidance provided by the UK Government, in particular as to employment retention initiatives and loan schemes, and is current as of May 12, 2020.