Walro v. The Lee Group Holding Co., LLC (In re Lee), 524 B.R. 798 (Bankr. S.D. Ind. 2014) –
A chapter 7 trustee sought a court determination that (1) a debtor’s voting rights in a limited liability company (LLC) were property of the bankruptcy estate, and (2) other members of the LLC violated the automatic stay by taking action to remove the debtor as a member and terminating his voting rights.
When an insolvent entity files for bankruptcy, it can be tough to be a creditor. But holding equity — stock in a corporation or a membership interest in an LLC, a limited liability company — can be even worse. Under bankruptcy’s “absolute priority rule,” creditors generally must be paid in full before equity gets anything. That usually means that holders of equity, or claims treated as equity, get nothing.
A recent decision by the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York may enhance the ability of bankruptcy trustees and creditors committees to challenge allegedly fraudulent transfers that could qualify for protection under the “safe harbor” of section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code.
Rev Op Group v. ML Manager LLC (In re Mortgages Ltd.), 771 F.3d 623 (9th Cir. 2014) –
Under the terms of a debtor’s confirmed plan of reorganization, an entity (ML Manager) was designated to manage the debtor’s portfolio of mortgage loans. The issue in this appeal was whether ML Manager was authorized to act as an agent for pass-through investors in selling loans over the objection of some of the investors.
Morris v. Ark Valley Credit Union (In re Gracy), 522 B.R. 686 (Bankr. D. Kan. 2015) –
A chapter 7 trustee sought to avoid a credit union’s security interest in a manufactured home by asserting his strong arm powers as a hypothetical lien creditor based on the lender’s failure to perfect its lien. The bankruptcy court declined to avoid the lien since it held there was no lien to avoid.
Risky Business. When a debtor is a licensee under a trademark license agreement, does it risk losing those license rights when it files bankruptcy? The question had not been answered in a Delaware bankruptcy case until Judge Kevin Gross recently addressed it in the In re Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc. Chapter 11 case. A lot was riding on the decision, not just for the parties involved but, given how many Chapter 11 cases are filed in Delaware, more generally for other trademark licensees and owners as well.
In re Sky Ventures, LLC, 523 B.R. 163 (Bankr. D. Minn. 2014) –
After a debtor obtained court approval to retroactively reject a lease as of the bankruptcy filing date, the landlord moved to reset the rejection date and for allowance of an administrative expense priority claim for post-petition rent.