On average, the Supreme Court hears a single bankruptcy case each term. But during the October 2022 term, the Supreme Court issued a remarkable four decisions in bankruptcy cases. These decisions, which are summarized below, address appellate issues relating to sale orders, the discharge of claims obtained by fraud, and sovereign immunity issues in two different contexts.

I. Section 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code is not a jurisdictional provision that precludes appellate review of asset sale orders.

Hundreds and hundreds of claims for personal injury and property damage associated with PFAS contamination have been accumulating in the courtroom of a Federal Judge in South Carolina. A little over four years ago the Federal Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation determined that Federal claims that Aqueous Film-Forming Foams (AFFF) containing PFAS used to fight fires had contaminated drinking water had enough in common that they should all be sent to Federal Judge Gergel in South Carolina for disposition.

In the recent case of Re Avanti Communications Ltd (In Administration)¹, the High Court considered whether charges granted by a satellite business over certain equipment and intangible assets (the Relevant Assets) were fixed or floating.

In line with EU regulation, Luxembourg has finally passed an amendment resulting in the creation of an insolvency register, active since 10 February, 2023. The change will affect Luxembourg companies declared insolvent and is intended to improve searches of insolvency registers throughout the EU.

Entrepreneurs in difficulty, who are struggling with the performance of a contract, may benefit from a restructuring procedure. Any restructuring procedure guarantees the protection of executed contracts, with the most effective solution being the reorganization procedure (postępowanie sanacyjne).

This note aims to provide brief and practical answers to common questions on the law of assignment in English law finance transactions.

1. Are all notified assignments legal assignments?

Key Takeaways

Incorporating the principles contained in EU insolvency directives, the new Italian Insolvency Code affirms the goal of resolving crises in the least traumatic way possible for the business. This represents a fundamental innovation of the underlying philosophy of Italian insolvency law and the remedies envisaged for companies in distress so that they may successfully restructure their outstanding exposure. Below, we provide a general overview of the Insolvency Code and its key remedies.

The Insolvency Code in brief

A bankruptcy court’s recent denial of a debtor’s petition for bankruptcy relief on narrow grounds casts a long shadow on the viability of bankruptcy relief for those employed in the cannabis industry. Though confining the court’s holding to this debtor’s case, the court concluded that because the debtor engaged, and intended to continue engaging, in activities that violate the Federal Controlled Substances Act, the debtor could not objectively have filed for bankruptcy or proposed a plan of reorganization in good faith, as required by Federal bankruptcy law.

The Corporate Enforcement Authority recently published its guidance note on EU Directive 2019/1023 known as the "Preventive Restructuring Directive", which you will find here (Information Note).