The First Circuit Court of Appeals in In re SW Boston Hotel Venture, LLC, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 6768 (1st Cir. Apr. 11, 2014) recently ruled on a number of issues critical to valuing a secured claim in bankruptcy. Specifically, the court 1) endorsed the use of a “flexible approach” to value collateral under the circumstances of this case, 2) recognized that the date collateral should be valued is the lender’s burden to prove, and 3) confirmed that the pre-petition agreement’s default interest rate should generally be used to determine the post-petition interest rate.
On a recent Mayer Brown JSM application (on behalf of the Liquidators of one of the Lehman Brothers entities) to reduce and expunge proofs of debt, the Hong Kong High Court has ruled that creditors who receive an overpayment of dividends due in respect of a proof of debt which has been “improperly admitted” (rule 96, Companies Winding-Up Rules) must give credit for those overpayments before receiving further dividends in the liquidation (Re Lehman Brothers Commercial Corp Asia Ltd (“LBCCA”) [2014] HKEC 849) (“Proof Appl
Debtors must provide known creditors with actual notice of a claims bar date if they want the bar date to apply to those creditors. Such was the holding in In re Majorca Isles Master Association, Inc., Case No. 12-19056-AJC, Dkt. No. 222 (Bankr. S.D. Fla. March 27, 2014), where the bankruptcy court stated that when both a debtor and a creditor are “guilty in the handling of a claim and the [d]ebtor is aware of the creditor’s claim, then a tie goes to the creditor[,]” and the creditor’s claim will be allowed.
Last Tuesday, Puerto Rico sold its much-ballyhooed $3.5 billion in non-investment grade general obligation bonds. Two days later, two legislators in Puerto Rico’s Senate filed a bill which, if enacted, would permit insolvency filings by Puerto Rico’s public corporations in Puerto Rico’s territorial trial court. The juxtaposition of the two events has some bond investors crying foul.
The Third Party (Rights Against Insurers) Ordinance Cap 273 (TPRAI) in Hong Kong allows third parties to claim against the wrongdoer’s liability insurer in the event of insolvency. The Supreme Court of New Zealand (the country’s highest court) found in BFSL 2007 Ltd (in liquidation) v. Steigrad [2013] NZSC 156 (known as the Bridgecorp case) that under the equivalent statutory provision in New Zealand, payment of defence costs do not reduce the limit of indemnity.
Introduction Hong Kong At a Glance Population: 7 million Languages: English, Cantonese and Mandarin Time zones: 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time Climate: Subtropical with long, hot summers and pleasant temperate winters Political System
Did you know that dispositions of property of a solvent company made after the commencement of a winding-up will unlikely be disturbed unless it can be demonstrated that the disposition is not in the interests of the company?
As we pointed out in our Legal Update of 30 January 2014 ("New Companies Ordinance – Old Winding Up and Insolvency Regime"), the new Companies Ordinance for Hong Kong (Chapter 622) is scheduled to take effect from 3 March 2014 but it will not cover the winding-up and insolvency regime.
In a recent decision by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Weisfelner, v. Fund 1, et al. (In re Lyondell Chem. Co.), 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 159 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.
Did you know that in the recent matter of Chan Kam Cheung v. Sun Light Elastic Ltd & Another1 the petitioner's alternative remedy for winding-up was struck out by the court?