In a decision that may create serious problems for bankruptcy case administration, the Supreme Court this morning invalidated part of the Bankruptcy Court jurisdictional scheme. Stern v. Marshall, No. 10-179, 564 U.S. ___ (June 23, 2011). Specifically, the Court held that the Bankruptcy Courts cannot issue final judgments on garden variety state law claims that are asserted as counterclaims by the debtor or trustee against creditors who have filed proofs of claim in the bankruptcy case.
Section 108 of the Bankruptcy Code grants a two-year extension of time for a trustee in bankruptcy (or a debtor in possession) to bring law suits, provided that the applicable period to sue didn’t expire before the petition date. It also gives a short extension to the trustee for filing pleadings, curing defaults, and performing other acts on behalf of the debtor. These provisions afford a trustee and debtor in possession valuable time to discover and evaluate potential causes of action and to perform other acts to preserve the debtor’s rights.
Google stepped closer to acquiring Nortel’s portfolio of 6,000 telecommunications, wireless and Internet patents on Monday as courts in the U.S. and Canada approved the web search giant’s “stalking horse” offer of $900 million for those patents. Announced on April 4, Google’s offer effectively constitutes the opening bid in an auction that will be decided at a joint hearing of the U.S. and Canadian courts on June 30. The auction also opens the latest chapter in the ongoing bankruptcy process for Nortel.
On April 26, 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States adopted amended Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 2019 (“Rule 2019”). Rule 2019 governs disclosure requirements for groups and committees that consist of or represent multiple creditors or equity security holders, as well as lawyers and other entities that represent multiple creditors or equity security holders, acting in concert in a chapter 9 or chapter 11 bankruptcy case.
《国家税务总局关于纳税人资产重组有关增值税问题的公告》(02/18/2011)
The State Administration of Taxation released the Announcement onIssues Concerning Value-Added Tax Relevant to Taxpayers’ Assets Restructuring (the “VAT Announcement”) on February 18, 2011. The effective date of the Announcement is March 1, 2011.
There was good news on two fronts this week for direct broadcast satellite (DBS) operator DISH Network. On Sunday, DISH settled a retransmission dispute with LIN Media with the signing of a new carriage contract that restored to DISH subscribers LIN broadcast network signals that were cut off on March 5. That development was followed by a New York bankruptcy court’s decision on Tuesday to approve a revised agreement through which DISH would acquire the assets of bankrupt mobile satellite services (MSS) provider DBSD North America for $1.5 billion.
Chinese telecom equipment firm Huawei Technologies said Monday that it would wait for a decision from President Obama before it acts on a U.S. national security panel’s recommendation that it divest 3Leaf Systems, a small U.S. technology firm that Huawei bought out of bankruptcy in May. Huawei, which recently claimed the rank of the world’s second-largest supplier of telecommunications equipment, acquired 3Leaf—a start-up provider of server technologies—without first notifying the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
On February 7, 2011, in In re DBSD North America, Inc.,1 the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit released its opinion joining the Third Circuit in condemning socalled “gifting plans,” thus deepening the perceived circuit split with the First Circuit which has been interpreted as approving of gifting plans. In so doing, the Second Circuit relied on the U.S. Supreme Court cases of Bank of Am. Nat’l Trust & Sav. Ass’n v. 203 N. LaSalle St. P’ship2 and Norwest Bank Worthington v.
The current "Great Recession," which began in late 2007 with a maelstrom in the debt capital markets, has necessitated a rethinking of the federal income tax rules governing debt restructurings. The harsh rules2 promulgated by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in reaction to the 1991 taxpayer-favorable decision in Cottage Savings v. Commissioner,3 have been inhibiting restructurings. Instead, rules that did not trigger adverse tax results have been needed to induce lenders and borrowers to restructure obligations that can no longer be paid according to their terms.
Regional landline network operator Fairpoint Communications is finally poised to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a result of the decision of the Vermont Public Safety Board (VPSB) to approve the company’s amended reorganization plan. Vermont had been the lone holdout among Maine, New Hampshire and 15 other states that had previously endorsed the plan. The reorganization was precipitated largely by the financial burden of FairPoint’s $2.3 billion purchase of New England landlines from Verizon Communications in 2008.