Rechtbank Noord-Holland heeft op 19 februari 2021 de eerste twee akkoorden onder de WHOA gehomologeerd. Het betroffen akkoorden van Jurlights B.V. en Jurlights Holding B.V., een werkmaatschappij en een holding actief in de evenementen-branche.
In de uitspraak van Rechtbank Rotterdam van 3 maart 2021 is door verzoekster aan de rechtbank de vraag voorgelegd, of onderscheid in behandeling van de concurrente crediteuren (een weigeringsgrond oplevert die) aan homologatie van een akkoord in de weg zou staan.
WHOA: Alle in het 1e kwartaal van 2021 gepubliceerde rechterlijke uitspraken gebundeld Op 1 januari 2021 is de Wet Homologatie Onderhands Akkoord (“WHOA”) in werking getreden. Het eerste kwartaal na inwerkingtreding zijn 17 rechterlijke uitspraken met betrekking tot de WHOA gepubliceerd. Het insolventieteam van Ploum bestaande uit Vincent Terlouw, Suzanne van Aalst en Boaz van Honk houdt de ontwikkelingen nauwlettend in de gaten. In deze door Suzanne van Aalst opgestelde bijdrage zal de essentie van deze uitspraken worden behandeld.
The debtors' legal malpractice claim was "not property of their bankruptcy estate," held a split Ninth Circuit on June 30, 2020. In re Glaser, 816 Fed. Appx. 103, 104 (9th Cir. June 30, 2020) (2-1). But the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota one week later affirmed a bankruptcy court judgment that "the [debtor's] estate was the proper owner" of such a claim. In re Bruess, 2020 WL3642324, 1 (D. Minn. July 6, 2020).
A secured lender's "mere retention of property [after a pre-bankruptcy repossession] does not violate" the automatic stay provision [362(a) (3)] of the Bankruptcy Code, held a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 14, 2021. City of Chicago v. Fulton, 2021 WL 125106, 4 ( Jan. 14, 2021). Reversing the Seventh Circuit's affirmance of a bankruptcy court judgment holding a secured lender in contempt for violating the automatic stay, the Court resolved "a split" in the Circuits. Id. at 2. The Second, Eighth and Ninth Circuits had agreed with the Seventh Circuit.
Brazos Electric Power Cooperative recently filed for Chapter 11 relief in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, weeks after the February ice storm severely disrupted Texas’s electricity supply and prices. Brazos filed for bankruptcy in part to shield its member cooperatives and consumers from liability for invoices totaling over $2.1 billion from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
On Oct. 27, 2020, Judge Marvin Isgur for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas held that (1) a make-whole premium was not interest or unmatured interest and thus not subject to disallowance, (2) a make-whole claim was enforceable as liquidated damages under New York law and (3) the solvent debtor exception survived the enactment of the Bankruptcy Code and the Noteholders were entitled to postpetition interest at the contractual default rate.
The bankruptcy trustee of a bank holding company was not entitled to a consolidated corporate tax refund when a bank subsidiary had incurred losses generating the refund, held the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on May 26, 2020. Rodriguez v. FDIC (In re United Western Bancorp, Inc.), 2020 WL 2702425(10th Cir May 26, 2020). On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Tenth Circuit, as directed, applied "Colorado law to resolve" the question of "who owns the federal tax refund." Id., at 2.
A lender’s state law tort claims against “non-debtor third-parties for tortious interference with a contract” were “not preempted” by “federal bankruptcy law,” held the New York Court of Appeals on Nov. 24, 2020. Sutton 58 Associates LLC v. Pilevsky, 2020 WL 6875979, *1 (N.Y. Ct. Appeals, Nov. 24, 2020) (4-3). In a split opinion, the Court of Appeals reversed the Appellate Division’s dismissal of a lender’s complaint against the debtors’ non-debtor insiders. The lender will still have to prove its case at trial.
The Asserted Claims