A corporate borrower’s bank accounts can provide powerful security for lenders, especially if the secured party knows that it can quickly and easily sweep the funds if the borrower defaults.

Trade creditors take note: even though Chapter 11 debtors may continue purchasing goods and services and may continue operating in the ordinary course of their business, an earned cash payment in the creditor’s hands may not be safe from recovery. Moreover if you are a party to a supply contract and under an obligation to continue to furnish goods or services, the payments you receive may be recoverable by a subsequently appointed trustee.

At long last, amendments to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) and theCompanies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) have come into force, providing licensees of intellectual property (IP) with some additional level of protection.

Amendments to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) have recently come into force that purportedly protect licensees of intellectual property (IP) if their licensors become insolvent or bankrupt. There are, however, a number of uncertainties surrounding the scope of protection afforded by these amendments. Until these uncertainties are resolved, licensees may wish to consider augmenting their statutory rights by contractual and other legal mechanisms. A Bankruptcy Remote Entity (BRE) is one potential mechanism.

Everyday, most of us in the United States encounter evidence of relentless economic globalization. Gone are the days when American-brand automobiles dominated our roads. As a result of NAFTA, fresh Mexican produce fills the shelves of our local supermarkets. You are perhaps just as likely to fly overseas on Japan Air Lines, Aer Lingus or Lufthansa as on Northwest-Delta, American or United.

As the automotive industry continues to restructure, whether through self-liquidation or government intervention, suppliers will inevitably be confronted with many of the same issues prevalent 4-5 years ago, including a supplier’s obligation to continue to provide goods post-petition and the supplier’s rights to adequate assurance as a condition to such shipment.

In Canada, there is more than one insolvency regime available to an insolvent company that wishes to restructure its debts and operations. However, the most commonly used regime for large companies ? and sometimes for smaller companies, because it is the most flexible ? is the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada) (CCAA). The most commonly used regime for smaller companies or less complicated restructurings is proposal proceedings under theBankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Canada) (BIA).

CCAA

There has been no shortage of victims in this financial crisis. Pensions and retirement savings have been severely reduced, jobs have been lost and once powerful financial institutions have failed. But, there is, perhaps, another victim that has largely gone unnoticed: the rule of law.

In his Evil Empire speech before the British House of Commons in June 1982, President Ronald Reagan refocused American political values on the rule of law.

The Ontario Court of Appeal has approved a creative use of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) designed to unfreeze the $32-billion Canadian market for asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP).

As has been widely publicized, the Canadian ABCP market froze in August 2007 as a result of concerns in world credit markets arising from the US subprime mortgage crisis. After the market froze, a Pan-Canadian Investors Committee was formed to attempt to restructure it.

Given the state of the economy, it will not be a rare occurrence in the short term for a supplier to receive a request to sell and deliver further goods to a purchaser who has filed proceedings under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) or Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code — and who is already indebted for unpaid pre-filing sales.