On 5 July 2019 the Minister of Justice submitted a bill to parliament that will add a new powerful tool to the Dutch restructuring toolbox. The bill on the “Act on the Confirmation of a Private Restructuring Plan” is expected to introduce a serious competitor to the UK’s Scheme of Arrangement and the USA’s Chapter 11. The introduction of the bill will move one step closer on 26 September 2019, when members of the parliament are scheduled to submit their questions and remarks on the bill to parliament’s Standing Committee on Justice and Security.

1. Introduction

On May 20, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Mission Products Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC nka Old Cold LLC, (Case No. 17-1657, U.S. Supreme Court, May 20, 2019) ("Tempnology"). The U.S. Supreme Court decided that a trademark licensee can continue to use a trademark license even when a bankrupt trademark licensor rejects the license agreement.

Imagine that a debtor voluntarily concludes a transaction with a third party where he knows (or should know) that it hinders the creditor’s possibilities of collecting the debt. In civil law countries, a creditor can invoke the nullification of that legal act by means of a so-called actio pauliana. This raises the question of which court has jurisdiction in the case of an international dispute, regarding an actio pauliana, that is instituted by a creditor against a third party?

1. Introduction

In zijn conclusie van 7 november 2018 formuleert raadsheer advocaat-generaal Widdershoven vijf vuistregels die richtinggevend zouden moeten zijn bij het leerstuk van ‘afgeleid belang’ in het kader van het belanghebbendebegrip in de Algemene wet bestuursrecht (art. 1:2 lid 1 Awb).

Belanghebbendebegrip en afgeleid belang

The Great Recession of 2008 may seem a distant memory. September 15, 2018 is the 10th anniversary of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, and often seen as the point at which a garden-variety recession turned into the Great Recession, with catastrophic results severely impacting the livelihood of millions.

After a January 2018 decision by the First Circuit Court of Appeals, trademark licensees are faced with uncertainty again. (In re Tempnology, LLC, 879 F.3d 389 (1st Cir. 2018)). In our previous update, we discussed a 7th Circuit case dealing with the same issue. At the time we predicted that the holding in the case may have resolved the issue. (Sunbeam Products, Inc. v. Chicago American Manufacturing, LLC, 686 F.3d 372 (7th Cir. 2012)). But that was wrong.

Het voorontwerp Wet homologatie onderhands akkoord ter voorkoming van faillissement moet het een in financieel zwaar weer verkerende onderneming mogelijk maken om buiten faillissement of surseance haar schulden te saneren door een akkoord op te leggen aan alle schuldeisers. Een faillissement kan hiermee worden voorkomen. De rechten van schuldeisers en aandeelhouders kunnen hierbij worden gewijzigd.

Introduction

On 17 November 2017, the Supreme Court confirmed the existing case law that if employees are entitled to payment in cash for unused leave due to the bankruptcy of their employer, such claims are considered to be estate debts, regardless of when the entitlement to such leave accrued (ECLI:NL:HR:2017:2907). This ruling was given as a response to a request for a preliminary ruling by the Leiden Subdistrict Court.