The case concerned credit default swaps entered into between Lehman Brothers Special Financing Inc., and various parties, and the rights of the parties in respect of collateral held by a trustee.
The Supreme Court recently issued its opinion in Stern v. Marshall (Stern), Case No. 10-179, 2011 WL 2472792 (U.S. June 23, 2011), invalidating the relatively common assumption that so called “core” bankruptcy proceedings are all matters in which the bankruptcy courts are permitted to enter final judgment, and undoubtedly fostering heightened jurisdictional scrutiny in the future.
The liquidator of Onslow Ditching Ltd (ODL), sought a declaration against two directors (on three grounds), seeking damages/fines or a contribution of assets from each director for:
On June 8, 2011, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the appointment of Assemblyman Jonathan Bing to serve as Special Deputy Superintendent of the New York Liquidation Bureau, an agency tasked with protecting policyholders and creditors of insurance companies that have gone bankrupt. Bing steps in as the successor to Dennis J. Hayes, who was appointed to the position in September 2009. Bing’s appointment ends his fifth term in the New York State Assembly, where he has represented the 73rd District since November 2002.
Following the Court of Appeal decision in their application to the Court for directions to enable them to identify client money and its traceable proceeds (as previously reported here), the administrators of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) sought further directions regarding the further work to be carried out, the evidence to be prepared and the identification of appropriate respondents and sought a protective costs order.
The English High court has approved a scheme of arrangement for a company incorporated in Germany which had its centre of main interests in Germany, no establishment in the UK and no assets in the UK likely to be affected by the scheme.
This case is one of a number of recent cases where restructurings of foreign companies have been effected by English schemes of arrangement. The court set out its reasoning in this case in some detail in view of the possibility that the European Court of Justice would consider some of the relevant issues in a forthcoming appeal in another case.
On April 25, 2011, the Rhode Island Superior Court (Silverstein, J.) ruled in favor of the constitutionality of the Voluntary Restructuring of Solvent Insurers Act (the “Restructuring Act”), a state statute enacted in 2002 that allows Rhode Island domestic commercial insurers and reinsurers (including those that redomesticate to Rhode Island) to enter into a commutation plan for their run-off business.
In BNY Corporate Trustee Services Limited v Eurosail–UK 2007–3BL Plc and others, the Court of Appeal ruled on the interpretation of the so-called "balance-sheet" test of insolvency under section 123(2) of the Insolvency Act 1986. This is essentially that a company is deemed unable to pay its debts if the value of its assets is less than the amount of its liabilities, taking into account its contingent and prospective liabilities. This appears to be the first reported case on the interpretation of the balance-sheet test of insolvency.
The administrator who is running off the business of English (re)insurer GLOBAL General & Reinsurance Company Ltd filed a petition under Chapter 15 of the United States Bankruptcy Code with the federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan yesterday. The petition asks for the court's assistance with the last of four Schemes of Arrangement for GLOBAL, which was sanctioned by the High Court of Justice for England & Wales on January 28, 2011.
As we reported earlier in the week, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") has begun filing lawsuits against the directors and officers of banks that it now holds in receivership . The lawsuits are consistent with previous public statements in which the FDIC committed to try to recover, from the directors and officers of these failed banks, some of the $2.5 billion lost to bad loans in recent years.