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As you may know by now, many of the Official Forms for use in Bankruptcy Courts were replaced with revised, reformatted and renumbered forms that went into effect on December 1, 2015. The changes were made as part of a forms modernization effort that began in 2008 to improve the official bankruptcy forms and the interface between the forms and the courts’ case opening and electronic case management technology.

Federal Law No. 391-FZ on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation of December 29, 2015

The Law introduced amendments to various regulatory acts in the area of bankruptcy, notaries, appraisal activities and concession agreements. We will touch on the changes most important for the real estate market:

Leslie Benedict: “Money isn’t everything, Jett”
Jett Rink: “Not when you’ve got it.”
Giant (1956)

Cases decided recently in Florida and Illinois call into question one legal rule that some might have thought well-settled: a first-perfected security interest in collateral beats a later-perfected lien creditor's interest in that same collateral. Seems simple enough. Except this rule might not be followed in every State.

1. Adoption and entry into force of the Russian Federation Code of Administrative Procedure dated March 8, 2015, No. 21-FZ

In Castellanos v. Midland Funding, LLC, 15-CV-559 (M.D. Fla. Jan. 4, 2016) the United States District Judge John Steele joined with several of his Middle District of Florida colleagues and held that the Bankruptcy Code preempts the FDCPA with respect to filing time-barred proofs of claim.

In Garfield v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, 15-527 (2d Cir. Jan. 4, 2016), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals examined whether a debtor who has been discharged in a bankruptcy can sue in a district court under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), as opposed to seeking relief in the bankruptcy court.

In the case of Domistyle, Inc., 14-41463 (5th Cir. Dec. 29, 2015), the United States Court of Appeal for the Fifth Circuit affirmed an order of the bankruptcy court requiring a secured creditor to reimburse the trustee for expenses paid to preserve real property subject to the creditor’s lien until the debtor’s eventual surrender of the property to the creditor.

According to recent Italian case law Real Estate Funds may now enter as debtors into the debt restructuring agreements (so called “accordi di ristrutturazione dei debiti”) provided for by the Italian bankruptcy law.1 Reference is made to Milan Court Decrees 6 November 2015 and 3 December 2015 (the “Case Law”).2