When a creditor seeks equitable relief in a bankruptcy court, must the court always follow common law principles of equity? Not according to several courts, including the Second Circuit. Concluding that the granting of equitable remedies may circumvent the Bankruptcy Code's equitable distribution system, courts have limited the application of equitable remedies in the bankruptcy context.

A recent decision of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit appears to have further raised the hurdle to equitably subordinate claims. Continuing what appears to be a move toward a narrower interpretation of equitable subordination, the Seventh Circuit held that misconduct alone does not provide sufficient justification to equitably subordinate a claim; injury to the interests of other creditors is required as well.

The rejection of collective bargaining agreements or modification of retiree benefits under Bankruptcy Code §§ 1113 and 1114, respectively, were again of central importance in a number of airline cases.

In the wake of the recent turmoil in the financial markets the German government has agreed on a package of measures to stabilise the financial markets and to avoid adverse effects on the real economy. The draft bill as introduced on 15 October 2008 has been passed already and comes into force as from 18 October 2008.

In the wake of recent bankruptcy filings by several prominent financial institutions, there’s a growing interest in changing standard credit documentation to address the risks of defaulting lenders and nonperforming administrative agents. Here are credit agreement provisions that financial institutions, acting as swingline lenders and letter of credit issuers, can require to protect themselves against the risk of a defaulting lender.

On July 22, 2008, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed denial of the motion of Parmalat S.p.A. ("New Parmalat") to extend an injunction provided to its predecessor, Parmalat Finanziaria, S.p.A., under Bankruptcy Code section 304, against securities fraud actions.1 Although the appeal addressed the issue of injunction in the context of superseded Bankruptcy Code section 304, this decision and the underlying lower court opinion signify other issues of broader import, including the need for careful plan drafting and the complexities inherent in cross-border cases.

The Fifth Circuit recently issued an opinion addressing an important issue with respect to the preservation of a debtor's causes of action in a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization. The Fifth Circuit held that a reorganized debtor lacked standing to pursue certain common-law claims that were based on the pre-confirmation management of the bankruptcy estate's assets.

Two recent Federal appeals court decisions — one issued by the Fifth, the other by the Second Circuit — illustrate the dangers of careless drafting of bankruptcy and reorganization plans. In the Fifth Circuit decision, a drafting error prevented a company reorganized under Chapter 11 from suing the administrators of its property during its bankruptcy for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and negligence, thereby potentially depriving its creditors of bankruptcy assets.

Xi Xiaoming, the deputy president of China’s Supreme People’s Court, said that the Supreme People’s Court has formally launched efforts to formulate judicial interpretations on the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law. The Court will conduct further research on several important legal issues arising from the new circumstances and problems which the courts have encountered since the introduction of the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law on 1 June 2007.

The Supreme People’s Court has begun drafting the Regulations of Several Issues Concerning the Application of Enterprises Bankruptcy Law (Tentative Name), so as to conform with the implementation of the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law. The regulations are meant to interpret the EnterpriseBankruptcy Law in an integrated and systematic way and guide all levels of the people’s courts in adjudicating enterprise bankruptcy cases. The regulations are in the early state of drafting.