Congress approved, and earlier this month the President signed, the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 which streamlines existing rules governing the efforts of small businesses to restructure successfully under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. The law effectively makes it more difficult for creditors to contest small business Chapter 11 cases, but it also provides creditors in all bankruptcy cases several major benefits through changes to the preference laws.

Subchapter V of Chapter 11.

Military veterans often pay a heavy toll for their service from a physical, emotional and even financial standpoint. A new federal law— the Honoring American Veterans in Extreme Need Act of 2019 or the HAVEN Act— aims to address the latter hardship, providing disabled military veterans with greater protections in bankruptcy proceedings.

Anyone who hasn’t heard about the “student loan crisis” in the U.S. hasn’t been paying attention. U.S. student loan debt is estimated to range from between $1.2 and $1.6 trillion with more than seven million borrowers in default. On an individual level, a graduate of a four-year college who took out a loan to get through currently owes, on average, $28,000. Average debt for a student who completed graduate school, as you would expect, is greater, and can range from $50,000 to more than $100,000.

This article originally was published in the February 2019 issue of the ABI Journal.

Vesting orders have become one of the most powerful tools in an insolvency professional’s toolkit, providing a purchaser with the comfort that the encumbrances contributing to the debtor’s financial difficulties cannot follow to the new owner. In light of their importance, Canadian insolvency and banking professionals were understandably anxious when the Ontario Court of Appeal (the “OCA” or the “Court”) recently asked for submissions on whether receivership vesting orders can extinguish third party interests in land in the nature of a Gross Overriding Royalty (a “GOR”).1

In an April 30, 2019 endorsement accompanying a receivership order made in the matter of Royal Bank of Canada and D.M. Robichaud Associates Ltd. (“D.M. Robichaud”), Justice Hainey of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Commercial List (the “Court”) held that the receiver’s charge and the receiver’s borrowings charge should have priority over deemed trusts under provincial construction legislation.1

A recent ruling in the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) bankruptcy proceeding highlights the risk to certain renewable energy projects from utility bankruptcy. In a June 7, 2019 ruling, the PG&E bankruptcy court denied the claim that Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) must approve any attempt by bankruptcy courts to reject (i.e., void) power project agreements (PPAs) between renewable project owners and utilities. This is in direct opposition to a FERC ruling that it does have this power.

In January, we wrote about a decision of Justice Watt of the Ontario Court of Appeal, which addressed the question of which appeal procedure must be followed in appeals of Orders made in proceedings constituted under both the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (the “BIA”) and the

In Mission Product Holdings v. Tempnology LLC, the US Supreme Court will attempt to clarify the impact of bankruptcy proceedings on trademark licenses. The court will determine whether or not the rejection of a license in bankruptcy means the licensee’s right to the trademarks is terminated.

Womble Bond Dickinson attorneys Christopher Bolen and Taylor Ey spoke with IPWatchdog on this issue, which the International Trademark Association (INTA) calls “the most significant unresolved legal issue in trademark licensing.”

The Supreme Court of Canada’s Decision in Orphan Well Association v. Grant Thornton Ltd.