On January 25, Lehman and JPMorgan announced a settlement to resolve several aspects of the contentious and multifaceted Lehman-JPMorgan dispute that has lingered throughout Lehman’s bankruptcy. The bankruptcy court will hear a motion to approve the settlement on February 8.
The District Court for the Southern District of New York recently affirmed the Bankruptcy Court’s decision to approve the method used by trustee of the estate of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) to value the net equity of transfers between BLMIS accounts. See In re BLMIS (Melton Tr. v. Picard), Case No. 1:15-cv-01195-PAE (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 14, 2016).
Background
Many courts recognize that a corporation's constituent (such as an audit committee or a group of independent directors) can own the privilege and work product protection covering the constituent's internal corporate investigation. Under this approach, the company's bankruptcy trustee cannot access or waive that privilege or work product protection. See, e.g., Ex parte Smith, 942 So. 2d 356 (Ala. 2006) (denying a bankruptcy trustee's attempt to access pre-bankruptcy communications between the company's independent directors and its Skadden Arps lawyers).
On 14 July 2015, the South Australian District Court in Matthews v The Tap Inn Pty Ltd [2015] SADC 108 handed down a decision whose underlying reasoning could, if applied by superior courts around Australia, broaden the scope for liquidators to pursue unfair preference claims against secured creditors.
The decision
On Sept. 30, a district court resolved a significant portion of outstanding litigation in the bankruptcy proceeding of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and its subsidiaries.See Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (In re Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc.), No. 1:11-cv-06760 (S.D.N.Y. Sept., 30, 2015). This litigation flows from the debtors’ allegations that JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JPMC) coerced billions of dollars from Lehman on the eve of its bankruptcy filings in September 2008. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Based on the current state of judicial consideration of s 548 (1) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the Act), liquidators cannot be certain that a committee of inspection (COI) established at a general meeting of creditors alone is valid with the consequence that liquidators may be concerned about their reliance on past and future COI approvals to draw remuneration and take other steps in the winding up.
Re: the Bell Group Ltd (In Liquidation)
The important role of standard terms of sale
The standard terms of sale of a supplier can form part of a credit application by its customer, appear on sales invoices or order forms or on the supplier’s website and there are many other combinations of documentation and procedures that can be used to establish written evidence of the terms of the contract between the supplier and its customer. Just as important, there are many reasons why these combinations may come unstuck.
On 11 March 2015, the High Court delivered the following significant decisions (Grant Samuel Corporate Finance v Fletcher [2015] HCA 8 and Fortress Credit Corporation (Australia) II Pty Ltd v Fletcher [2015] HCA 10) in relation to s588FF(3) of theCorporations Act 2001 (Cth).
In the matter of One.Tel Limited (in liquidation) [2014] NSWSC 1892
A recent bankruptcy decision in Florida may have implications for troubled healthcare entities that seek to avoid Medicare termination and preserve reimbursements. In the case In re: Bayou Shores SNF, LLC, Case No. 8:14-bk-09521-MGW, (Bankr. M.D. Fla. Dec. 31, 2014), the bankruptcy court found that a nursing home’s Medicare provider agreement had survived bankruptcy despite notice and intent to terminate the agreement issued by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).