Three InfoWars entities file voluntary bankruptcy on April 17, 2022, under Subchapter V of Chapter 11.[Fn.1] And a storm of controversy immediately erupts on whether the three entities actually qualify for Subchapter V relief.
On June 10, 2022, the Bankruptcy Court enters an “Agreed Order Dismissing Debtors’ Chapter 11 Cases” (Doc. 114), based on this stipulation of the three InfoWars debtors: “Debtors and the UST wish to stipulate to the disposition of the Chapter 11 Cases.”
State laws on assignments for benefit of creditors (“ABC”) have been around for a long time. But times have changed over the last half-century. Specifically, the bankruptcy alternative has changed dramatically:
When an enforcement authority issues guidelines to its personnel for making enforcement decisions and makes those guidelines public, all who are subject to that authority should sit-up and take notice.
On June 10, 2022, the U.S. Trustee’s Office, Department of Justice, issues “Guidelines” to its personnel for enforcing rules on “Bifurcated Chapter 7 Fee Agreements.”[Fn. 1]
Here is an internal description on the nature of the guidelines (at 6):
“the specter of sanctions and contempt spawns ancillary litigation that often eclipses the issues at the heart of the underlying dispute.”
—From In re A.T. Reynolds & Sons, Inc., 452 B.R. 374, 376 (S.D.N.Y. 2011), reversing a Bankruptcy Court order of contempt and sanctions for lack of “good faith” in a mandated mediation.
New data from UHY Hacker Young has found that UK restaurant insolvencies have increased by 64% in the last year... and it isn't just Covid that's to blame (though undoubtedly it is a factor). As eloquently put by a partner at UHY: "The restaurant sector has emerged from one crisis only to face an onslaught of other challenges."
The interface between federal bankruptcy law and similar state laws has a long history, going back to at least 1819, when the U.S. Supreme Court rules that a state insolvency law:
The interface between federal bankruptcy law and similar state laws has a long history, going back to at least 1819, when the U.S. Supreme Court rules that a state insolvency law:
Mediation-in-bankruptcy has been an effective tool for resolving mass tort cases.
That effectiveness has been for the benefit of all parties involved, such as:
The summer heatwave has started and this will no doubt result in an influx of Airbnb and holiday rentals. Nevertheless, the short-term lettings market is clearly still recovering from the financial impact caused to this sector during the pandemic.
“2 There is one inconsequential difference — § 1228(a) refers to debt ‘of a kind specified,’ while § 1192(2) refers to debt ‘of the kind specified.’” [Fn. 1]
This “inconsequential difference” quotation, from footnote 2 in the Fourth Circuit’s Cantwell v. Clearyopinion, is on the application of § 523 discharge exceptions to corporations and LLCs. The “inconsequential difference” quote, is both: