On 11 December 2025, the National Assembly adopted the Law on Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy ("New Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Law"), which will supersede the current Law on Bankruptcy enacted in 2014 ("Bankruptcy Law 2014"). The New Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Law will take effect on 1 March 2026, except for Article 38.3, which addresses the obligations of the tax authority in filing a bankruptcy petition; this provision will take effect on 1 July 2026.
On 31 December 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (the "Federal Court of Appeals") ruled that the uptiering transaction conducted by Serta Simmons Bedding LLC ("Serta") did not constitute an "open market purchase", reversing the 2023 summary judgment of the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (the "Texas Bankruptcy Court") that rejected the excluded lenders' claims for breach of the credit agreement. The Federal Court of Appeals also reversed the approval of certain plan provisions relating to an indemnity for the uptiering transaction.
On July 31, 2024, the Supreme Court of Canada provided clarity regarding the treatment of administrative monetary penalties and disgorgement orders resulting from securities violations in Poonian v. British Columbia (Securities Commission).
As we enter 2025, we look back on five important decisions that made the news in 2024. Here is the the first case.
The perspective of a landlord
In brief
A tenant's insolvency hits landlords particularly hard. Existing rental securities (e.g., rent deposit, landlord's lien) cannot always cushion the loss of rent and operating costs. Especially in times of the current energy crisis and rising costs, this issue is becoming increasingly explosive. This is demonstrated by the numerous insolvencies in the fashion retail sector, such as Galeria, Peek & Cloppenburg, KaDeWe and Esprit. High rents are often of the main reasons for insolvency.
The general rule in bankruptcy is that a debtor receives a “fresh start” and is discharged from prior debts, but this is subject to certain exceptions. Subsection 178(1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) sets out eight classes of debts that are not released by an order of discharge including an exception for debts that arise out of fraud. In Poonian v.
La Sentencia del Tribunal Supremo, Sala Primera, de 22 de mayo, remarca que determinados comportamientos constitutivos de calificación culpable del concurso pueden provocar una inversión de la carga de la prueba sobre la incidencia del comportamiento de los administradores en la generación o incremento del déficit concursal, pero sigue sin ofrecer la «justificación añadida» de la atribución de la responsabilidad concursal.
1. La reforma del artículo 172 bis de la Ley Concursal
Se contiene una descripción y valoración general de la Directiva (UE) 2019/1023.
1. Introducción
En todo tipo de procesos y, entre ellos, en los incidentes concursales, la denuncia por la parte demandada de la falta de jurisdicción o de competencia no puede plantearse como una suerte de excepción en la contestación a la demanda o en momento posterior, sino que debe promoverse con carácter previo a la contestación, mediante declinatoria (art. 64.1 Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil [LEC]).
La Sentencia del Tribunal Supremo 710/2019, de 8 de marzo, resuelve en casación, por primera vez, creo, el extremo relativo a la oponibilidad al concurso de una condición resolutoria acompañada de una cláusula penal de retención de la totalidad del precio ya pagado por el comprador inmobiliario insolvente. Según la Sala, la condición resolutoria (inmobiliaria) es plenamente oponible al concurso; en este caso se hallaba inscrita, pero no parece que esta condición haya sido relevante para su efectividad.