Since the first Johnson & Johnson talc bankruptcy was filed in 2021, Judge Michael Kaplan has faced countless disagreements in the US Bankruptcy Court. These range from discovery fights, disputes over administration of tens of thousands of individual claims and all-out conflict over the total amount in controversy.

There were 64 filings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada) in 2023, which is an approximately 64% year-over-year increase. While this surge is interesting in and of itself, we believe that the volume of 2023 CCAA filings is also notable for the rich data it makes available to insolvency professionals. We used this opportunity to better understand how the CCAA was being employed by reviewing each filling.

In a recent case involving Mantle Materials Group, Ltd. (2023 ABKB 488, “Mantle“), the intersection of environmental obligations and insolvency law in Canada has again come into sharp focus.

The stakes in the appeal from a recent case in Alberta,  Qualex-Landmark Towers  Inc  v  12-10  Capital Corp (“Qualex”) are rising with the recent decision of the Court of Appeal of Alberta granting leave to intervene to the Canadian Bankers Association [Qualex-Landmark Towers Inc v 12-10 Capital Corp, 2023 ABCA 177].  The Canadian Bankers Association sought leave to intervene on the basis that the decision in Qualex creates significant uncertainty for secured lending, particularly where the borrower may have environmental remediat

Lenders beware, Canada is one step closer to establishing a framework that will provide significant enhanced protections for suppliers of perishable food items. Bill C-280, or the Financial Protection for Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Farmers Act (the “Act”), has passed the Second of Three Readings in the House of Commons.

The Canadian Parliament has enacted (subject to the final stage of Royal Assent) significant changes to federal insolvency legislation, elevating the priority that must be provided to fund the deficit of a defined benefit pension plan when distributing debtor assets. Bill C-228, the Pension Protection Act (the “Act”), is an Act to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (“BIA”), the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (“CCAA”) and the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued its latest bankruptcy opinion in MOAC Mall Holdings LLC v. Transform Holdco LLC, holding that the Bankruptcy Code’s rule against invalidating 363 sales after appeal is not an iron-clad jurisdictional bar, but rather a mere statutory limitation.[1]

Just hours after the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey entered an order dismissing the Chapter 11 Case of Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, LTL Management, as a bad faith filing, LTL filed for Chapter 11 protection again in the same Bankruptcy Court.

Delaware Judge Brendan Shannon has joined calls for reforming Section 546(e) of the bankruptcy code, echoing concerns that the section’s safe harbor from fraudulent transfer liability has allowed investors to “loot privately held companies to the detriment of their non-insider creditors with effective impunity.”[1]

In a decision that once again evidences the Fifth Circuit’s strong stance on the finality of asset sales in bankruptcy absent a stay of the applicable order, on March 8, 2023 the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas published a memorandum opinion and order affirming a bankruptcy court’s exercise of Bankruptcy Code provisions to strip subrogation rights of certain sureties (the “Sureties”) against an asset purchaser.