In MF Global Holdings Ltd. et al. v. Allied World Assurance Co. Ltd. et al., No. 1:16-ap-01251 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Aug. 24, 2017), the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York ordered MF Global Holdings Ltd. and Allied World Assurance Co. Ltd. to arbitrate their $15 million errors-and-omissions coverage dispute in Hamilton, Bermuda.
Are arbitration clauses enforceable in a bankruptcy case? Last month, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas said “yes” and held that state law causes of action that arose out of alleged breaches of contract and other state law theories of liability should be arbitrated as agreed to by the parties in their pre-petition contracts rather than litigated in the bankruptcy court. Gavilon Grain LLC v. M.
Close to ten years have passed since the filing of the chapter 11 cases of Tulsa, Oklahoma-based SemCrude L.P., but this week, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a 2015 district court ruling that resolved a dispute between oil producers and downstream purchasers over the perfection and priority of interests in oil sold by SemCrude L.P. and its affiliates. The Third Circuit’s holding in In re SemCrude L.P., --- F.3d ---, 2017 WL 3045889 (3d Cir.
One of the primary reasons that most debtors seek bankruptcy relief is the automatic stay, which prevents creditors from pursuing collection efforts outside of the bankruptcy proceedings. Creditors can, however, seek relief from the automatic stay from the bankruptcy court under certain circumstances.
In a May 16, 2017 ruling, the United States District Court for the District of Delaware affirmed the order of the bankruptcy court denying a party’s motion to compel arbitration. In doing so, the District Court adhered to traditional rules of contract interpretation in holding that the relevant arbitration provision was not written broadly enough to include the type of dispute pending before the bankruptcy court, and thus, the bankruptcy court retained jurisdiction.
The Bottom Line
The Delaware District Court affirmed the bankruptcy court’s decision that the combination of a narrow arbitration provision and the bankruptcy court’s reservation of jurisdiction warranted denial of a motion to compel arbitration. The specific language of the arbitration provision, combined with the use of an accounting term of art, narrowed the scope of the arbitration provision sufficiently to rebut the presumption of arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act.
What Happened?
MICHIGAN
milawyersweekly.com
Vol. 31, No. 26 May 1, 2017
$8.50 per copy
From a doodle to the Grand Bargain
How the bankruptcy in Detroit was resolved through mediation
By Hon. Steven W. Rhodes, Retired Chief Judge, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and Hon. Gerald E. Rosen, Retired Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
Miller Act, you’re not in Kansas anymore. In a recent bankruptcy case, the court in Kansas addressed issues of jurisdiction and venue raised by claims asserted by the debtor, an electrical contractor on a federal government project.
On January 31, 2017, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals authorized a court-appointed Receiver to avoid arbitration clauses contained in employment and employment-related agreements.[1] While, at first glance, the Court’s decision not to compel a non-signatory to arbitration appears unremarkable, in fact the decision reflects how far the Court was willing to go in order to protect a Receiver’s choice of a judicial forum.