Readers may recall that, according to at least one bankruptcy court, chapter 9 debtors are not required to obtain bankruptcy court approval of compromises and settlements.
In this week’s Alabama Law Weekly Update, we consider two recent decisions concerning potential lender/loan servicer defenses to suit in federal court.
Marrisette v. Green Tree-Al, LLC, 2014 WL 1653259 (S.D. Ala. Apr. 24, 2014) (dismissing challenge to state court foreclosure judgment underRooker-Feldman doctrine).
Here at the Suits by Suits Worldwide Operations Center, weather continues to have us flummoxed, vexed, and annoyed: even though a famous Pennsylvania rodent discerned that we would have six more weeks of our brutal winter, we’ve had a pleasant warm spell that is about to come to a crushing end
Europe, the U.S. and Canada—On 7 May 2013, the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware denied a motion by European creditors of Nortel Networks Corp. ("Nortel") to certify a direct appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit of the bankruptcy court's 3 April 2013 ruling (Inre Nortel Networks, Inc., Case No. 09-10138 (KG), 2013 BL 92666 (Bankr. D. Del. Apr.
On January 7, 2013, the Judge Robert D. Drain of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York held that a dispute concerning the debtors’ use of cash collateral was not subject to arbitration, notwithstanding a broad arbitration clause in the parties’ underlying agreement, because the decision to allow a debtor to use cash collateral constituted a “core” issue and was a fundamental aspect of the bankruptcy process. In re Hostess Brands, Inc., No. 12-22052 (RDD), 2013 WL 82914 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Jan. 7, 2013).
Background
The Second Circuit has summarily affirmed a district court’s denial of a petition to vacate an arbitration award, and granted the cross-petition to confirm. We noted in our December 15, 2010 post that the Southern District of New York confirmed the award to Bayou Funds, a group of bankrupt entities which had been run as a massive Ponzi scheme. The district court ruled that the arbitrator did not manifestly disregard the law, even though he did not explicate the reasons for his ruling.
Clients often raise questions concerning the enforceability of arbitration clauses in bankruptcy proceedings. While this topic has been hotly debated for many years, a recent Ninth Circuit opinion, In re Thorpe Insulation Co., 671 F.3d 1011 (9th Cir. 2012), reminds us that arbitration clauses are not sacrosanct and can be struck down by the court.
In the aftermath of the 2009 bankruptcies of Chrysler LLC (“Old Chrysler”) and General Motors Corporation (“Old GM”), Congress enacted Section 747 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010, Pub. L. No.
The Ninth Circuit held that a bankruptcy court properly denied a motion to compel arbitration against a debtor, notwithstanding the existence of a valid arbitration agreement covering the dispute, and held that the bankruptcy court properly exercised its discretion to adjudicate the claim in the bankruptcy proceedings. In re Thorpe Insulation Co., 671 F.3d 1011 (9th Cir. 2012) (No.