A recent ruling in the American Airlines bankruptcy case enforcing an automatic acceleration upon bankruptcy provision serves as a reminder that the enforceability of so-called ipso facto provisions in debt instruments remains an unsettled, forum-dependent question.
A lender’s entitlement to a make-whole premium, that is, a prepayment penalty designed to compensate the lender for the loss of interest payments it would have received had the borrower continued to service the debt through the maturity date of the loan, depends principally on the plain language of the bond indenture or credit agreement. See, e.g.,HSBC Bank USA, N.A. v. Calpine Corp. (In re Calpine Corp.),No. 07 Civ 3088 (GBD), 2010 WL 3835200, at *4 (S.D.N.Y. Sept.
Last week the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved debtor-American Airlines’ motion to enter into a secured financing transaction and repay certain pre-petition aircraft financing without paying make-whole premiums. The indenture trustee sought to ground the motion by asserting that the make-whole had to be paid, but it was the indenture trustee, not American, that crashed and burned.
On January 17, 2013, in a lengthy and closely reasoned opinion,1 Judge Sean Lane of the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York authorized American Airlines, Inc. (“American”) to repay $1.3 billion in debt without payment of a make-whole premium over the objection of U.S.
Following the pattern recently established by other S.D.N.Y.
On September 28, 2012, Southern Air Holdings ("Southern Air" or "Debtor"), along with various related entities, filed chapter 11 petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. As stated in its Declarations in Support of Chapter 11 Petitions and First Day Relief (the "Declaration" or "Decl."), Southern Air describes itself as a "long-haul, wide-body air cargo" provider for governments and commercial users. Decl.
On August, 15, 2012, Bankruptcy Judge Sean H. Lane of the Southern District of New York denied American’s motion to reject its collective bargaining agreement with the Allied Pilots Association (“APA”) on narrow grounds. The Court held that American had not demonstrated that its proposals to eliminate contractual restrictions on pilot furloughs and enter into essentially unlimited codesharing arrangements were necessary to its reorganization.
AMR Corp. and its subsidiaries (collectively “AMR”), including American Airlines Inc., filed for Chapter 11 protection in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Court”) on November 29, 2011.
Introduction
Introduction
On March 5, 2012, Pemco World Air Services ("Pemco"), filed chapter 11 petitions for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. According to the Declaration of Pemco's CFO (the "Declaration"), Pemco describes itself as "an industry leader in maintenance, repair and overhaul for wide and narrow body aircraft and regional jets from around the world." Decl. at *2. In addition to maintenance and repair, Pemco also is one of the leading providers of narrow body aircraft cargo conversions. Id.