In the current economic environment, many banks have lost significant capital and are under immense pressure, regulatory and otherwise, to recapitalize. Failure to recapitalize within time frames set by bank regulators can result in a bank’s seizure by its chartering authority and an FDIC receivership.

Section 507(b) of the Bankruptcy Code provides that if a secured creditor receives “adequate protection” for its interest in collateral held by a debtor, but that adequate protection ultimately proves insufficient, then the creditor is entitled to a “superpriority” administrative expense claim sufficient to cover any uncompensated diminution in the value of that collateral.

In the last eighteen months, two Major League Baseball teams, the Chicago Cubs and the Texas Rangers, were sold in bankruptcy. Although both teams engaged in very similar processes leading up to their respective bankruptcy filings, the bankruptcy cases took very divergent paths.

What should have been the best economic news of 2010 was largely obscured by the deluge of bad news dominating world headlines. The latter included tidings of chronically high unemployment; a continuing malaise in the U.S. housing market; wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; debt crises precipitating the implementation of austerity measures in Britain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain, and Ireland (to name but a few), as well as countless state and local governments in the U.S.; a sharp escalation of food prices worldwide; a deepening U.S.

The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey has issued a published opinion authorizing a trustee’s transfer of structured settlement payments pursuant to the New Jersey Structured Settlement Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:16-63, et seq. (NJ SSPA). In In Re Jackus, 2011 WL 118216 (Bankr. N.J. Jan. 14, 2011), the Bankruptcy Court held that, inter alia, the bankruptcy court had jurisdiction to authorize the transfer under the NJ SSPA, and the transfer was in the “best interest” of the bankruptcy estate and its creditors.

A decision out of the District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina (the “District Court”), now being appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, highlights just how critical it is for lenders to strictly comply with local recording requirements when recording their liens. In SunTrust Bank N.A. v. Northen, 433 B.R. 532 (M.D.N.C. Aug.

So what do railroad barons, second lien lenders and satellites have in common? Strangely, the derailment of the gifting doctrine for cram-down plans, at least, in the Second Circuit. In an Opinion filed on February 7, 2011, the Second Circuit issued what amounted to a teaser for bankruptcy professionals. It started with a decision by Bankruptcy Judge Gerber of the Southern District of New York to confirm a Chapter 11 plan that included a “gift” from the second lien lenders to equity, even though unsecured creditors were not being paid in full.

In an apparent case of first impression in Massachusetts, the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts recently held that an allonge must be physically affixed to the original promissory note to be effective.

Yes, but only if the government declines to intervene in the action. United States ex rel. Kolbeck v. Point Blank Solutions, Inc., 1:08-cv-1187 (E.D. Va.), recently addressed this issue.

The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals1 recently issued an opinion of importance in bankruptcy cases involving commercial real estate as the debtor’s only asset, such as a shopping center or office building.