On November 15, 2013, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Glenn, J.) issued a lengthy decision¹ in the Chapter 11 case of Residential Capital, LLC (“ResCap”). An important holding contained in this decision is that the bankruptcy claims of holders of notes issued with original issue discount (or OID) for tax and accounting purposes in a “fair value” exchange (an exchange for notes with a lower face amount) need not be reduced by any unaccreted OID^.2  

A Michigan bankruptcy judge ruled yesterday that Detroit is eligible for protection under Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, overruling numerous objections filed by labor unions, pension funds and other interested parties.  Almost immediately following the ruling, a notice of appeal was filed by Counsel 25 of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (“AFSCME”).

On 8 October 2013, the Supreme Court of Vietnam released the most recent draft of the new Law on Bankruptcy ("Draft Bankruptcy Law"). The Draft Bankruptcy Law is now open for comments and, once passed by the National Assembly, will replace the current Law on Bankruptcy 2004 ("Current Bankruptcy Law").

The Draft Bankruptcy Law appears generally to be a positive step in Vietnam's efforts to improve the efficiency of the bankruptcy process and efforts to enhance the credibility of the legal framework for restructuring.

Conduct of Bankruptcy Proceedings

CR&B Alert
Commercial Restructuring & Bankruptcy News
In This Issue:
• Consequences of the Failure of a Secured
Creditor to File a Timely Proof of Claim—2
• Private Equity Funds Potentially Liable for
Portfolio Company’s Unfunded Pension
Liability—2
• Make-Whole Payment Not ‘Unmatured
Interest’—3
• Tax Status of Q-Sub Debtor Not Estate
Property; Debtor Has No Standing to Challenge
Parent’s Sub-S Revocation—3
• Don’t Let Excess Insurers Avoid Coverage
Based on Settlements or Bankruptcy—4

InLewis v. Eberle & BCI Services, LLC, 2013 WL 4483529 (D.N.J. Aug. 19, 2013), a New Jersey district court dismissed the plaintiff’s claims brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act because she failed to disclose them as “assets” in a simultaneous bankruptcy proceeding. The plaintiff was engaged in Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings when she filed suit against her former employer, but she did not revise her bankruptcy petition to identify those claims.

Upon learning that its borrower has filed a case under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code,  a secured lender may decide not to participate in that case. The lender may want to ignore the bankruptcy case in order to avoid the expense of retaining bankruptcy counsel, or, relying on the general rule that liens pass through bankruptcy unaffected,  may simply prefer to wait until the chapter 11 case ends and then enforce its lien. In a recent Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, Acceptance Loan Company, Incorporated v.

Section 553 of the Bankruptcy Code provides, subject to certain exceptions, that the Bankruptcy Code “does not affect any right of a creditor to offset a mutual debt owing by such creditor to the debtor that arose before the commencement of the case under this title against a claim of such creditor against the debtor that arose before the commencement of the case.” Debts are considered “mutual” when they are due to and from the same persons or entities in the same capacity.

The Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York overseeing the Residential Capital (“ResCap”) cases issued an opinion on November 15, 2013 (the “Opinion”)2 allowing the unamortized interest associated with original issue discount (“OID”) that was generated in a fair market value exchange and claimed by ResCap’s junior secured noteholders (the “Holders”). While the OID ruling is only one component of the Opinion,3 it may have far reaching implications, as already evidenced in the pricing of other OID notes that were the product of fair market value exchanges.

On November 15, 2013, Judge Martin Glenn of the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York held that original issue discount (“OID”) created in a prepetition “fair market value” debt exchange is not disallowable in bankruptcy.¹ This noteworthy ruling provides important and long-awaited guidance for the investing community on the question left open by the Second Circuit’s 1992 ruling in LTV Corp. v. Valley Fidelity Bank & Trust Co. (In re Chateaugay Corp.).²

BACKGROUND

In a recent advisory, we reported on an apparently favorable decision to secured creditors from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that held that a secured creditor’s claim survives bankruptcy where the secured creditor received notice of the case and was found to have not actively participated in it.