A World Series as exciting as any in memory ended two weeks ago. Notwithstanding the end of the season, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ chapter 11 case offered the promise of more baseball-related thrills. Dodger’s owner Frank McCourt and Major League Baseball (“MLB”) Commissioner Bud Selig appeared headed towards an epic courtroom showdown that promised to rival
A recent decision of the Delaware bankruptcy court serves as a reminder of a key risk for lenders who finance leveraged transactions—namely, that a bankruptcy court may “collapse” the components of a leveraged transaction in order to avoid the lender’s liens and the debtor’s loan obligations as fraudulent transfers.
Patient care ombudsmen are sometimes appointed to monitor the care provided to patients of medical facilities that have filed for bankruptcy. Courts, however, weigh a number of factors in determining whether an ombudsman should be appointed, and whether the patients and the facility’s creditors would benefit from the appointment.
An article by the National Underwriter Company discusses a recent Moody’s report that asbestos claims are again on the rise after years of declining or flat claims.1 This has led several insurers to increase their asbestos reserves and Moody’s views this trend as a warning flag for the property and casualty insurance industry as a whole.
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The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of South Carolina in In re Barnwell County Hospital, No. 11-06207 (Bankr. D.S.C. Oct. 27, 2011) held that anad hoc community group of citizens formed for the purpose of attempting to keep the Barnwell County hospital open and operating in its current location (the “Community Group”) was not a party-in-interest in the hospital’s bankruptcy case and so lacked standing to challenge the debtor’s eligibility for relief under chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code.
On November 11th, Reuters reported on the November 10 filing of bankruptcy court protection by Jefferson County, Alabama, the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. The county declared bankruptcy after failing to reach an agreement with its creditors on its $3.14 billion debt. Hearings are set for November 21 and December 15 to decide who maintains control of the sewer system and to determine eligibility for Chapter 9. Bankruptcy.
In a case of first impression, a U.S. bankruptcy court charged with enforcing the rights of a foreign insolvency administrator against assets in the United States has held that foreign insolvency law may not be invoked to cancel the rights of licensees of U.S. patents.
In a client advisory sent by our office a few months ago, we described a decision in the Madoff saga in which the District Court for the Southern District of New York (the Court) closed off a potential avenue of significant recovery for the Madoff Trustee (the Trustee) and the Ponzi scheme victims by denying the Trustee standing to pursue certain claims against feeder funds – firms that sent investors’ funds to Madof
On October 28, 2011, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued an opinion in the Chapter 15 case of Qimonda AG (“Qimonda”).1 The bankruptcy court held that the application of § 365(n) to executory licenses to U.S. patents was required to sufficiently protect the interests of U.S. patent licensees under Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code and that the failure of German insolvency law to protect patent licensees was “manifestly contrary” to United States public policy.
On October 20, 2011, the Director of the Arizona Department of Insurance filed a Complaint to place PMI Mortgage Insurance Company (PMI) into receivership in Arizona. In an interim Order, the court required the director, as Receiver, to take possession and control of PMI, which had been under the formal supervision of the insurance department since August 19, 2011. The court also directed that certain related affiliates of PMI be placed under administrative supervision.