In the bankruptcy context, effectively appealing an order confirming a debtor’s plan of reorganization is not always a sure bet, as a court may refuse to entertain the appeal in the name of equitable mootness.  Equitable mootness – “a judge-made abstention doctrine that allows a court to avoid hearing the merits of a bankruptcy appeal because implementing the requested relief would cause havoc”

While commencing a bankruptcy case is most commonly undertaken voluntarily by the debtor itself, the Bankruptcy Code gives certain creditors authority to force certain entities into chapter 11 or 7 bankruptcy.  Unfortunately for the unwilling chapter 11 or 7 debtor, so long as petitioning creditors meet the statutory requirements to commence an involuntary case, the would be debtor will have no choice but to resolve itself under the Bankruptcy Code.  This was the fate of the debtor in 

A bankruptcy court must dismiss a creditor’s involuntary bankruptcy petition when the debtor has raised a “legitimate basis” for disputing the petitioning creditor’s underlying claim, held the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on July 14, 2015. In re TPG Troy, LLC, 2015 WL 4220619, at *5 (2d Cir. July 14, 2015). The Second Circuit also affirmed the bankruptcy court’s award of $513,427 in attorney’s fees and costs to the vindicated debtor under Bankruptcy Code (“Code”) Section 303(i)(1). Id. at *6.

Last month, bankrupt company RadioShack settled with a coalition of seventeen attorneys general to destroy most of the company’s customer data in its files. The agreement was part of a Bankruptcy Court-approved $26.2 million sale of RadioShack’s assets.

Congress Weighs Legislation that May Preclude Suit by Bankruptcy Trustees Against Colleges and Universities to Recover a Bankrupt Parent's Tuition Payments for a Student

HIGHLIGHTS:

Desperate times call for desperate measures.  It is not surprising then that a less than scrupulous debtor might be less than candid when disclosing assets and liabilities to a bankruptcy court.  But what happens if an individual debtor is discovered to have concealed assets – possibly fraudulently or in bad faith – and then seeks to exercise his or her statutory right under the Bankruptcy Code to exempt all or a portion of the discovered assets from being available to satisfy creditors?  Can a bankruptcy court in that circumstance look to the bad acts of the debtor as a basi

Introduction

On June 26, 2015, the District Court for the Middle District of Florida issued an opinion on consolidated appeals arising from the Bayou Shores SNF, LLC bankruptcy case with potentially broad implications for healthcare bankruptcy cases.  At the heart of the dispute before the District Court was whether the Bankruptcy Court had jurisdiction to enjoin the termination of, and subsequently authorize the assumption of, certain Medicare and Medicaid provider agreements in the bankruptcy case.  As discussed below, the District Court held the Medicare jurisdictional bar set fort

When a bankrupt company’s most valuable assets include consumer information, a tension arises between bankruptcy policy aimed at maximizing asset value, on the one hand, and privacy laws designed to protect consumers’ personal information, on the other.

The RadioShack bankruptcy case has already drawn the attention of both state and federal regulators for potential privacy violations, and now the company faces a new issue: $43 million worth of unused gift cards.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an adversary proceeding in the bankruptcy case seeking a declaratory judgment that any unused gift cards should receive priority up to $2,775 per card under Bankruptcy Code Section 507(a)(7). RadioShack gift cards did not expire and the face of the cards did not disclose an expiration date, the AG told the court.