The Bankruptcy Code is federal law. It affords debtors protections - including the automatic stay and debt discharge injunction - that hold creditors at bay.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) is also federal law. It contains limitations on what a debt collector can do when attempting to collect a debt.

Because debts - and more particularly attempts to collect those debts - drive people into bankruptcy, bankruptcy courts are sometimes forced to grapple with questions of how the Bankruptcy Code and FDCPA interact and impact each other.

You have heard the rumor that one of your clients or customers is on the verge of bankruptcy. What should you do? Although your instinct may be to suspend all dealings with them for fear of total loss in the abyss of bankruptcy, you should not over-react. With proper assistance, you can safely navigate as a creditor in even the murkiest waters.

“Startin’ to feel like there’s nothin’ left to talk about but the, money, money

Bill collectors keep comin’ . . . to get money, money”

-Curtis James Jackson, III – “Money”

Many companies that file for bankruptcy protection have liabilities that cannot be definitively quantified as of the bankruptcy petition date. Such “unmatured,” “contingent,” “unliquidated,” or “disputed” debts could arise from, among other things: (i) causes of action that are being litigated at the time of a bankruptcy filing but have not resulted in a judgment; or (ii) claims against the company that exist prior to a bankruptcy filing but have not been asserted against the company in litigation or otherwise, let alone liquidated, as of the petition date.

Last week, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a decision by the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in In re TPG Troy, LLC, 2015 U.S. App.

Setoff is commonly encountered in bankruptcy and non-bankruptcy situations.  If there are mutual debts between two entities, either may generally offset the debts.  These debts frequently arise where one entity is a vendor to a customer and selling on credit, and at the same time is also making occasional purchases on credit from the customer.  If one entity owes $100 to a second entity but is owed $300 by this second entity, these mutual debts may be offset, leaving just the $200 owed by the second entity.

A recent court ruling is a good reminder to health care providers that bankruptcy may not (as is sometimes suggested) be a safe harbor for providers in danger of being forced out of business by the loss of their Medicare and Medicaid provider agreements.

Your tenant files for bankruptcy-what’s your move? Debtors who are lessees under real property leases have certain rights regarding their lease under § 365 of the Bankruptcy Code. Essentially, the debtor has two options: 1) reject the lease or 2) assume the lease, provided that the debtor can cure any defaults existing under the lease. Additionally, the debtor may have the right to assume and assign the lease to a third party.

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