Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bankruptcy Code generally has been interpreted to require debtors to pay rent obligations on time under unassumed real property leases as those obligations arose post-filing and pre-rejection. This result was driven by 11 U.S.C. § 365(d)(3), which requires the debtor to “timely perform” all obligations until the lease is assumed or rejected, with one narrow exception. That exception permits the court to allow the debtor to extend the time of performance of any obligation within the first 60 days of the case but not beyond the 60-day period.
As we previously discussed in our Bankruptcy Bytes video series, the filing of a bankruptcy petition generally gives rise to an “automatic stay” against any attempt to exercise control over the debtor’s property, or property of the bankruptcy “estate” which comes into existence when a bankruptcy case is filed.
Private credit lenders started 2020 both with anticipation and trepidation. Activity levels were strong and default levels were at historic lows, but private credit lenders worried about the risk of economic headwinds – after all, we were then in the extra innings of the longest economic recovery on record.
In 2020, commercial chapter 11 bankruptcy filings climbed to their highest levels in recent years, as COVID-19 disruption sparked sharp declines in GDP and volatile stock market swings. Notably, the pandemic accelerated the restructurings of some companies that were already on the precipice of financial distress, particularly in the retail, energy, travel and hospitality sectors.
In a January 2021 decision issued in the re-opened United Refining Company1 bankruptcy case, Judge Lopez of the Southern District of Texas Bankruptcy Court addressed when a tort claim is deemed to arise for purposes
Entsprechend dem Grundgedanken in Hermann Hesses Ausspruch bedeuten die zahlreichen, durch die COVID-19-Pandemie verursachten Unternehmenskrisen nicht nur ein Ende, sondern bieten auch Chancen.
If two persons each become a debtor and creditor towards the other, they may declare that they mutually set off those claims. However, this general possibility can be significantly reduced when one of the debtors enters into bankruptcy proceedings.
Part 1
Without question, the top story over the last year has been the COVID-19 pandemic and its tremendous ongoing effects felt across Canada and the world.
This time has had a significant impact on Canada’s energy industry and many of the changes and developments that took place in 2020 will continue to influence trends, business decisions and the future growth of Canada’s energy industry in 2021.
In re Ultra Petroleum Corp. provides substantial support for the allowance of make-whole amounts pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 502(b)(2) and that such are neither interest, unmatured interest nor the economic equivalent of unmatured interest. In re Ultra Petroleum Corp., No. 16-03272, 2020 WL 6276712, *3-*4 (Bankr. S.D. Tex. Oct. 26, 2020). The case also clarifies that bankruptcy courts may not permit a solvent debtor to ignore its contractual obligations to unimpaired classes of unsecured creditors.
Case Background
The National Rifle Association (“NRA”), along with its wholly owned Texas subsidiary, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on January 15, 2021 in the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas. The case already has presented several threshold issues and challenges that are of interest to both bankruptcy practitioners and the market as a whole.
Background