Cases analyzing rights under indentures – and the transactions holders and issuers contemplate (or not) under indentures – continue to gain attention in the restructuring world. Some of those cases involve section 316(b) of the Trust Indenture Act (see our own blog’s recent posts) and payment rights under indentures. Others, such
Lenders make secured loans expecting to recover the collateral in the event of a default. The collateral is sold to satisfy the debt. Experienced secured lenders understand that the automatic stay in bankruptcy stops recovery of collateral recovery without permission of the court. However, many secured lenders do not understand rights related to the statement of intention every debtor is required to send to each secured creditor.
A federal judge in New York – the Hon. Richard J. Sullivan – mostly granted JP Morgan Chase Bank’s motion to dismiss claims brought on behalf of unsecured creditors of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. related to JPM’s requirement that Lehman Brothers Inc., LBH’s broker-dealer subsidiary, pledge and post extra collateral in September 2008, shortly before LBI filed for bankruptcy protection on September 15, 2008.
Determining whether a security interest is properly perfected by using a state’s online lien search may be leading you astray.
In an opinion issued on June 1 in a case entitled Bank of America, N.A. v. Caulkett, the United States Supreme Court answered a question that has split lower courts since the Supreme Court decided Dewsnup v. Timm in 1992. The question answered in Caulkett was whether a debtor in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case can “strip off” a lien on the debtor’s property if the bankruptcy court determines that the lien is worthless, leaving the former secured creditor with an unsecured claim that can be discharged. The Supreme Court’s answer is no.
On June 2, 2015, the United States’ Supreme Court issued the opinion in the case of Bank of America v. Caulket, where the Court ruled that a Debtor whose home is ‘underwater’ cannot “Strip off” or void a junior lien when filing for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy protection. The Court in a unanimous decision answered the question of whether 11 U.S.C. §506(d) allows Chapter 7 debtors to void certain liens on their home. The Court stated, in a an opinion written by Justice Thomas,
When a consumer debtor files a bankruptcy petition, a notice is mailed out by the court to all of the debtor’s scheduled creditors. In most bankruptcy courts, the notice contains the debtor’s filing date, case number, and other pertinent information meant to aid a creditor in identifying the debtor. In addition, the notice typically contains several important dates and deadlines.
The U.S. Supreme Court held that a secured creditor in a chapter 7 bankruptcy case is protected from having its lien “stripped off” even if the collateral securing its claim is worth less than the claims asserted by a senior secured creditor; i.e.the junior creditor’s secured claim is completely "out of the money.” The June 1, 2015 decision, Bank of America, N.A. v. Caulkett, reaffirmed the Court’s prior holding in Dewsnup v.
Holding: A debtor in a chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding may not avoid a junior mortgage lien under Section 506(d), even if the amount of debt owed on a senior mortgage lien exceeds the current value of the collateral.
Summary: A recent Tennessee case requires secured lenders to verify the debtor's receipt of the notice of a foreclosure sale of personal property.