It’s unfortunate, but it happens: you reach a deal with your customer and prepare to perform your side of the agreement, only to discover that your buyer is insolvent or close to it.  It is essential that you having a working knowledge your rights in this situation, because time is of the essence.

Readers may remember the dramatic restructuring of the GM and Chrysler dealer networks as part of the bankruptcy proceedings for each auto maker in 2009. The state auto dealer franchise statutes and their protection against dealer terminations were summarily preempted by the bankruptcy proceedings and the pre-condition of dealer network reduction for the necessary loans from the federal government to the debtors in possession. Dealers challenged this action in the Court of Claims, and by an April 7, 2014 decision in A&D Auto Sales, Inc. et al. v.

What recourse is there for a plaintiff seeking to recover a debt when the defendant goes bankrupt during suit, and its owner commences operating essentially the same business through another legal entity?  Can successor liability be asserted and, if so, how?  Those issues played out in the recent case of Marange Printing, Inc. v. Finish Line NJ, Inc., et  al., Superior Court of New Jersey, Docket No. A-2735-12T2 (decided March 7, 2014).

2014 is expected to see significant legal developments for products manufacturers across industries. Noteworthy issues to watch for the following topics/industry groups are described herein: 

Crisis Management: Have a Plan 

The Delaware Supreme Court recently offered new insight into a dissolved corporation’s exposure to liability for third party claims. InAnderson v. Krafft-Murphy Company, Inc.,1 the Court held as a matter of first impression in Delaware that the statutory scheme governing the dissolution and winding up of a Delaware corporation does not contain a general statute of limitations that would shield a dissolved corporation from liability.

I. Factual Background and Procedural History2

In the first appellate court decision on the issue, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that trade claims subject to disallowance under section 502(d) of the Bankruptcy Code are disallowable “no matter who holds them.”¹ In In re KB Toys Inc., the Third Circuit affirmed Bankruptcy and District Court decisions holding that trade claims subject to disallowance in the hands of an original claimant remain disallowable in the hands of a subsequent transferee.

The U.S. Constitution enjoins each state to accord “full faith and credit” to “the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State”. U.S. Const. Art. IV, § 1. However, a judgment creditor can’t directly enforce a judgment obtained in another state in California. The other state’s judgment must first be turned into a California judgment. The statutory mechanism for effecting this is the Sister State and Foreign Money—Judgments Act, aka the SSFMJA, Code Civ. Proc. § 1710.10 et seq.

Companies of all sizes, new or mature, sometimes go out of business. “California Or Bust” is legendary in American history, but “bust” sometimes happens despite everyone’s best efforts. If you are an officer or director of a company that is heading toward its final days, there is a critical wind-down task: final paychecks. The simple (but widely ignored) fact is that officers and directors can be held personally liable for unpaid wages under federal and state law in certain circumstances, and the entity’s bankruptcy status often has no effect on individual liability.

As all creditors know, you must file a financing statement under the Uniform Commercial Code ("UCC"), called a "UCC-1," with the North Carolina Secretary of State to perfect a security interest in personal property (and with the county Register of Deeds if the property might become a real estate fixture).  The UCC-1 puts the world on notice of your security interest and establishes your place in line with respect to rights in the collateral.  But you must prepare and maintain