Bullard v. Blue Hills Bank, No. 14–116 (previously described in the December 15, 2014, Docket Report)
Bankruptcy Court reinforces importance of parties’ intent in determining the nature of overriding royalty interests under state law.
In an opinion issued today, the Supreme Court held that debtors do not have the right to immediately appeal a bankruptcy court’s decision denying confirmation of a proposed reorganization plan. This decision resolves a circuit split, and confirms the balance of power between debtors and creditors in the plan confirmation process. As the Supreme Court explained, “the knowledge that [a debtor] will have no guaranteed appeal from a denial should encourage the debtor to work with creditors and the trustee to develop a confirmable plan as promptly as possible.”
In yesterday’s post, we published a speech in which Harvey Miller discussed how he got started practicing bankruptcy law. Today, we are publishing the text of a speech that Harvey gave in March of 2014 on the 40th anniversary of the Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute, at which Harvey was a frequent speaker. In this speech, Harvey looked back at the evolution of bankruptcy law over the past 50 years.
Introduction
Walro v. The Lee Group Holding Co., LLC (In re Lee), 524 B.R. 798 (Bankr. S.D. Ind. 2014) –
A chapter 7 trustee sought a court determination that (1) a debtor’s voting rights in a limited liability company (LLC) were property of the bankruptcy estate, and (2) other members of the LLC violated the automatic stay by taking action to remove the debtor as a member and terminating his voting rights.
In a case of first impression in Texas, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas held that the former majority member of a chapter 11 LLC debtor had to relinquish control of the LLC's Facebook page and Twitter account because they were property of the LLC's bankruptcy estate. In re CTLI, LLC, Case No. 14-33564, 2015 WL 1588085 (Bankr. S.D. Tex. April 3, 2015). CTLI, LLC was a Texas gun store and shooting range doing business as Tactical Firearms.
Creditors of an entity or individual who is not paying its or his debts as they ordinarily come due may seek to have the alleged debtor adjudicated a bankrupt by the filing of an involuntary petition. Section 303 of the Bankruptcy Code governs the filing of involuntary bankruptcy petitions and allows creditors to force debtors into a liquidation or reorganization.
The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas in In re Waco Town Square Partners, L.P., et al. considered whether it had the authority to order a non-debtor to dismiss a state court lawsuit.
J. Paul Getty once said, “Formula for success: rise early, work hard, strike oil.” However, with crude oil prices nearly half of what they were a mere six months ago, Getty’s formula may not hold as true as it once did. In the latest EIA STEO Report (April 2015), the DOE projects oil prices for WTI to remain around or below $60 per barrel for the balance of 2015 and grow to $70 per barrel in 2016.