“The past can’t hurt you anymore, not unless you let it.” – Alan Moore, V for Vendetta

On December 8, 2014, the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11 issued an extensive report detailing hundreds of recommended changes to the Bankruptcy Code to address significant economic and financial developments since the enactment of the Bankruptcy Code in 1978.  The recommendations aim to reduce the cost of chapter 11, increase the predictability of disputes by resolving ambiguous and divergent case law, provide more flexibility for debtor in possession financing, curb the power of senior lenders, and increase protections for creditors when a

In a case of first impression, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held a tax return that is filed after the April 15 deadline is not a “return” within the meaning of § 523(a)(1)(B) of the Bankruptcy Code; as a consequence, a debtor is not entitled to a discharge of tax liability if the tax return is filed after the deadline.

Ring v. First Niagara Bank, N.A. (In re Sterling United, Inc.), 519 B.R. 586 (Bankr. W.D.N.Y. 2014) –

A chapter 7 trustee sought to recover as preferences payments made by the debtor to a lender and proceeds of collateral liquidation received by the lender based on arguments regarding whether UCC financing statements adequately perfected the lender’s security interests.

A recent decision by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Missouri held that a manufactured home is real property for purposes of Section 1322(b)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code. This holding prevents chapter 13 debtors from modifying a secured lender’s claim where the claim is secured by a lien on a manufactured home in Missouri that is the debtor’s primary residence.

Latham & Watkins operates worldwide as a limited liability partnership organized under the laws of the State of Delaware (USA) with affiliated limited liability partnerships conducting the practice in the United
Kingdom, France, Italy and Singapore and as affiliated partnerships conducting the practice in Hong Kong and Japan. The Law Office of Salman M. Al-Sudairi is Latham & Watkins associated office in the

In re Triple A & R Inv., Inc., 519 B.R. 581 (Bankr. D. P.R. 2014) –

A mortgagee moved for relief from the automatic stay based on the debtor’s prepetition consent to stay relief.  The debtor argued that a prepetition waiver was unenforceable.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently rendered its decision in the Mwangi case, dealing whether a debtor can assert a claim against his bank for placing an administrative freeze on his bank account pending a determination of the debtor’s exemption claim as to the funds in the account.

Under section 365(f)(1), a debtor is permitted to assume and assign leases and executory contracts notwithstanding contractual limitations or “applicable law” that restricts such assignment. However, that broad general authorization begins with the limiting language, “except as provided in subsection (b) and (c) of this section….”

The American Bankruptcy Institute Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11 (the “Commission”) issued its 400-page Final Report and Recommendations (the “Report”) on Dec. 8, 2014. The Report recommends a variety of changes to Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code.