2015 was a rough year for the oil and gas industry.  The primary source of the trouble was (and continues to be) the dramatic fall in crude oil prices. In 2014, the price of U.S. crude oil averaged approximately $91 per barrel.  In 2015, the price dropped to an average of approximately $49 per barrel.  As of this writing, the price was approximately $36 per barrel.

Section 105(a) of the Bankruptcy Code provides that a bankruptcy court “may issue any order, process, or judgment that is necessary or appropriate to carry out the provisions of this title.” 11 U.S.C. § 105(a).  In the Caesars bankruptcy, the Seventh Circuit explored the breadth of a court’s rights to take action under this section.  The Seventh Circuit held that section 105(a) permits the Bankruptcy Court to issue an injunction with respect to litigation pending against the debtors’ non-debtor parent.

Section 109(e) of the Bankruptcy Code limits eligibility for chapter 13 relief to those individual debtors whose noncontingent, liquidated unsecured debts do not exceed statutory limits. In calculating eligibility to file chapter 13, should a court consider debts which have been discharged in a prior chapter 7 case and which are “out of the money” because, while secured by a trust deed against the debtor’s residence, the value of the debtor’s residence is insufficient to cover the debt relating to the first trust deed?

Oil and gas price volatility is as much a part of the energy business as drill bits. Few predicted that the current down-cycle would be as long or as deep as it is proving to be. While global events could turn and prices improve, lower prices seem to be a reality for now. Lower prices impact the finances of everyone in the energy industry. Insolvencies, business failures, and bankruptcies are inevitable in this environment; and when they occur, they affect everyone, at all levels and in all aspects of the industry.

Quite often a creditor discovers that one of its debtors has avoided satisfying a liability by fraudulently transferring assets to another individual or entity.  This is a frustrating discovery, but the creditor is not without remedies.  Under Florida Statutes fraudulent transfers can be attacked and unwound through two methods.  The popular method is filing a lawsuit to include a statutory cause of action to invalidate the fraudulent transfer under 

As if the various statements, schedules, and reports that debtors are compelled to file with a bankruptcy court containing information about the debtor’s assets and liabilities aren’t enough of a reminder that disclosure and transparency are of utmost importance to the bankruptcy process, a recent decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reinforces this notion.  In 

Pursuant to Section 727 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, an individual Chapter 7 debtor may receive a discharge "from all debts that arose before the date of the order for relief under this chapter." A Chapter 11 or Chapter 13 debtor may receive similar relief pursuant to Sections 1141 and 1328(b), respectively. Under any chapter, this discharge serves the Bankruptcy Code's principal goal of relieving a debtor from his or her prepetition obligations and providing the debtor with a "fresh start" on emergence from bankruptcy.

“Claims arising from securities of a debtor’s affiliate should be subordinated” to all other “senior or equal” claims in the debtor’s bankruptcy case, held the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Dec. 14, 2015. In re Lehman Brothers Inc., 2015 WL 8593604, at *3 (2d Cir. Dec. 14, 2015).

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida recently held that:

In a case addressing what it means to "surrender" property under the Bankruptcy Code, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida recently held that a Chapter 7 trustee's abandonment of real property only restores legal title to the debtors as if no bankruptcy petition had been filed, and does not also give the debtors the right to contest the mortgagee's foreclosure if the debtors elected to surrender the property.