The United States District Court for the District of Delaware recently affirmed a Bankruptcy Court decision that invalidated the use by creditors of so-called “triangular”, or non-mutual, setoffs in which obligations are offset among not only the parties to a bilateral contract but also their affiliates. In re SemCrude, L.P., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42477 (D. Del.
Introduction
On May 31, 2010, Specialty Products Holding Corp ("SPHC" or the "Debtor"), filed for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. This post is one of two posts regarding the SPHC bankruptcy. The first post will look at the Debtor's businesses and events leading up to the bankruptcy filing, while a second post will look at how SPHC intends to deal with the large volume of asbestos claims that forced it to file for bankruptcy.
Introduction
Recently, the LandSource Creditor Litigation Liquidating Trust (the "Litigation Trust"), commenced various avoidance actions in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. This post will look briefly at the events leading to the commencement of this bankruptcy proceeding. Further, the post will look at some of the issues that confronted the Debtor during the reorganization process.
Background
Introduction
Recently, the Plan Administrator for the Goody's Family Clothing bankruptcy commenced adversary actions against various defendants in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The Goody's Plan Administrator was appointed pursuant to Goody's plan of reorganization. The Bankruptcy Court approved Goody's plan on October 7, 2008, approximately four months after the company filed for bankruptcy.
Goody's Second Bankruptcy Filing
A federal judge has ruled that directors and officers of a company in bankruptcy proceedings may continue to access an eroding liability policy to cover their defense costs. The court based its decision on a close examination of the policy language, and alternatively held that the individual directors and officers had shown they were entitled to relief from the automatic stay. In re: Downey Financial Corp., No. 08-bk-13041 (CSS) (Bankr.D.Del. May 7, 2010).
Yesterday, Delaware Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath granted a request by Washington Mutual (WaMu) shareholders to appoint an independent examiner, to be chosen by the U.S. trustee, to review assets and claims in the company’s bankruptcy case related primarily to the 2008 seizure and sale of WaMu by the FDIC to JPMorgan Chase for $1.9 million.
The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware has held that policy proceeds were not part of the insured entity’s bankruptcy estate because previous entity claims were dismissed with prejudice, it was highly speculative that the bankruptcy trustee would approve indemnification of directors and officers and the policy’s priority of payment provision provided that entity coverage was only available after payment of proceeds for direct coverage to insured persons. In re Downey Fin. Corp., 428 B.R. 595 (D. Del. Bankr. May 7, 2010).
In this memorandum opinion, the Court of Chancery considered a motion to dismiss claims brought on behalf of Insilco Technologies, Inc. (“Insilco”) by the plaintiff, a bankruptcy court appointed Creditor Trustee. Among other claims, plaintiff brought claims for breach of fiduciary duty against Insilco’s controlling stockholder, a group of affiliated funds (the “DLJ Funds”) allegedly dominated and controlled by DLJ, Inc. and DLJ Merchant Banking, Inc. (“DLJMB”) (collectively, “DLJ”), and a group of DLJ-affiliated directors who comprised a majority of Insilco’s board.
On August 12, 2010, Caribbean Petroleum Corporation filed petitions for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Caribbean Petroleum imports and distributes petroleum products in Puerto Rico through a network of 184 service stations. This post will look at the events leading up to the company's filing for bankruptcy, as well as what the company hopes to accomplish while in bankruptcy.