After more than two years of study on what needs fixing, the ABI Reform Commission proposed hundreds of discrete recommendations on refurbishing the Bankruptcy Code. The 396 page report addresses a wide variety of topics, from modifying the rights of secured lenders in large corporate workouts to creating a viable restructuring path for small businesses.
In a ruling of much consequence to secured lenders everywhere, the Delaware Supreme Court held in Motors Liquidations v. JPMorgan Chase Bank that filing an incorrect UCC-3 termination statement can be a costly mistake.
THE UCC-3 TERMINATION STATEMENT
In a battle over proper venue for the chapter 11 cases of In re Caesars Entertainment Operating Company, Inc.
We admit, discovery disputes rarely make for titillating blog posts. But a letter ruling issued towards the end of last year by Judge Shannon in Longview Power, LLC et al. v. First American Title Insurance Co. recently caught our eye.
The Court of Chancery of Delaware recently issued a noteworthy decision clarifying fiduciary duties and confirming business judgment rule protection for board-level business strategy decisions by directors of insolvent corporations.1 Quadrant Structured Products Company v. Vertin, 102 A.3d 155 (Del. Ch. 2014).
The Delaware Supreme Court ruled last fall that a UCC termination statement inadvertently releasing collateral on a $1.5 billion term loan was valid. The creditor could not later claim it did not intend to include the collateral in its release of other collateral with regard to a different credit facility. Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA (Del. 2014).
In the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, the bankruptcy court dismissed a chapter 11 case for bad faith, relying in part on an email sent by someone other than the debtor relaying to his employees and sales representatives his conversation with the debtor’s chief executive officer. This decision serves as a reminder to debtor lawyers how imperative it is to review with your client what it is saying both privately and publicly about its bankruptcy case. Because even in bankruptcy court, anything you say can and will be used against you.
“Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.” – Voltaire
“Always look out for Number One, but don’t step in Number Two” – Rodney Dangerfield
“What-eva – I’ll do what I want [as long as my company is solvent]” – Eric Cartman, South Park
As a company turns in the widening gyre of financial distress, its directors and officers are often confronted with situations that require them to make difficult decisions. Should things fall apart, those decisions may give rise to claims that directors or officers breached their fiduciary duties to the company. A