Landlords have lost round two in the ongoing battle as to whether rent should be paid as an expense of the administration. The decision of the Court last week in the X-Leisure / Luminar case was in favour of administrators.
Following the Goldacre case, if an administrator is using the property for the purposes of the administration on the quarter day then the full quarter’s rent is payable as an expense of the administration. What was not clear, was whether if the administrator was appointed just after the quarter day rent was payable as an expense.
Bankruptcy
At the risk of stating the obvious, the collapse of oil and gas prices in the last several quarters has had a profound impact on the industry. Some E & P companies have been able to weather this storm, but other have not been so fortunate. In the time between 2014 and September 14, 2016, 102 oil and gas producers with cumulative debts of over $67 billion, 13 midstream companies with cumulative debts of over $17 billion and 132 oilfield service companies with cumulative debts of over $14 billion have filed bankruptcy petitions.
Ruling from the bench on April 4, Bankruptcy Judge Alan Koschik of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio denied approval of a disclosure statement proposed by FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. because the plan it described was “patently unconfirmable.”[1]
Prepackaged Bankruptcy Offers Investors a Quick Return to Liquidity Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases are typically lengthy and expensive, potentially lasting years and costing millions of dollars in fees and expenses. One valuable technique to minimize a debtor’s time in Chapter 11, reduce cost and disruption, and still secure the benefits of a Chapter 11 plan is a prepackaged bankruptcy (also called a “prepack”). In a prepack, a debtor negotiates the terms of a chapter 11 plan and solicits votes prior to the bankruptcy filing.
As you know, the last two years have seen a somewhat improved, but by no means robust, business climate. At the same time, structural shifts in the law firm business model have been both highly publicized and memorably demonstrated.
At the COP26 climate summit in November 2021, over forty countries committed to phase out use of coal-fired power.
On April 20, 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig located off the coast of Louisiana killed eleven crewmen and set off what is now considered the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. As a result, BP p.l.c. (“BP”), the parent company of the British Petroleum multinational corporation, faces mounting liabilities related to the damages caused by the disaster and hundreds of lawsuits that have been filed in numerous U.S. state and federal courts.
Asarco LLC v. Goodwin, 756 F.3d 191 (2nd Cir. 2014) –
A reorganized company (Asarco) sought contribution for payment of environmental claims from beneficiaries of trusts created under John D. Rockefeller’s will. The district court dismissed the claims, and Asarco appealed to the 2d Circuit.