Chrysler Proposes Joint Plan of Liquidation; Unsecured Creditors' Distribution Contingent Upon the Outcome of the Daimler Lawsuit
Traditionally, when a business begins to flounder and take on enough metaphorical water to sink, the officers and directors can find themselves in a fiduciary relationship with the company's creditors. However, in Wisconsin, an opinion was recently published by an appellate court which determined that no fiduciary duty attaches until such time as the sinking company is both insolvent and not a "going concern". In other words, it is only when this ship has sunk that a fiduciary duty will attach.
On October 29, 2009, the California Court of Appeal, Sixth District, in Berg & Berg Enterprises, LLC v. Boyle, et al., unequivocally ruled that, under California law, directors of either an insolvent corporation or a corporation in the more elusively defined “zone of insolvency” do not owe a fiduciary duty of care or loyalty to creditors. In so ruling, California joins Delaware in clarifying directors’ duties when the corporation is insolvent or in the zone of insolvency.
Background
Introduction
The Bottom Line:
When creditors succeed in obtaining an order for relief in an involuntary Chapter 11 case and the appointment of a Chapter 11 trustee, who controls the appeals for those orders? According to an April 28, 2011 order of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, the correct answer is the Chapter 11 trustee.
Summary
Advice that may have served House of Pain in their 1992 hit song, “Jump Around,” to “bring a shotgun” to battle likely does not translate well to plaintiffs in federal litigation contemplating bringing a “shotgun” pleading to court. In this article we explore types of shotgun pleadings identified by courts and outline potential responses to a shotgun pleading.
Shotgun Pleadings and Relationship to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
For some reason, there is a fascination out there (not sure where, exactly) with having every assignment for benefit of creditors (“ABC”) supervised by a court from the get-go.
This fascination suggests that every ABC effort requires court action and judicial approvals, from the beginning and throughout the assignment, to assure that everything about the ABC and its administration is on the up-and-up.
Startling and Puzzling
This fascination is both startling and puzzling. Here are some reasons why.
When is there sufficient evidence to hold that a fiduciary’s debt to an ERISA benefit plan is non-dischargeable in bankruptcy? The Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York recently held in In re Kern, Case No. 13-08096 (Dec.