Widespread closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have generated countless lawsuits across the country over missed rent payments. Defendants in these cases are often commercial tenants with conflicting obligations to pay rent under their leases, while also shuttering their doors in accordance with government stay-at-home orders.

With the onset of closures and quarantines early this year due to the spread of COVID-19, businesses across the country were confronted with the issue of how to perform their contractual obligations while they were unable to operate under normal conditions (or, in some cases, unable to operate at all). In many instances, they could not.

Introduction

The financial distress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has left many companies reeling. With no clear end in sight, the bad news is that some businesses will be forced to pursue options for winding down or reorganizing. The good news is, there are options.

Being in the cross-hairs of a client’s legal malpractice claim is a horrible-enough experience for any lawyer. Even worse would be if your house had to be sold in order to satisfy the former client’s default judgment against you, as the Seventh Circuit ordered in a case earlier this month.

In In re Argon Credit, LLC, 2019 WL 169315 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. Jan. 10, 2019), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled that, in accordance with section 510(a) of the Bankruptcy Code, a standby clause in a subordination agreement prevented a subordinated lender from conducting discovery concerning the senior lender’s claims.

Bankruptcy Rule 2004 allows the examination of any entity with respect to various topics, including conduct and financial condition of the debtor and any matter that may affect the administration of the estate. Does a subordination agreement that is silent on the use of Rule 2004 prevent the subordinated creditor from taking a Rule 2004 examination of the senior creditor? Yes, says an Illinois bankruptcy court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently held that a mortgagee’s failure to take a deficiency judgment against a borrower who filed bankruptcy in a concluded state foreclosure action precluded the mortgagee from making a deficiency claim in the borrower’s bankruptcy proceeding.

A copy of the opinion in BMO Harris Bank N.A. v. Anderson is available at: Link to Opinion.

U.S. courts have a long-standing tradition of recognizing or enforcing the laws and court rulings of other nations as an exercise of international "comity." Prior to the enactment of chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code in 2005, the procedure for obtaining comity from a U.S. court in cases involving a foreign bankruptcy or insolvency case was haphazard and unpredictable. A ruling recently handed down by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois indicates that the enactment of chapter 15 was a game changer in this context. In Halo Creative & Design Ltd. v.

In In re Argon Credit, LLC, et al., Case No. 16-39654 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. Jan. 10, 2019), the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois recently held that a standby clause in a subordination agreement prevented a subordinated lender from conducting discovery on the senior lender's claim, pursuant to section 510 of the Bankruptcy Code.

Facts

In a recent decision, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Northern District of Illinois strictly enforced a subordination agreement to prevent the junior lienholder from even obtaining discovery from the senior creditor. In re Argon Credit, LLC, slip. op. (Bankr. N.D. Il. January 10, 2019).