The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the trial court had jurisdiction to hear a case based on a final foreclosure order entered in Texas state court, and that the borrowers’ due process rights were not violated where the state court entered a foreclosure order without first having a hearing, in violation of the state statute. 

On October 4, the CFPB announced one change and one proposed change to the amendments to its mortgage servicing rules under Regulations X and Z.

Ultra court clarifies the requirements for classifying a creditor as “unimpaired” under a plan of reorganization.

Key Points:

• Texas bankruptcy court splits from Third Circuit in finding that a creditor must receive everything it is entitled to under non-bankruptcy law in order for the creditor to be “unimpaired.”

• The decision does not require that unsecured creditors receive post-petition interest but provides that they will be “impaired” if they do not

[Originally published in the Fall 2017 issue of Artisan Spirit magazine.]

In one of the most important bankruptcy court decisions of all time, Northern Pipeline Construction Co. v. Marathon Pipe Line Co., the United States Supreme Court held that the 1979 Bankruptcy Code was unconstitutional because it lodged too much judicial power in bankruptcy judges who were not given “Article III” status, which grants lifetime tenure and salary protection and helps assure judicial independence.

GST Autoleather, Inc., a manufacturer of leather interior products for automobiles based in Southfield, Michigan, along with five of its subsidiaries and affiliates, has filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Lead Case No. 17-12100).

On September 27, 2017, the Senate passed the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017. The Senate’s bill is intended to ease the burden on certain overworked bankruptcy courts and also increase bankruptcy fees in larger cases. The House of Representatives passed a different version of the bill earlier in the year.

On March 22, 2017, the Supreme Court decided Czyzewski v. Jevic Holding Corp., holding that a bankruptcy court may not approve a structured dismissal of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case if the order does not comply with the priority rules of the Bankruptcy Code. 580 U.S. __ (2017).

In order to file for bankruptcy, a corporate entity must be legally authorized to do so. Whether the bankruptcy petition has been duly authorized is governed by state law and often depends on the entity’s governance documents. If a petition has not been properly authorized, creditors may seek its dismissal.

In many decisions involving US chapter 15 cases, the bankruptcy court’s principal focus will be on what is the debtor’s center of main interests (COMI). An ancillary issue is whether it is appropriate to create COMI to obtain the benefit of a more favorable jurisdiction to restructure a company’s debt (otherwise known as “COMI shifting”).