“Without these [mediated] settlements, there is no Plan.”

• From Opinion on Plan confirmation, In re Boy Scouts of America, Case No. 20-10343, Delaware Bankruptcy Court, Doc. 10136, at 80 (issued July 29, 2022).

The Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy has achieved a milestone: on July 29, 2022, the Bankruptcy Court issues a 281-page Opinion on confirmation of Debtor’s Plan of Reorganization. The Opinion is generally favorable toward Plan confirmation but identifies a number of issues remaining to be resolved.

The Supreme Court has held that if the Resolution Plan ignores the statutory demands payable to any State Government or legal authority, the Adjudicating Authority is bound to reject the same.

The Apex Court in State Tax Officer v.Rainbow Papers Limited [Judgement dated 6 September 2022] was of the view that the Committee of Creditors, which might include financial institutions and other financial creditors, cannot secure their own dues at the cost of statutory dues owed to any Government or Governmental Authority or for that matter, any other dues.

The struggles of failing marijuana businesses to wind down and pay creditors in an orderly fashion serve no one. Among the problems marijuana businesses face such as lack of access to banking and onerous taxation stemming from IRC 280E is the lack of access to bankruptcy proceedings.

The Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its order dated May 18, 2022 in Indian Overseas Bank Versus M/S Rcm Infrastructure Ltd. And Another[1] observed that the proceedings under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (SARFAESI Act) cannot be continued once the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) has been initiated and moratorium is ordered under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

The process of bankruptcy or insolvency may involve a company selling business assets in order to pay creditors or simply to remain financially liable. In some cases, this may include selling distressed assets. This article explains what a distressed asset is, how to deal with such an asset, and what may be the ramifications of engaging in this process.

What is a distressed asset?

Bankruptcy law has its own set of rules. When a company files for Chapter 11 reorganization under the Bankruptcy Code, the filing triggers an automatic stay that prohibits any attempts by creditors to exercise control over any property of the bankruptcy estate; the bankruptcy court then has jurisdiction over all property of the estate, which includes all property “wherever located and by whomever held.” See 11 U.S.C. §541(a); 28 U.S.C. §1334(e)(1).

In its decision in Ghanashyam Mishra & Sons Pvt. Ltd. v. Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd., a bench of three Judges of the Supreme Court  held that  “Harmonious construction of clause (10) of Section 3 of the I&B Code read with clauses (20) and (21) of Section 5 thereof would reveal, that even a claim in respect of dues arising under any law for the time being in force and payable to the Central Government, any State Government or any local authority would come within the ambit   of ‘operational debt’.

The director of an insolvent company appealed a restriction order made against him. The order prevented the appellant from acting as a company director or secretary for a 5-year period under section 819 of the Companies Act 2014 (the “2014 Act”). The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal as the appellant failed to satisfy the court that he acted responsibly in the conduct of the company’s affairs.

Introduction

The restructuring plan regime - including, for the first time under English law, cross-class cram down - was introduced in June 2020. Our experience with restructuring plans proposed to-date has been that the English courts have (for the most part) implemented this new tool flexibly, pragmatically and commercially.