Introduction

In In re Bryan Road LLC,1 the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida considered whether a waiver of the automatic stay provision included in a prepetition workout agreement is enforceable in the debtor’s subsequent bankruptcy. The Bankruptcy Court enforced the waiver and held the creditor was not bound by the automatic stay after engaging in a four-factor analysis of the agreement and the circumstances surrounding its execution. The Bankruptcy Court cautioned, however, that relief from stay provisions are neither per se enforceable nor self-executing.

In CDI Trust v. U.S. Electronics, Inc. (In re Communications Dynamics, Inc.),1 the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware addressed the issue of whether a rejection damages claim is subject to setoff against a pre-petition debt owed by the creditor to the debtor. The Court found that a rejection damages claim should be treated as if it arose pre-petition, and that the provisions of section 553 permitted, rather than prevented, the setoff of the rejection damages claim against the pre-petition debt.

Background

In a recent decision, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York found that the Statutory Committee of Unsecured Creditors (the “Committee”) of Iridium, a failed Motorola spin-off venture, was unable to prove that Iridium was insolvent or had unreasonably small capital during the four-year period prior to commencement of its bankruptcy case.

Bankruptcies and restructurings involving partners and partnerships1 raise a number of unique tax issues. While the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) has provided guidance with respect to a number of these issues, a surprising number of unresolved issues remain. The first part of this outline summarizes the state of the law with respect to general tax issues that typically arise in connection with partner and partnership bankruptcies and restructurings. The balance of the outline discusses tax issues that arise under Subchapter K when troubled partnerships are reorganized. II.

On October 16, 2013, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California ruled that the City of San Bernardino is eligible for protection under chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code.  In re City of San Bernardino, Cal., Case No. 12-28006, 2013 WL 5645560 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. Oct. 16, 2013).

Following the pattern recently established by other S.D.N.Y.

Since the passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988, casinos owned by Native American tribes have proliferated across tribal lands and have generated billions of dollars in revenue annually.  While casinos such as Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods are among the largest and well-known tribal casinos, over 60 exist in the State of California, where many dozen small properties have sprung up throughout the state in recent years, in some cases built in part with the proceeds of high-yield bond debt.  This recent growth spurt juxtaposed with the prolonged downturn in consumer spending

On May 29, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court  in RadLAX Gateway Hotel v. Amalgamated Bank, its first significant Chapter 11 opinion in several years, affirmed the  U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit’s decision in River Road Hotel Partners v.  Amalgamated Bank, prohibiting a debtor from  selling assets free and clear of liens under a plan of reorganization without permitting a secured creditor to credit bid.  RadLAX resolves a circuit split and reverses prior rulings of the U.S.

On 29 February, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom handed down its judgment on the treatment of client money that had not been segregated, or was improperly segregated, as at the date Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (“LBIE”) entered administration. The Supreme Court found that: