A district court rejected the prudent investor rate theory and applied the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) discount rate to determine the amount of a PBGC termination liability claim. Wolverine, Procter & Schwartz, LLC v. Lynn F. Riley, 2010 WL 1236298 (D. Mass. 2010). This case demonstrates a recent trend among courts. In the 1990s and 2000s, several courts found that an unfunded benefit liability claim may be recalculated in bankruptcy using a "prudent investor rate" to determine the present value of plan liabilities.
The Washington LLC Act prohibits an insolvent LLC from making a distribution to a member. RCW 25.15.235(1). Either type of insolvency will do – the LLC is unable to pay its debts as they come due in the usual course of business, or the LLC’s liabilities exceed the fair value of its assets.
CENTRAL STATES SOUTHEAST AND SOUTHWEST AREAS PENSION FUND v. O'NEILL BROS. TRANSFER & STORAGE (August 31, 2010)
A company facing a rash of tort lawsuits may try to use a dormant subsidiary’s bankruptcy as a tool to limit its exposure. That’s what Pfizer tried to do, and a New York bankruptcy judge sent them packing. This case is a warning to corporate parents that courts will not allow them to manipulate the process to use the bankruptcies of subsidiaries to further their own agendas. If you’re a creditor you can use this case as ammunition in reorganization disputes to show bad faith. Read on for a quick summary of what happened in the Pfizer case, and what you can learn from it.
In the wake of the recent financial crisis, the legal system continues to sort out rights and obligations of financial market participants. This is especially true for participants in the over-the-counter derivatives markets.
The tremendous growth of that largely unregulated market has been accompanied by the development of sophisticated contractual frameworks and specific bankruptcy legislation expressly intended to reduce uncertainty around the amount and type of claims that could ultimately be asserted by market participants following bankruptcy of a derivative counterparty.
On October 12, 2010, Consolidated Horticulture Group, LLC and Hines Nursery LLC (the "Debtors"), filed petitions for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. According to the Declaration filed by Debtors' President and CEO, Stephen Thigpen (the "Declaration"), Debtors are one of the largest commercial nurseries in North America, selling shrubs and container-grown plants to commercial and retail customers. Decl.
Straining under a debt burden in excess of $1 billion, TerreStar Networks filed a petition for Chapter 11 protection with a New York bankruptcy court on Tuesday. Known formerly as Motient Corp., TerreStar is in the midst of deploying a hybrid terrestrial/mobile satellite network that would serve rural and other hard-to-reach areas in the U.S.
In the jargon of the secondary bank loan market, loans beneficially owned by participation may be "elevated" to direct assignments once requisite administrative agent and/or borrower consent is obtained. Such "elevations" customarily have been viewed as straightforward transactions -- when completed, the participant simply stands in the shoes of the grantor and becomes the lender of record of the loan on the books of the administrative agent.
In today’s turbulent economic climate, it is vital for creditors and debtors to understand the precise boundaries of their rights and duties when an enterprise becomes insolvent. Directors, officers and managers must acknowledge those to whom they owe fiduciary duties and fulfill those duties at the risk of personal liability, while creditors evaluate their potential remedies against misbehaving insiders to collect on defaulted obligations.
In re Leslie Controls, Inc., (Bankr. D. Del., Case No. 10-12199, 2010)
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