On May 8, 2012, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the “Court”) entered its Order (the “Order”) Establishing Procedures to Assert Claims Arising under Section 503(b)(9) of the Bankruptcy Code (“503(b)(9) Claims”) in the chapter 11 cases of AFA Investment, Inc. and its affiliated debtors (collectively, the “Debtors”) (Bankr. D. Del. 12-11127 (MFW)).
Indentures often contain make-whole premiums payable upon early redemption of the debt, and term B loan agreements often include "soft call" protection in the form of prepayment premiums during the early life of the loan. If the debt issuer becomes subject to a chapter 11 proceeding after the debt issuance, the question then arises as to how this payment obligation is to be treated: Does the make-whole or prepayment premium constitute unmatured interest due as a result of the debt acceleration, which would be disallowed, or is it liquidated damages?
On May 14, 2012, the Supreme Court decided Hall v. United States, No. 10-875, holding that a federal income tax liability resulting from the postpetition sale of an individual debtor's farm during the pendency of a Chapter 12 bankruptcy is not "incurred by the estate" within the meaning of 11 U.S.C. § 503(b)(B)(i) and therefore is not dischargeable in the bankruptcy.
The Supreme Court of the United States announced its decision in one case this morning:
On May 11, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a decision in BMD Contractors, Inc. v. Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland (No. 11-1345), affirming a lower court summary judgment in favor of a surety on a payment bond.
In a decision that potentially has serious implications for mortgage financing transactions in Illinois, the Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of Illinois recently held that a mortgage is avoidable in bankruptcy if it fails to include the maturity date and the interest rate of the underlying debt within the mortgage document as recorded. In re Crane, Case No. 11-90592, U.S. Dist. Ct. C.D. Ill., February 29, 2012; Supplemental Opinion and Order, April 5, 2012.
TOUSA involved one of the largest fraudulent transfer litigations in bankruptcy history. The Bankruptcy Court agreed with the Unsecured Creditors’ Committee that both the so-called “New Lenders” and the “Transeastern Lenders” received fraudulent transfers as part of a July 31, 2007 financing transaction. The District Court reversed in a scathing opinion, but today the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed the District Court and reinstated the Bankruptcy Court’s opinion in its entirety. The opinion can be found
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently held that a paragraph in an asset purchase agreement qualified as an amendment to an employee benefit plan, highlighting a split between circuits of the U.S. Courts of Appeal.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a decision with significant implications for borrowers and lenders, on May 15, 2012, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a bankruptcy court's findings that upstream guarantees and associated liens delivered by a bankrupt debtor's subsidiaries were avoidable as fraudulent transfers.
Whether post-death creditor protection is available to inherited IRAs under the 2005 Bankruptcy Act has been the subject of a number of cases decided in the last several years. The argument made by bankruptcy trustees is that, on the death of the IRA owner, the IRA ceases to be “retirement funds” as it is not the retirement funds of the beneficiary. Consequently, the bankruptcy trustees argue that the inherited IRA ceases to have the protection afforded to IRAs under the Bankruptcy Code.