A recent ruling of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals resulted in an otherwise secured lender’s claim being rendered unsecured because the lender ignored warning signs casting doubt on the debtor’s right to pledge the collateral. In Grede v. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (In re Sentinel Management Group, Inc.), 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 284, the debtor was a cash management company. It invested its customers money and held the purchased securities for its customers’ accounts. The debtor also traded on its own account, and borrowed money to do so.
Benjamin M. Hron, Esq., ed. ANATOMY OF A TERM SHEET: SERIES A FINANCING A key milestone in the lifecycle of many successful companies (and, admittedly, many unsuccessful companies) is obtaining financing from angel or venture capital investors, but in negotiating with experienced investors entrepreneurs are usually at a distinct disadvantage because they are unfamiliar with standard terms. While we strongly suggest entrepreneurs consult their lawyers rather than negotiate a term sheet mono-amono, we know this often doesn’t happen.
Recent court filings highlight the need for health care providers to protect patient privacy by implementing specific procedures when filing claims in bankruptcy cases of their patients, as a matter of federal bankruptcy and other law. Last year, WakeMed, a Raleigh, North Carolina-based health care system, asserted a claim for $553.00 for unpaid medical services in a chapter 13 consumer bankruptcy case.
In a dispute that once generated the “largest environmental bankruptcy award ever,” the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York this month issued a decision further clarifying the effects of the monumental 2014 bankruptcy settlement agreement. The February 1, 2016 decision in In re Tronox Incorporated, No.
Claims estimation can be an important tool for a chapter 11 debtor, particularly to pave the way for proposing a chapter 11 plan. How a bankruptcy court estimates wrongful death and personal injury tort claims (which have a jury trial right) is an interesting issue that was recently discussed by the Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in In re North American Health Care, Inc.
Equitable subordination in bankruptcy can be a powerful tool, providing a court with considerable latitude to set things right insofar as the estates of the penniless and the rights of their creditors are concerned.
The Tenth Circuit has in the past refused to give preclusive effect in bankruptcy non-dischargeability actions brought under § 523(a)(2) to pre-petition default judgments arising from claims of actual fraud. In re Jordana, 216 F.3d 1087 (10thCir. 2000).
The release provisions in a corporate debtor’s Chapter 11 plan were “not sufficiently specific to release” a plaintiff’s Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) claim against the debtor’s president (“P”), held the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Jan. 6, 2016. Hernandez v. Larry Miller Roofing, Inc., 2016 WL 67217, at *4 (5th Cir. Jan. 6, 2016).
As avid blog readers know, we’ve posted extensively on make whole issues, including several articles covering the ongoing make whole litigations in the chapter 11 cases of Energy Future Holdings and its affiliated debtors, which can be found here,
With the steep collapse of oil and gas prices in the last eighteen months, dozens of exploration and production companies have declared bankruptcy and many more companies are expected to file for bankruptcy protection unless prices rebound dramatically. As the prospect of further bankruptcies looms, it is important for parties to understand how to adequately protect their security interests and the nature of competing liens that could prevent them from fully realizing on the value of the collateral securing their counterparty’s obligations.