‘Cause Tonight / Is the Night / When 2 Become 1

-The Spice Girls

Two recent decisions from large and highly contested chapter 11 cases add to the developing body of case law on the treatment of make-whole claims in bankruptcy.  First, in a two-part post, we discuss the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware’s decision in Energy Future Holdings, and later, in a follow-up post, we discuss the United States District Court for the Southern District of

This article has been contributed by Martin Desrosiers and Julien Morissette, partner and associate respectively, in the Insolvency & Restructuring Group of 

It may only be Galentine’s Day as we post this, but given that V-Day is imminent, The Bachelor is in full-swing, and Fifty Shades of Gray just came out on the big screen, we decided to find some reasonable nexus between bankruptcy, romance, and love. In this year’s edition, we learn that all bets are off when former lovers end up in court.

This article has been contributed by Julien Morissette, associate in the Insolvency & Restructuring and Litigation groups of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.

Should a membership agreement governing a debtor’s interest in an LLC be treated as property of the estate or an executory contract? Equally, should a debtor’s economic and non-economic interests in an LLC be treated as property or a contractual right? Can’t make up your mind? Don’t worry—the bankruptcy courts can’t either.

The question “Where’s the Beef?” is typically associated with the famous Wendy’s television commercial from 1984 and its lovable actress, Clara Peller. But the recent decision in the chapter 7 case of a national meat processor had an avoidance action defendant asking, “Where’s the Beef … (with me)?” after the debtor’s chapter 7 trustee attempted to avoid over $5 million in transfers made by the debtor to the defendant prepetition.

“Why is electricity so expensive these days? Why does it cost so much for something I can make with a balloon and my hair?” – Dennis Miller

Judge Christopher Sontchi of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware has now weighed in on a hotly debated circuit court split.

Bankruptcy courts typically rely on three valuation methods to determine a debtor’s enterprise value: comparable company analysis, precedent transaction analysis, and discounted cash flow analysis.