In December 2018, at its 54th session in Vienna, Working Group V (Insolvency Law) of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) discussed revisions to its Enterprise Group Insolvency: Draft Model Law (the "EGI Model Law") as well as the EGI Model Law’s Guide to Enactment.

For more than a century, courts in England and Wales have refused to recognize or enforce foreign court judgments or proceedings that discharge or compromise debts governed by English law. In accordance with a rule (the "Gibbs Rule") stated in an 1890 decision by the English Court of Appeal, creditors holding debt governed by English law may still sue to recover the full amount of their debts in England even if such debts have been discharged or modified in connection with a non-U.K.

In In re Argon Credit, LLC, 2019 WL 169315 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. Jan. 10, 2019), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled that, in accordance with section 510(a) of the Bankruptcy Code, a standby clause in a subordination agreement prevented a subordinated lender from conducting discovery concerning the senior lender’s claims.

The Federal Court of Australia rules that receivers appointed to a company in liquidation are entitled to pay employee entitlements and fees.

In Short:

The Situation: In Bakhshiyeva v Sberbank of Russia, a debtor sought to restructure English law-governed debts pursuant to an Azerbaijani restructuring proceeding. In order to prevent certain dissenting creditors from commencing enforcement proceedings against the debtor in the UK, the debtor asked the English court to provide an indefinite stay.

Rumors of another recession multiplied as the tumultuous second year of the Trump administration came to a close. Highlights of 2018 included a simmering trade war with China; political upheaval after the House of Representatives was retaken by Democrats in the midterm elections; mayhem in financial markets; and, in December, the beginning of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, triggered by lawmakers’ refusal to provide $5.7 billion in funding for a U.S.-Mexican border wall.

In Tanguy v. West (In re Davis), 2018 WL 4232063 (5th Cir. Sept. 5, 2018), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit revisited the circumstances under which section 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code moots an appeal of a bankruptcy court’s order approving a sale of assets. The Fifth Circuit reaffirmed its adherence to the majority rule on the issue, ruling that, absent evidence that the purchaser did not acquire the property in good faith, the challengers’ failure to obtain a stay pending appeal moots any appeal of a sale order.

U.S. courts have a long-standing tradition of recognizing or enforcing the laws and court rulings of other nations as an exercise of international "comity." Prior to the enactment of chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code in 2005, the procedure for obtaining comity from a U.S. court in cases involving a foreign bankruptcy or insolvency case was haphazard and unpredictable. A ruling recently handed down by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois indicates that the enactment of chapter 15 was a game changer in this context. In Halo Creative & Design Ltd. v.

On September 18, 2018, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law ("UNCITRAL") published its final version of the new Model Law on the Recognition and Enforcement of Insolvency-Related Judgments (the "IRJ Model Law"). The IRJ Model Law creates a framework for the recognition and enforcement of judgments in foreign bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings. It is intended to supplement and complement the 1997 UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (the "CBI Model Law").

In Kaye v. Blue Bell Creameries, Inc. (In re BFW Liquidation, LLC), 899 F.3d 1178 (11th Cir. 2018), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit broadened the scope of section 547(c)(4) of the Bankruptcy Code’s "subsequent new value" defense against preference actions by holding that the provision applies to all new value supplied by the creditor during the preference period and not merely to new value that remains unpaid on the bankruptcy petition date.