As we have discussed in prior blog posts, The Battle of the Student Loan Discharge, The Eternal Pursuit to Collect: Due Process Rights and Actions to Collect on a Debtor’s Defaulted Student Loans

This month marks the five year anniversary of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ chapter 11 filings. As a changeup from the world of oil and gas, we’ve prepared a light lookback to the ball club’s bankruptcy.

On April 25, 2016, Judge Glenn of the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York issued a memorandum in an adversary proceeding in which neither of the two non-debtor parties apparently wanted to be in the Southern District of New York.

When is a claim contingent? When is a claim subject to a bona fide dispute and who has the burden of proof? When is a claim against a person? When is a claim too small to count? When is an alleged debtor generally not paying his debts as they come due? Are we there yet?

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.

When it comes to releases, plan proponents generally agree the broader the better.  But when plan proponents include far reaching and all-encompassing language in hopes of securing a release for every possible claim under the sun, they sometimes overlook the very claims for which they may actual want a release.  This was the case in a recent decision, 

Supreme Court to Resolve Circuit Split on Interpretation of Discharge Exception

This is the third post in our series on Judge Sontchi’s postpetition interest decision in Energy Futures Holdings, issued on October 30, 2015. Our first post in this series analyzed Judge Sontchi’s ruling that postpetition interest on an unsecured claim does not constitute a part of the unsecured claim itself.

It is often said that fools and their money are soon parted. In this regard, the former owners of a debtor who used the debtor’s funds to gamble at the Horseshoe Casino (the “Casino”), ultimately losing over $8 million dollars, could aptly be considered fools.

“So many years we’ve tried
To keep our love alive
But baby it ain’t over ’til it’s over”

-Lenny Kravitz – “It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over”