Major legislative changes
Reform of English corporate insolvency framework
The Insolvency Service is reviewing responses to its consultation on significant reforms designed to improve the restructuring tools available to companies. These include:
“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.”
– Albert Einstein
For those interested in a quick read with some juicy facts and egregious acts by the relevant practitioners, check out the recent opinion in Church Joint Venture, L.P. v. Blasingame (In re Blasingame), where the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an order denying approval of a proposed settlement agreement was not a final order susceptible to appeal as of right.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Marblegate Asset Management LLC v. Education Management Corp. on May 12, 2016. One might have thought from the courtroom’s overflow crowd that it was the opening argument in a mob trial, but this is a case about a bond indenture. At issue is whether an out-of-court debt restructuring that did not amend the indenture’s principal and interest terms, but that effectively precluded the noteholders’ ability to be repaid, violated § 316(b) of the Trust Indenture Act (TIA).
Funds passing through a correspondent bank account in New York can create personal jurisdiction over the funds’ recipient, ruled the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. In Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Arcapita Bank B.S.C. v.
“Some people have a way with words, and other people…oh, uh, not have way.”
On Saturday, February 13, Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, passed away. Although there has been no shortage of media coverage (and brouhaha regarding Justice Scalia’s successor and the process for appointing same), we at the Weil Bankruptcy Blog want to take a moment to pay our respects.
A foreign company makes a foreign distribution to foreign shareholders shortly before merging with a U.S. company in a highly-leveraged LBO. The resulting company files a chapter 11 petition in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York 13 months later. Can the foreign transfer be avoided as a fraudulent conveyance under section 548 of the Bankruptcy Code? Previously, the answer was almost certainly not (at least in the Southern District of New York).
For those readers who have a sophisticated understanding of bankruptcy law, the holdings of Jester v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (In re Jester) will not be surprising.