How the night time industries could make it through the last months of lockdown
In his address to the nation on Monday afternoon, the Prime Minister set out the government’s roadmap for cautiously easing lockdown restrictions in England. He shared the latest data on infection rates, hospitalisations and deaths, as well as early data showing the efficacy of vaccines.
The roadmap for leaving lockdown, which was published on gov.uk on Monday, seeks to balance health, economic and social factors with the very latest epidemiological data and advice.
Just after 5:00 p.m. Central Time on February 23, 2021, Belk, Inc. and its affiliates filed chapter 11 petitions in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, along with a proposed “prepackaged” plan of reorganization. Before midnight, the US Trustee objected to Belk’s plan, and, by 8:00 a.m. the next day, the parties were in court to decide plan confirmation. Two hours later, Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur confirmed the plan, and it became effective that afternoon, just 20 hours after the Chapter 11 cases were filed.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bankruptcy Code generally has been interpreted to require debtors to pay rent obligations on time under unassumed real property leases as those obligations arose post-filing and pre-rejection. This result was driven by 11 U.S.C. § 365(d)(3), which requires the debtor to “timely perform” all obligations until the lease is assumed or rejected, with one narrow exception. That exception permits the court to allow the debtor to extend the time of performance of any obligation within the first 60 days of the case but not beyond the 60-day period.
Arbitral awards benefit from being widely enforceable. This is the case particularly in jurisdictions that are members of the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards of 10 June 1958 (New York Convention). Recognition and enforcement of a foreign arbitral award under the New York Convention is rejected only on narrow grounds (Article V). There is, however, an additional ground for an award to become unenforceable in a specific jurisdiction that is often overlooked: limitation periods.
On February 8, 2021, three student loan borrowers filed an involuntary petition against Navient Solutions LLC in New York bankruptcy court seeking to force Navient into bankruptcy.[1] Navient Solutions is the loan servicing arm of Navient Corporation, a student loan originator which manages approximately $300 billion in student loan debt for more than 12 million borrowers.
Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases are straight liquidations sought by debtors who wish to have most or all of their debts discharged. In Chapter 7 cases, the Chapter 7 trustee obtains control over the debtor’s assets and evaluates whether any equity exists that would offset the costs of selling those assets. If the bankruptcy estate will likely profit from selling the debtor’s assets, the Chapter 7 trustee will liquidate the assets and distribute the proceeds to creditors. This is called an “asset case.”
A recent decision of the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal has confirmed that, whilst the courts of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) will recognise the appointment of foreign representatives (including liquidators and trustees in bankruptcy) as having status in the BVI in accordance with his or her appointment by a foreign court, they may only provide assistance to representatives from certain designated countries.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment commenced a public consultation process on 8 February 2021, in relation to proposed legislation which will allow for a new restructuring procedure for the rescue of small companies.
On 1 January 2021, the Act on confirmation of private restructuring plans (Wet homologatie onderhands akkoord, the “Dutch Scheme“) came into effect. At time of writing (25 February 2021), the Dutch courts have rendered 10 judgments in connection with the Dutch Scheme. This blog provides you with the highlights of this case law.
1. General observations