Editor’s Note: On June 16, 2016, The Bankruptcy Cave gave you our summary of the controversial Sabine decision. At that time, post-hearing motions were pending.

On March 9, 2016, Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman of the Southern District of New York issued her decision on the Debtor’s motion to reject certain contracts in Sabine Oil & Gas Corporation’s Chapter 11 case.^[i] The decision, which allowed Sabine to reject “gathering agreements”

In a world of free-ranging capital and cross-border transactions, the question of whether US courts will apply US law to transactions taking place in other countries is important. It is therefore a matter of both interest and concern that judges in the Southern District of New York have reached opposite conclusions when asked to give extraterritorial effect to the avoidance or 'clawback' provisions of the Bankruptcy Code.

Canon of statutory construction

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York recently held that a confirmable Chapter 13 plan cannot both “vest” title to real property and “surrender” that property to a secured lender, and that the secured lender may refuse to accept the vesting in satisfaction of its claim.

Thus, the Court held that a debtor may not force the transfer of title in collateral to a secured creditor in satisfaction of the secured creditor’s claim, without the consent of the secured creditor.

By now (unless you’ve been living under a rock), we’re all familiar with the expression, “Netflix and chill.” It’s everywhere. Flooding your Instagram feed with duplicitous memes. Halloween costumes. Really, really bad pick-up lines. Like the many trite colloquialisms that have come before it, Netflix and chill’s ubiquity has begun to wane with overuse and time.

A recent case out of the Southern District of New York, Citibank, NA, London Branch v. Norske Skogindustrier ASA(S.D.N.Y. March 8, 2016), once again illustrates the difficulty of obtaining injunctive relief against prospective indenture violations of a financially troubled issuer.

The Facts

With the current interest being focused on Section 316(b) of the Trust Indenture Act, this may be a good time to examine the differing rights of noteholders under an indenture governed by the TIA and the rights of lenders under credit agreements governed by New York law.

The Weil Bankruptcy Blog frequently writes on issues revolving around equitable mootness (See Equitable Mootness on Life Support: The Third Circuit Further Pares Back the Abstention Doctrine in One2One Communications,

Yes, Gathering Agreements Can Be Rejected as Executory Contracts (At Least Under One Court’s Interpretation of Texas Law)

On May 10, 2016, the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, entered an Order of Liquidation as to Health Republic Insurance of New York (HRINY) based upon a petition filed by the Acting Superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, Maria Vullo.  The Order was entered upon the filing of an