When a tenant under a commercial lease defaults and the landlord wishes to exercise a right to terminate the lease and evict the tenant, the landlord must comply with the terms of the lease and the applicable law regarding termination and eviction. This issue was addressed in a September 8, 2011, decision by the U.S.
Introduction
In January of this year, George L Miller, the chapter 7 trustee (the "Trustee") in the WL Homes bankruptcy, began filing avoidance actions against various creditors. As alleged in the complaints, the Trustee seeks the recovery of what he deems are "preferential transfers" pursuant to 11 U.S.C. section 547(b) of the Bankruptcy Code. This post will look briefly at the WL Homes bankruptcy, as well as provide information on common issues that arise in preference litigation.
Background on the Bankruptcy Proceeding
On October 28, 2010, Banning Lewis Ranch Co. LLC and Banning Lewis Ranch Development I & II, LLC (collectively, "Banning"), filed chapter 11 petitions for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. A copy of one of the Banning bankruptcy petition is available here for review. Banning owns over 21,000 acres of land situated on the east side of Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Bankruptcy Code § 365(d)(3) requires the trustee or the debtor in possession to "timely perform all the obligations of the debtor . . .arising from and after the order for relief under any unexpired lease of nonresidential real property, until such lease is assumed or rejected, notwithstanding section 503(b)(1)." In 2001 the Third Circuit construed this section to require the debtor to perform the lease in accordance with its terms. CenterPoint Properties v. Montgomery Ward Holding Corp. (In re Montgomery Ward Holding Corp.), 268 F.3d 205 (3d Cir. 2001).
Introduction
In In re Filene’s Basement, LLC,1 the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware considered the rejection damages a landlord claimant was entitled to pursuant to Section 502(b)(6) of the Bankruptcy Code after the debtor rejected its lease as part of its reorganization plan.
Today, the FDIC announced that Colony Capital Acquisitions, LLC paid a total of approximately $90.5 million (net of working capital) in cash for a 40% equity stake in a limited liability company (LLC) created by the FDIC to hold a portfolio of approximately 1,200 distressed commercial real estate loans with an aggregate unpaid principal balance of $1.02 billion arising out of 22 failed bank receiverships.
Today, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report entitled, “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Analysis of Options for Revising the Housing Enterprises’ Long-term Structures.” Last September, the Federal Housing Finance Agency placed the GSEs into conservatorship fearing that their deterioration would harm U.S. financial stability.
On August 11, 2009, in a long-anticipated ruling in the Chapter 11 case of General Growth Properties, Inc. (GGP), the court denied the motions to dismiss that had been brought on behalf of several of the property-level lenders.1 Few, if any, observers expected that the court would grant these motions and actually dismiss any of the individual SPE borrowers from the larger GGP bankruptcy, as doing so would have likely opened the door for the other secured lenders to seek dismissal.
As the federal government and private markets make progress to quell economic recession and stimulate the engines of financial growth, recent headlines from the commercial real estate industry have focused on certain developments, such as the proposed changes in rating agency methodologies and the repeated false starts with the government’s TALF and PPIP programs.