In a case of first impression in Texas, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas held that the former majority member of a chapter 11 LLC debtor had to relinquish control of the LLC's Facebook page and Twitter account because they were property of the LLC's bankruptcy estate. In re CTLI, LLC, Case No. 14-33564, 2015 WL 1588085 (Bankr. S.D. Tex. April 3, 2015). CTLI, LLC was a Texas gun store and shooting range doing business as Tactical Firearms.

The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas in In re Waco Town Square Partners, L.P., et al. considered whether it had the authority to order a non-debtor to dismiss a state court lawsuit.

Bankruptcy courts appear to be increasingly sending state law claims to the district court for final review, as illustrated by a recent decision from the bankruptcy court for the Southern District of Texas. In Gomez v. Lone Star National Bank (In re Saenz), Jose Gomez financed his acquisition of a restaurant from Humberto Saenz. When the restaurant failed, Gomez sued his lender and Saenz on various claims, but Saenz filed for bankruptcy protection. The lender then moved for summary judgment against Gomez’s claims for common-law fraud and negligence.

“[W]hat I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career…” – Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), Taken

Energy Future Holdings (EFH), f/k/a TXU Corp., an energy company centered in Texas, was taken private in 2007 in the largest leveraged buyout transaction that has ever taken place.  The deal was largely predicated on an anticipated rise in natural gas prices; when prices instead plummeted the company, which had borrowed nearly $40 billion, was left with a massively unbalanced capital structure.  The chapter 11 cases of EFH and its subsid

A recent decision from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas touched on two popular bankruptcy topics: notice requirements and the effect of a bankruptcy discharge on claims.

In recent cases where lawyers have signed proofs of claim for their clients and litigation ensued, the signing attorneys were deposed with respect to the facts surrounding submission of the claims.  For some time, an attorney who signed a proof of claim on his client’s behalf has been risking disqualification or being called as a fact witness concerning the factual basis for the claim in related litigation.

Donald Rumsfeld might sum up a recent decision by Judge Isgur out of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas as follows: “We also know there are known unknowns; that it to say we know there are some things we do not know.

On June 20, 2014, the Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion in Ritchie v. Rupe, 2014 Tex. LEXIS 500 (Tex. 2014). In Ritchie, a minority shareholder in a closely held corporation attempted to force the majority shareholders to buy-out the minority shareholder’s interest in the corporation by bringing a claim of shareholder oppression under § 11.404 of the Texas Business Organizations Code (TBOC), the Texas receivership statute.

The Texas Supreme Court, on June 20, 2014, issued its highly  anticipated opinion in Ritchie v. Rupe, 2014 Tex. LEXIS 500 (Tex.  2014). Ritchie involved a claim by a minority shareholder in a  closely held corporation under the Texas receivership statute,  seeking to force the majority shareholders to buy-out the minority  shareholder’s interest in the corporation.