The trustee of a liquidating trust under a general contractor’s confirmed chapter 11 plan tried to recover pre-petition payments made to a subcontractor as either a preference or a fraudulent conveyance. The court’s decision turned on whether the payments were trust funds under the Illinois Mechanics Lien Act.
On April 28, 2022, HONX, Inc. of Houston, TX filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (Case No. 22-90035). Hess Corp owns 100% of the debtor’s equity. The petition includes a written consent by the independent directors of Honx providing for entry into a funding agreement among the debtor and Hess Corp.
On November 11, 2021, Carlson Travel, Inc. of Minnetonka, MN filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (Case No. 21-90017). Carlson Travel is a business travel management company offering traveler care, travel management, consulting, and booking services.
The reality of a bankruptcy proceeding is that creditors often receive less than a full distribution on their claims, forcing them to absorb such losses or look for new avenues to make themselves whole. The “bankruptcy haircut” is more often the case for general unsecured creditors and occurs less often for secured creditors (when they are not undersecured) and lessors (when they are not underwater on their lease). Sometimes creditors have the luxury of looking to guarantors to mitigate their losses when the guarantors are not insolvent or otherwise judgment proof.
In order to secure a real property owner’s payment obligation, contractors, mechanics, materialmen, and other workmen are often granted a lien referred to by a variety of names including, materialmen’s liens, workmen’s liens, and mechanic’s liens. While the parlance varies by jurisdiction, they are generally referred to as mechanic’s liens in Texas—even in the context of real property.
When one party can unilaterally prevent a bankruptcy filing – action steps and best practices
Commodities Alert
Restructuring Alert
Winter is here, with the attendant risk of another major weather event impacting the energy production industry, and, specifically, the wind power generation industry in Texas. Last year, Winter Storm Uri significantly disrupted the Texas power grid and forced several energy originators, distributors, and buyers to consider restructuring alternatives.
Twenty years after Noble Energy, Inc. acquired assets from the bankruptcy estate of Alma Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips, Co. asserted a US$63 million claim against Noble regarding the acquisition.
“[L]ack of good faith in a SIPA [Securities Investor Protection Act] liquidation applies an inquiry notice, not willful blindness, standard, and that a SIPA trustee does not bear the burden of pleading the transferee’s lack of good faith,” held the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Aug. 30, 2021. In re Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, 2021 WL 3854761, 91 (2d Cir. Aug. 30, 2021) (“Madoff”).
“A … transferee [who] received fraudulent transfers with actual knowledge or inquiry notice of fraud or insolvency” loses any “good faith” defense available under the Texas version of the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (“TUFTA”), held the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Jan. 9, 2019. Janvey v. GMAG LLC, 2019 WL 141107, *3 (5th Cir. Jan. 9, 2019) (emphasis added).