The trading rules and conventions of the loan market are well known to its participants. Similarly, the laws and practices governing equity securities trading in the U.S. are quite familiar to securities market professionals. The opportunity for confusion may arise, however, when these two markets quickly converge—for example, when the loans of a reorganized borrower are converted into or satisfied by the issuance of equity securities.

First, let's get one thing clear. A fraudulent conveyance, despite its name, doesn't necessarily involve fraud, and it certainly doesn't involve driving goods across the state in a wagon pulled by horses.

OK, now that we have that out of the way . . .

The following is a list of some recent larger U.S. bankruptcy filings in various industries. To the extent you are a creditor to any of these debtors, or other entities which may have filed for bankruptcy protection, you as a creditor are entitled to certain protections under the Bankruptcy Code.  

DINING  

Giordano’s Enterprises Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy along with 32 of its affiliates.  

Garden Operations Realty LP, the parent of New York bagel manufacturer H&H Bagels, has filed for Chapter 11 protection.  

Tribal economies are not immune to the recent global financial crisis and economic downturn. The Indian gaming industry was hit especially hard. After consistent year-over-year growth in tribal gaming revenues during the 1990s and continuing through 2008, industry revenues declined in 2009 and have continued to stagnate. Amid reports of several tribal casino defaults—and many more tribes with significant debt maturing in the near future that will need to be restructured—tribes and creditors must consider two questions: Are tribes and their corporations eligible for bankruptcy?

On February 10, 2011, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York issued a memorandum decision addressing whether the alleged holder of a mortgage loan had sufficient status as a secured creditor to seek relief from the automatic stay to pursue a foreclosure action.1 After resolving the primary issue in controversy on purely procedural grounds and granting the requested relief, the Court analyzed whether an entity that acquires its interest in a mortgage loan through an assignment from Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc.

What is credit bidding? Distilled to its most basic level, Section 363(k) of the Bankruptcy Code gives a secured creditor the right to use up to the full amount of the debt owed to the secured creditor by the debtor as currency in a bankruptcy auction sale of the collateral securing the debt owed to the secured creditor.

In a long-awaited decision released on February 22, 2011, Judge James M. Peck of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of Barclays Capital in Lehman Brothers Holding Inc.’s multi-billion-dollar lawsuit arising out of the sale of Lehman’s investment banking and brokerage assets, which occurred in September of 2008.

Reprinted with permission from the March 18, 2011 issue of The Legal Intelligencer © 2010 ALM Media Properties, LLC. Further duplication without permission is prohibited. All rights reserved.

Over the last couple of years, the predominant goal in many business bankruptcy proceedings has been the sale of substantially all of the estate's assets. Such bankruptcy sales are often favored by buyers under Section 363(f), which enables a "free and clear" transfer of the assets.

A new bill introduced in California would prohibit debt settlement providers from charging any fees in excess of 15% of the amount of consumers’ savings as a result of any settlement.

The Debt Settlement Consumer Act (Senate Bill 708) was introduced in February 2011 by State Senator Ellen Corbett (R-San Mateo), who headed the California Senate Judiciary Committee that stopped a proposed regulation (Assembly Bill 350) last year that had drawn support from the debt settlement industry. The bill is supported by the Center For Responsible Lending and the Consumers Union.

The Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, approved a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, or NPR, to further clarify application of the orderly liquidation authority, or OLA, contained in Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act. The FDIC believes the NPR builds on the interim rule approved by the FDIC on January 18, 2011, which clarified certain discrete issues under the OLA.