The issue of whether gathering agreements are subject to rejection in bankruptcy as executory contracts and whether certain provisions of those agreements run with the land and survive rejection will impact ongoing bankruptcy proceedings of producers, as well as renegotiations of existing gathering agreements.

Both landlords and tenants are well served to begin discussing exclusives early in the lease negotiations.

In re RML Dev., Inc., 528 B.R. 150 (Bankr. W.D. Tenn. 2014) –

A mortgagee sought to modify a sale order to (1) modify the bid procedures and (2) confirm that it had a right to credit bid.

In re Walker, 526 B.R. 187 (E.D. La. 2015) –

The bankruptcy court (1) denied a mortgage lender’s request to file a late amendment to a proof of claim that had been filed on its behalf by the debtor and (2) confirmed the debtor’s proposed plan over the mortgagee’s objection that the plan payments were not sufficient to cure the actual arrearage. The lender appealed to the district court.

Lawrence v. Commonwealth of Ky. Transportation Cabinet (In re Shelbyville Road Shoppes, LLC), 775 F.3d 789 (6th Cir. 2015) –

A chapter 7 trustee sought return of a “good faith” deposit made prior to bankruptcy in connection with a proposed purchase of real estate.  The bankruptcy court found against the trustee, as did the district court.  So the trustee appealed to the 6th Circuit.

Cooper v. WPD Polar Ridge, LLC (In re Poplar Ridge, LLC), 526 B.R. 147 (W.D. N.C. 2015) –

BOKF, N.A. v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (In re MPM Silicones, LLC), 518 B.R. 740 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2014) –

Senior lienholders sued lenders holding junior liens on common collateral, arguing that the junior lienholders violated an intercreditor agreement.  The bankruptcy court addressed the issues in the context of motions to dismiss the senior lienholder complaints. 

Deirdra Renee Gause v. Citifinancial Services, Inc. (In re Deirdra Renee Gause), 525 B.R. 35 (Bankr. M.D. N.C. 2014) –

A chapter 13 debtor sought a court determination that a mortgage loan was unsecured because there was a small typo in her name when the mortgage was indexed.  The mortgagee brought a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim.

Applicable state law included the following provisions:

In re Ramz Real Estate Co., LLC, 510 B.R. 712 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2013) –

An undersecured mortgagee objected to a debtor’s proposed plan of reorganization on several grounds, including that (1) the plan was not approved by a proper impaired class and (2) retention of equity by the debtor’s members violated the absolute priority rule.

State Bank of Toulon v. Covey (In re Duckworth), 776 F.3d 453 (7th Cir. 2014) –