On September 7, 2011, NewPage Corporation ("NewPage" or "Debtors") filed petitions for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. As stated in NewPage's Declaration in Support of First Day Motions (the "Declaration" or "Decl."), filed with the Bankruptcy Court, NewPage produces coated paper used in magazines, brochures catalogs and textbooks. NewPage manufactures its products in paper mills located in Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and in Nova Scotia, Canada. Decl. at *4.
On September 2, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed a holding by the Court of Chancery that creditors of insolvent Delaware limited liability companies do not have standing to sue derivatively. This contrasts with Delaware corporations: the Delaware courts have recognized that when a corporation becomes insolvent, creditors become the residual risk-bearers and are permitted to sue derivatively on behalf of a corporation to the same extent as stockholders.
On September 7th, the FDIC announced the launch of a new program to encourage small investors and asset managers to partner with larger investors to participate in the FDIC's structured transaction sales for loans and other assets from failed banks. The Investor Match Program will help to facilitate partnerships in order to bring together sources of capital and expertise. Participants in the program will use a customized database to identify potential collaborations, which will be identified at the sole discretion of the participating firms.
The opinion issued by the Delaware Supreme Court (the “Court”) in the matter of CML V, LLC v. Bax, No. 735, 2010 (Del. Supr. Sept.
On August 16, 2011, the Second Circuit held that Irving H. Picard, the Trustee for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC ("Trustee"), utilized the correct methodology to determine the "net equity" of each Madoff investor under the Securities Investor Protection Act ("SIPA").
After filing more than 275 copyright infringement lawsuits, it now turns out that Righthaven was not the owner of the copyrights asserted in the lawsuit, and as a result is now on the verge of bankruptcy. The copyright infringement claims were made for reposting pictures and stories previously published by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, owned by Stephens Media.
The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California recently held that the filing of a bankruptcy petition by a borrower can void a trustee sale even where the petition is filed after the trustee sale, so long as the borrower files the petition before the execution of the trustee's deed upon sale. In re: Gonzales 2011 WL3328508 (Bkrtcy. C.D.Cal. August 1, 2011).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently held that prematurity redemptions of commercial paper made by Enron Corp. shortly before it filed for bankruptcy were protected from avoidance by 11 U.S.C. § 546(e)’s safe harbor for securities transaction settlement payments. In re Enron Creditors Recovery Corp. v. Alfa., No. 09-5122-bk (2d Cir. June 28, 2011). In so doing, the Second Circuit resolved a clash between the Bankruptcy Code’s interest in avoiding preferential debt repayment and the securities industry’s interest in preserving transaction finality.
In re Red Mountain Machinery Company, 448 B.R. 1 (Bankr. D. Ariz. 2011)
CASE SNAPSHOT
In re XMH Corp., Nos. 10-2596, 10-2597, 10- 2598 and 10-2599 (7th Cir. July 26, 2011)
CASE SNAPSHOT
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently answered the following questions: (a) whether, under the Bankruptcy Code, a trademark license is assignable (that is, salable) without the licensor’s permission, in the absence of a clause in the agreement stating that it is assignable (NO); and (b) whether a trademark license can be “implied” in an agreement that does not say it’s a trademark license (NO).
FACTUAL BACKGROUND