A bankruptcy court wrote that filing for bankruptcy is “powerful magic.” By finding federal preemption of state law fraudulent transfer claims, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in the long-running Tribune case showed just how powerful this magic can be.
(Bankr. E.D. Ky. Apr. 15, 2016)
The bankruptcy court dismisses the plaintiff’s complaint because it failed to state a claim. The complaint was based on a factual assertion that the plaintiff’s predecessor had an interest in certain bank account funds. However, the prior 11 U.S.C. § 363 sale order and confirmation order adjudicated otherwise. Thus, the claims were barred by the doctrine of res judicata. Opinion below.
Judge: Wise
Attorneys for Plaintiff: Philip G. Fairbanks, M. Austin Mehr, John M. Simms
(7th Cir. Apr. 14, 2016)
The Seventh Circuit applies Wisconsin state law and holds that a mortgage can attach a lien to a vendor’s interest in a real estate contract and that the lender perfected the lien by recording in the county land records rather than filing a UCC-1 financing statement. The trustee is unable to avoid the lien. Opinion below.
Judge: Hamilton
Attorneys for Trustee: Michael F. Dubis, Christopher R. Schultz
Attorneys for Appellees: Ruffi Law Offices, Sara Lynn Ruffi, Lund Law Office, Brad M. Lund
IRS Clarifies That a Typical “Bad Boy Guarantee” Will Not Cause an Otherwise Nonrecourse Financing to Be Treated as Recourse
On April 15, 2016, the IRS released a generic legal advice memorandum (the “GLAM”)1 providing an important and helpful clarification of the treatment of a guarantee of a partnership nonrecourse liability when the guarantee is conditioned on certain typical “nonrecourse carve-out” events (commonly referred to as “bad boy guarantees”).
In our previous update concerning OW Bunker litigation in the United States, we discussed orders issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in which the court held that a physical supplier of bunkers did not have an enforceable maritime lien against a vessel. Valero Marketing and Supply Co. v. M/V ALMI SUN, No. 14 Civ. 2712 (NJB) (E.D. La. decided Dec. 28, 2015 and Feb.
“Can I be personally liable?” Directors, officers, and managers of business entities frequently ask that question of their attorneys. A recent Delaware decision reveals an important area of potentially huge personally liability involving a sudden shutdown caused by insolvency.
Picture the scene: You have just received word that your customer has filed Chapter 11. You had followed my ad-vice (see article Reducing a Customer’s Accounts Receiva-ble in the Zone of Insolvency), and put the customer on a cash-before-delivery basis and demanded assurances of performance. You were successful in reducing the ac-counts receivable owed, and avoiding preference liability in doing so.
The customer, now a Chapter 11 debtor, calls and de-mands that you continue to ship, and resume credit terms.
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.
Bankruptcy is all about the debtor’s assets, specifically how many and who gets them. The reason that many bankruptcy cases are contentious is that the parties often disagree about the amount of assets available for distribution to creditors, as well as how the assets should be divvied up.