The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania has held that an excess liability insurer had no standing to object to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy debtor's reorganization plan where the plan, although requiring contributions from the insurer's policyholder, was not contingent on the policyholder obtaining any funds or proceeds from its insurer. Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co., et al. v. North Am. Refractories Cos. et al., Civ. Action No. 07-1750, Bankr. Case No. 02-20198 (JFK) (W. D. Pa. Jul. 25, 2008).

The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania dismissed an appeal of an order in Federal Insurance Co. v. Le-Nature's, Inc., 380 B.R. 747 (Bankr. W.D. Pa. 2008), in which the bankruptcy court granted the insurer's motion to compel discovery and ruled that the defendant waived all of his discovery objections, including objections based upon the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination, for failing timely to assert them. Federal Ins. Co. v. Le-Nature's, Inc., Civil Action No. 08-269 (W.D. Pa. July 25, 2008).

On July 28, 2008, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) published for comment a proposed rule that would require certain troubled depository institutions to maintain records of their qualified financial contracts (“QFCs”) in order to provide the FDIC with basic information when the agency is appointed as receiver. 73 Fed. Reg. 43635. Comments on the proposed rule must be received by the FDIC by September 26, 2008.

Your franchisee files bankruptcy; is this good news or bad news? It could be either depending on whether the debtor wishes to keep the franchise in place or plans to let it go. The Bankruptcy Code has special rules on how a debtor can treat this type of agreement where it was entered into prior to the filing of the bankruptcy and remains in effect as of the time the case was filed.

For the third time in as many years, the Delaware Chancery Court has handed down an important ruling interpreting the interaction between federal bankruptcy law and Delaware corporate law. The thorny question this time was whether a bankruptcy court’s determination that the directors of a corporation acted in good faith when they authorized a chapter 11 filing precluded a subsequent claim that the directors breached their fiduciary duties by doing so. The Delaware Chancery Court concluded that it did, ruling in Nelson v.

The ability of a chapter 11 debtor-in-possession (“DIP”) or bankruptcy trustee to assume or reject unexpired leases or contracts that are “executory” as of the bankruptcy filing date is one of the most important entitlements created by the Bankruptcy Code. It allows a DIP to rid itself of onerous contracts and to preserve contracts that can either benefit its reorganized business or be assigned to generate value for the bankruptcy estate and/or fund distributions to creditors under a chapter 11 plan.

The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on May 30, 2008, issued a memorandum opinion in which it refused to dismiss claims of breach of fiduciary duty against directors and officers of a company who approved the sale of the company’s assets on the eve of its filing for bankruptcy protection. In issuing its opinion inIn re Bridgeport Holdings Inc., the court provided some guidelines for directors and officers, particularly during challenging economic times.

The Fifth Circuit recently issued an opinion addressing an important issue with respect to the preservation of a debtor's causes of action in a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization. The Fifth Circuit held that a reorganized debtor lacked standing to pursue certain common-law claims that were based on the pre-confirmation management of the bankruptcy estate's assets.

Two recent Federal appeals court decisions — one issued by the Fifth, the other by the Second Circuit — illustrate the dangers of careless drafting of bankruptcy and reorganization plans. In the Fifth Circuit decision, a drafting error prevented a company reorganized under Chapter 11 from suing the administrators of its property during its bankruptcy for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and negligence, thereby potentially depriving its creditors of bankruptcy assets.

The petitioner entities, two New York limited liability companies (the “Petitioners”), filed a petition seeking judicial dissolution and winding up of nine Delaware limited liability companies (the “Respondents”) pursuant to Sections 18-802 and 18-803 of the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act, 6 Del. C. §§ 18-101, et seq. (the “LLC Act”), or, in the alternative, appointment of a receiver for the Respondents pursuant to Section 18-805 of the LLC Act.