In recent opinions, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Seventh Circuits have revisited the doctrine of equitable subordination and have underscored the requirement that, before a court can equitably subordinate a creditor’s claim, the court must find that other creditors have been harmed by the actions of the creditor. Importantly, both decisions stress that equitable subordination is meant to be remedial and not punitive, and may not be imposed merely because a creditor has engaged in misconduct.
Today, the Utah Department of Financial Institutions closed MagnetBank, Salt Lake City, Utah , and the FDIC was named as receiver. The FDIC was unable to find another financial institution to assume the banking operations of MagnetBank.
The recent financial crisis has resulted in events that once seemed impossible. Recently, in the federal government’s attempts to bail out the auto industry, an event unprecedented in American history almost occurred: the forced subordination of existing secured debt to new loans issued by the federal government. If the government were to revive this concept in future bailouts and attempt to subordinate the liens of secured creditors, a suit challenging the constitutionality of such action would have a good chance of success.
The Potential For Forced Subordination
In the March 2008 issue, we discussed a decision from the In re Urban Communicators PCS, Ltd. Partnership1 case. In that decision, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York held that under section 506(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, the Bankruptcy Court could limit the rate of postpetition interest to be paid to an over-secured creditor to an amount less than the contract interest rate.
The Fourth Circuit’s reversal of the bankruptcy court’s narrow reading of swap agreement clarifies the nature of agreements entitled to broad protections under the Bankruptcy Code, but until the decision is fully implemented on remand, swap participants will bear increased risk in hedging transactions.
As required by the terms of the emergency assistance provided by Treasury last December, General Motors Corp.
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.
AUTOMOTIVE
Auto parts maker Contech U.S., LLC, subsidiaries file for Chapter 11 protection in Michigan.
Fluid Routing Solutions, Inc., subsidiaries file Chapter 11 in Delaware.
GROCERY STORES
In these uncertain times, boards of directors face many important decisions about a company’s present and future actions, including reduction or suspension of dividends, layoffs, asset sales, unsolicited takeover offers, liquidation and even insolvency proceedings. In making these decisions, directors should remember their overarching responsibility for continuing oversight and informed decision-making.
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.
AUTOMOTIVE
Saab files for reorganization in Sweden as General Motors Corp. ends support.
BROADCASTING
Young Broadcasting, affiliates restructure through Chapter 11; operations to continue.
On February 23, 2009, Pennsylvania became the second state to recognize an "ordinary course of business" exception to preference actions brought under a state insolvency statute where the defense is not expressly provided for in the statute. In Joel S. Ario, Insurance Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in His Official Capacity as Liquidator of Reliance Insurance Company, Appellant v. H.J. Heinz Company, H.J. Heinz Company, L.P., H.J. Heinz Finance Company, and Portion Pac, Inc., et al., Appellees, No. 21 MAP 2006 (Pa. Feb.