All’s fair in love bankruptcy and war . . . except when one side decides to keep fighting after there’s been a truce. The petitioning creditors in In re BG Petroleum, LLC, a recent decision from the Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, apparently forgot this rule.
In this installment of the Weil Bankruptcy Blog’s series on the ABI Commission Report, we consider the Commission’s recommendations on collective bargaining agreements under section 1113 and retiree benefits under section 1114 of the Bankruptcy Code.
Section 1113: The Commission’s Considerations
“The past can’t hurt you anymore, not unless you let it.” – Alan Moore, V for Vendetta
“Life is not about perfect information. Life is about choices, which is why you have elections.”
Regardless of whether a creditor has a claim identified in a debtor’s schedules of assets and liabilities, generally speaking, most attorneys representing creditors in the context of a chapter 11 case will advise their clients to file a formal proof of claim with the bankruptcy court. Often this is just “belts and suspenders” and a matter of good practice but, if nothing else, a formal proof of claim will serve to protect a creditor’s rights and interests vis à vis the estate.
On August 26, 2014, Judge Drain concluded the confirmation hearing in Momentive Performance Materials and issued several bench rulings on cramdown interest rates, the availability of a make-whole premium, third party releases, and the extent of the subordination of senior subordinated noteholders.
As this Blog has discussed in a number of recent posts, free and clear sales under section 363(f) of the Bankruptcy Code often lead to disputes over whether section 363(f) can strip assets of particular types of claims and interests. Although section 363(f) plays an important role in maximizing the value of a debtor’s assets in a section 363 sale, adversely affected parties may object to those assets being sold free and clear of their claims.
This is the third post in our Bitcoin Bankruptcy series on the Weil Bankruptcy Blog. In the spring of this year, the shutdown of Japanese bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox made us think about what might have happened if Mt.
Readers may recall that, according to at least one bankruptcy court, chapter 9 debtors are not required to obtain bankruptcy court approval of compromises and settlements.