The Bottom Line:

The Bottom Line

Part 1 of this series described the recent decision of the ISDA Americas Determinations Committee to declare that a “failure to pay” had occurred with respect to iHeartCommunications Inc., notwithstanding that the only non-payment had been to a wholly owned subsidiary. The non-payment was orchestrated to avoid a springing lien that would have been triggered had all the notes of a particular issue of iHeartCommunications debt been paid in full. It did not reflect on the creditworthiness of iHeartCommunications.

Rated and other debt issuances are often structured with borrowers that are special purpose entities, whose governance provisions are designed to inhibit bankruptcy filings. A recent District of Delaware bankruptcy court case, while not directly on point, throws into question the premises underlying the efficacy of such provisions.

Facts 

Once a giant of the U.S. economy, the coal industry  now faces uncertain times due to lower global demand, a boom in domestic natural gas production, over- levered capital structures and stringent environmental regulations. This depressed environment has attracted the attention of certain distressed investors and alternative investment funds looking to capitalize from an eventual upswing in the coal industry.

Channel 1 – Thorpe Insulation Addresses Insurer Standing to Object to Plan and Assignability of Insurance Contracts to Plan Trusts

Bottom Line:

The Bottom Line:

In a case of first impression, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently held that antidiscrimination laws may be violated when a white employee is fired for having a black spouse. In Holcomb v. Iona College, 521 F.3d 130 (2d Cir. 2008), the Second Circuit vacated and remanded a federal district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Iona College (the “College”), finding that triable issues existed as to whether the College’s decision to terminate its employee, Craig Holcomb, was based at least in part upon a racially discriminatory motive.

Covid-19 has had a staggering impact on the U.S. economy in just eight months. Businesses large and small are struggling to stay afloat, with over 3,600 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings in the first half of the year.[i] By the third quarter of 2020, the number of Chapter 11 bankruptcies of companies with assets over $1 billion had doubled from the same period in 2019[ii] and the U.S. GDP had fallen 2.4%.[iii] Given the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, economists predict that a full economic recovery is likely to take years.[iv]

The US Bankruptcy Court has issued a declaratory judgment that the relevant clause flipping priority from the swap counterparty to the noteholders constituted an ipso facto provision and was therefore unenforceable – a judgment that produces a different result under US law to that established by the Court of Appeal in the Perpetual Trustee case from November 2009.