In Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll’s sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, there is a famous exchange between Humpty Dumpty and Alice regarding the meaning of words. Toward the end of that dialogue, Alice asked Humpty Dumpty what he meant by the word “impenetrability.” Humpty Dumpty’s response was to not only give the word a meaning that would not be found in any dictionary, but to also expand the meaning he gave the word so that it required affirmative action on Alice’s part.
“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.”
Sherlock Holmes
The preparation and filing of a debtor’s schedules of assets and liabilities is a routine but important aspect of nearly every bankruptcy case. A debtor’s schedules provide critical information to creditors and other parties in interest, the Office of the United States Trustee, and the bankruptcy court.
Today we’ll begin with a two-part question: When do you suppose you could (i) hold a debtor’s property hostage without running afoul of the automatic stay and (ii) also collect on an administrative expense for postpetition rent for leased space used to store such property?
If you don’t already know the answers to the above questions, perhaps an overview of a recent decision from the Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey will provide some insight.
Despite the initial glee of the prospect of a United States that was independent of Middle East oil, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2014, the price of oil started dropping precipitously. As noted in a recent article, over 80 bankruptcies in the oil industry were filed in 2015, up 471 % over calendar year 2014.
As energy prices continue in their trough and volatile markets fuel speculation of credit deterioration, more and more investors, companies, and professionals find themselves scouring documents to find room for a capital structure adjustment (or, alternatively, for potential threats to their credit support). A recent decision by the District Court for the Southern District of New York in the Norske cas
The Bankruptcy Blog previously published an extensive guide to evaluating and purchasing director and officer (”D&O”) liability insurance for individuals at the helm of troubled companies. But what happens when a policy is in place and the directors and officers seek to obtain the proceeds of that policy to cover defense costs or related expenses?
We all learned the first day of our Bankruptcy 101 class in law school that just because a debtor files for bankruptcy doesn’t mean those entities who have guaranteed the debtor’s obligations are off the hook. Doesn’t ring a bell? Well if you were sleeping during this part of the lecture, allow us to elaborate. Unless a guarantor has itself filed for bankruptcy, it will not be afforded protections under the Bankruptcy Code and creditors will not be stopped from looking to the guarantor for payment if the debtor fails to fulfill its obligation. But what if the debtor&