Ever wonder about bankruptcy appeals; about how long a bankruptcy appeal to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals will take? The answer lies in the Court’s statistical data.

On January 12, 2018, an involuntary chapter 11 petition was filed against Oak HRC New Castle, LLC, a rehabilitation facility located in Wilmington, Delaware, and health care business (as defined in 11 U.S.C. 101(27A)). The petitioners, each asserting trade claims, are: Healthcare Services Group, Inc.

First River Energy, LLC, a midstream energy company based in San Antonio, TX, has filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11. in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 18-10080).

The District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida, Fourth District, recently reversed a trial court’s order denying two borrowers’ request for attorney’s fees and costs on judicial estoppel grounds.

In so ruling, the Fourth DCA held that the trial court improperly relied on a Fifth Circuit case and failed to apply Florida’s judicial estoppel doctrine when it concluded that the borrowers’ failure to disclose their attorney’s fee claim in their Chapter 11 bankruptcy schedules barred the fee claim.

In this post, we return to cross-border insolvencies and examine one of the first decisions issued in 2018 by a bankruptcy court in a chapter 15 case: In re Energy Coal S.P.A., No. 15-12048 (LSS), 2018 Bankr. LEXIS 10 (Bankr. D. Del. Jan.

The Bottom Line

Addressing an issue of first impression in the Eleventh Circuit, the Court in Mantiply v. Horne (In re Horne), 876 F.3d 1076 (11th Cir. 2017), recently held that section 362(k)(1) of the Bankruptcy Code authorizes payment of attorneys’ fees and costs incurred by debtors in successfully pursuing an action for damages resulting from an automatic stay violation and in defending the damages award on appeal.

What Happened?

Life Settlements Absolute Return I, LLC, a special purpose vehicle investing in life insurance policies, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, has filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Lead Case No. 17-13030). The Debtors estimate their assets to be between $10,000,001 and $50 million and their liabilities to be between $100,000,001 and $500 million.

F.T.K. Worldwide Mfg BVBA (a/k/a FTK Worldwide Manufacturing BVBA) has filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 15 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 17-13024).

2017 represented one of the busiest years for Chapter 11 retail bankruptcy filings. Many companies that filed have successfully emerged, like Payless. Yet, some are still questionable as to their future, such as Toys “R” Us, which is expected to begin selling a number of their leases and company owned real estate this quarter.

As the New Year begins, here are 10 retailers to watch for a possible Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing this year:

Section 303(b)(1) of the Bankruptcy Code generally requires three petitioning creditors to join an involuntary petition, each of which must hold claims against the debtor that are not contingent as to liability and are not the subject of a bona fide dispute as to liability or amount.[1] The Bankruptcy Code does not define the term “bona fide dispute,” which has generated my