As discussed in our prior blog entitled “New York’s Sovereign Debt Restructuring Proposals,”[1] three bills were introduced in the New York state legislature to overhaul the way sovereign debt restructurings are handled in New York. Those bills sought to implement a comprehensive mechanism for restructuring sovereign debt, limit recovery on certain sovereign debt claims, and amend the champerty defense.
In a recent legal development that underscores the intricate interplay between federal bankruptcy law and the cannabis industry, a court case has emerged involving a bankruptcy filing by an employee of a cannabis company. It’s well established that, because cannabis is generally considered a controlled substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), certain cannabis related companies are precluded from obtaining debt relief through bankruptcy. Now individuals employed by cannabis companies might find themselves in the same boat. In Blumsack v. Harrington, 2024 Bankr.
This article will survey the structural, strategic, and tactical ways by which a major corporate defendant may successfully manage its way through the particularly American corporate challenge of being targeted by the plaintiffs' bar in mass tort filings. I have spent most of my professional career trying to answer this question. Over the last 22 years, my company, KCIC, has focused on providing services to corporations in managing mass-tort liabilities and maximizing their related insurance assets.
The opinion is Bruce v. Citigroup Inc., Case No. 22-1000, decided August 2, 2023, by the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
The opinion addresses this question:
A disclosure statement and a plan are critical documents in Chapter 11 cases, representing the culmination of a case and a roadmap of the debtor's path forward. A Chapter 11 plan can be either a plan of reorganization, pursuant to which a debtor emerges from bankruptcy as a new, reorganized entity, or a plan of liquidation, pursuant to which a debtor's remaining assets are liquidated and the proceeds are distributed to creditors. Plans of liquidation are common in Chapter 11 cases, where the debtor sells substantially all of its assets.
KENYA
Economic overview
On April 3, 2024, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals (comprised of Federal Courts in Alabama, Florida and Georgia), affirmed the decision of the District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Al Zawawi v. Diss (In re Al Zawawi). The Court held that eligibility requirements for a “debtor” contained in section 109(a) of the Bankruptcy Code do not apply to foreign recognition proceedings under chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code.
Several myths and stereotypes surround headcount restructuring projects in Europe. Headcount restructurings must factor in local labor law and co-determination rights, which vary significantly across the continent. As a result, multinational employers often fear the cost and complexity of dealing with restructurings at their European operations and subsidiaries.
Typical drivers of anxiety include:
In my most recent blog post, I provided some tips for creditors who find themselves in the Subchapter V arena. This is somewhat of a follow-up to that one.
Bankruptcies with large tort claims are common:
- some involve a limited number of claimants (e.g., a drunk driver hits a bus or a restaurant serves bad food one evening); and
- others have large numbers of claimants, some of whom won’t even be known for at least another decade (e.g., asbestos cases).
Often in tort bankruptcies, the total amount of claims overwhelms the debtor’s ability to pay: i.e., existing assets, insurance coverages and projected future income streams are, simply, insufficient.