Last month, the United States Court of Appeals in two separate circuits held that liability insurers have standing as parties in interest to appear and be heard in an insured's Chapter 11 case where the insurer might be liable to indemnify the claims of the insured's creditors.

On June 8, 2011, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the appointment of Assemblyman Jonathan Bing to serve as Special Deputy Superintendent of the New York Liquidation Bureau, an agency tasked with protecting policyholders and creditors of insurance companies that have gone bankrupt.  Bing steps in as the successor to Dennis J. Hayes, who was appointed to the position in September 2009.  Bing’s appointment ends his fifth term in the New York State Assembly, where he has represented the 73rd District since November 2002.

Prior to the 1984 Amendments to the Bankruptcy Code1 (BAFJA), there was a split as to whether a transfer of title to real estate by virtue of a mortgage foreclosure constituted a transfer as defined in §101 of the Bankruptcy Code.2, 3 However, BAFJA made it clear that a “transfer” included “the foreclosure of a debtor’s equity of redemption.”4 This change in definition has a significant impact on the application of both §547 (preference) and §548 (fraudulent transfer).  

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Wealth Management, LLC, et al., 628 F.3d 323 (7th Cir. 2011)  

CASE SNAPSHOT

ReGen Capital I, Inc. v. UAL Corporation, et al., (In the Matter of UAL Corporation, et al.), 635 F.3d 312 (7th Cir. 2011).

CASE SNAPSHOT

Mata, et al., v. Eclipse Aerospace, Inc. (In re AE Liquidation, Inc., et al.) Case No. 08-51891, 2011 BL 51047 (Bankr. D. Del. Feb. 28, 2011)

CASE SNAPSHOT

In Myers v. Toojay's Mgmt. Corp., the Eleventh Circuit held that a federal Bankruptcy Code provision prohibiting termination of and discrimination against employees for filing bankruptcy does not cover hiring decisions. Plaintiff was offered a job as a restaurant manager conditioned upon a background check. The employer rescinded the job offer allegedly because plaintiff had filed for bankruptcy.

This is the fifty-second in a series of installments on this blog that are discussing issues arising in the aftermath of the global Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Bernard L. Madoff (“Madoff”).

Introduction

Most employers know that it is unlawful to terminate the employment of or to discriminate against an individual who has previously filed bankruptcy because of his or her status as a debtor in a bankruptcy proceeding. A recent Federal Court of Appeals decision, however, highlights the distinction between denying employment to an individual based on prior bankruptcy filing and terminating the individual’s employment because of it.