Congress rarely accomplishes anything these days, but the need to reform Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code seems to have “crossed over the aisle.” When the Bankruptcy Code was enacted in 1978, America boasted the world’s dominant manufacturing economy. Corporate debt was mostly unsecured trade debt. Secured loans provided tangible asset financing for property, plant, and equipment.

On May 4, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed the order of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit dismissing the appeal of chapter 13 debtor Luis Bullard for lack of jurisdiction.1 The Court held that the order of the Bankruptcy Court denying confirmation of Bullard’s proposed chapter 13 plan was not a final order from which Bullard could immediately appeal as of right.2 The Court reasoned that, while confirmation of a plan can be said to fix the rights and obligations of the parties in a way that alters the status quo, d

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in In Re Adamson Apparel, Inc. became the first appellate court to address the validity of “Deprizio waivers.” In Adamson, the court held that because the Deprizio waiver was not a “sham” provision, the insider was not a creditor of the debtor that could be subject to a preference action.

It is a familiar issue for in-house counsel and credit managers: though you try to ensure that your key customers are stable, credit-worthy businesses, occasionally one of them will encounter financial trouble and you will hear rumors in the market that your customer is considering filing for bankruptcy protection. This is never good news, of course, but there are several steps you can take to minimize the adverse impact a customer’s bankruptcy filing may have on your business.

Exercise State Law Rights

In Quadrant Structured Products Company, Ltd. v. Vertin, the Delaware Court of Chancery made two key rulings concerning the rights of creditors to bring derivative lawsuits against corporate directors.¹  First,  the court held that there is no continuous insolvency requirement during the pendency of the lawsuit.

On May 8, 2015, Airborne Media Group, Inc. filed a voluntary chapter 11 petition in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.  The voluntary petition was filed after several creditors commenced an involuntary chapter 11 case in Colorado on April 17, 2015.  The chapter 11 case has been docketed as case no. 15-11018 and has been assigned to The Honorable Kevin Gross.

Judge Vincent Bricetti of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a ruling in the Momentive Performance Materialscases affirming the Bankruptcy Court’s confirmation rulings on Monday, May 4.  Key themes raised in this case of interest to distressed investors and addressed in Judge Bricetti’s ruling include the appropriate interpretation of

Upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition, an automatic stay goes into effect which provides a debtor with immediate protection from collection efforts by creditors. But the automatic stay is not without limitations.

Two recent decisions from large and highly contested chapter 11 cases add to the developing body of case law on the treatment of make-whole claims in bankruptcy.  First, in a two-part post, we discuss the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware’s decision in Energy Future Holdings, and later, in a follow-up post, we discuss the United States District Court for the Southern District of

Rule 2004 Examination in Bankruptcy