The bankruptcy of fractional-share operator Avantair triggered a dispute regarding exactly what property its fractional-share owners held. Like other fractional-share operators, Avantair operated a fleet of airplanes, selling fractional shares in each of them to individual participants. Using Fractional Share Contracts consisting of interlocking purchase agreements, dry lease agreements, and fractional use agreements, Avantair controlled, operated, and maintained a fleet of aircraft owned by its participants.
As all restructuring eyes turn to Oil & Gas as the industry most likely to keep us busy in the coming months, we at the Weil Bankruptcy Blog want to make sure our readers are ahead of the gas curve (pun intended) in understanding the key issues that arise in this sector. With that in mind, today is the first in a Weil Bankruptcy Blog series, “Drilling Down,” which will look at emerging issues at the intersection of the oil and gas industry and bankruptcy law.
A recent decision by a New Jersey bankruptcy court scrambles the law regarding rejected trademark licenses.1 Crumbs was a multi-location bakery that also licensed its trademarks and trade secrets to third parties. In July of 2014 Crumbs filed a Chapter 11 reorganization case and in August of 2014 the court entered an order selling substantially all of the assets of Crumbs to LFAC2 free and clear of liens, claims, encumbrances, and interests.
Like many of our readers, we at the Bankruptcy Blog spent our holiday breaks curled up with our copies of the American Bankruptcy Institute Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11 Final Report and Recommendations, which by now are quite dog-eared.
As noted in Part 1 of this series, any buyer of assets from a company in any degree of financial stress should be concerned about the transaction being attacked as a fraudulent transfer. Officers and directors of a selling entity also have concerns about this risk due to potential personal liability.
“Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.” – Voltaire
In re Triple A & R Inv., Inc., 519 B.R. 581 (Bankr. D. P.R. 2014) –
A mortgagee moved for relief from the automatic stay based on the debtor’s prepetition consent to stay relief. The debtor argued that a prepetition waiver was unenforceable.
Overview
On Monday, December 1, 2014, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed the Financial Institution Bankruptcy Act of 2014 (“FIBA” or “the Act”). The Act, which garnered bipartisan support as well as the approval of financial regulators, seeks to facilitate the recapitalization of financial institutions by reforming the bankruptcy process, while maintaining financial stability in U.S. markets. The Act now must be approved by the Senate and then signed into law by the President.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently rendered its decision in the Mwangi case, dealing whether a debtor can assert a claim against his bank for placing an administrative freeze on his bank account pending a determination of the debtor’s exemption claim as to the funds in the account.
A D&O liability policy protects key individuals in a corporate structure. These individuals are likely targets for shareholder frustration if an entity is underperforming or suffering from other troubles. In addition, they may be exposed to personal scrutiny from regulators if the corporation is investigated for any wrongdoing. As previously discussed in this space, an insurance policy can provide more reliable protection for t