Once asserted, may a party alter it? Once claimed, may a party contradict it?
A party’s ability to abandon a previously taken position and champion its converse in a later case or proceeding often depends on one of the law’s more esoteric prohibitions: that kaleidoscopic smorgasbord of precepts collectively known as “judicial estoppel.”
What Is “Judicial Estoppel,” Precisely?
WithinIn re LTL Management, LLC, No. 22-2003 (3d Cir. Jan. 30, 2023), the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued its decision on the J&J “Texas –Two Step” bankruptcy saga. The Court’s decision complimented the parties and the lower court for their thorough analysis of the issues, but refocused practitioners on a basic bankruptcy principle:
[A bankruptcy filing] gives to the honest but unfortunate debtor…a new opportunity in life and a clear field for future effort, unhampered by the pressure and discouragement of preexisting debt.
On February 13, 2023, Ultra Petroleum Corporation (“Ultra”) filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the US Supreme Court seeking review of the Fifth Circuit’s October 2022 ruling that, in solvent-debtor cases, debtors must pay unsecured creditors applicable contractual make-whole premiums and postpetition interest at contractual default rates in order for such unsecured creditors to be considered unimpaired.
One concept—“center of main interests,” or COMI for short, one of the more significant elements borrowed from international law and incorporated into Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code—sits at the heart of the latter, enacted in 2005 as the latest U.S. legislative attempt to handle cross-border insolvencies and international restructurings.
In spite of this notion’s importance, however, bankruptcy and appellate federal courts have long divided over a thresholder issue: as of which date should a foreign debtor’s COMI be determined?
Can a corporate debtor be denied a Subchapter V discharge under § 523(a), despite this § 523(a) language (emphasis added):
- “A discharge under section . . . 1192 [Subchapter V] . . . does not discharge an individual debtor from . . . ”?
A recent Bankruptcy Court opinion (in Avion Funding) says, essentially, this: “No! You can’t paint over explicit statutory language.”[Fn. 1]
Such recent opinion:
Material Chapter 11 cases have morphed to the point that the outcome is often predetermined at the “first day” hearing. Unsecured creditors with material credit exposure should engage early to protect their interests and reduce risk of loss.
In the recent Cayman Islands case of Re In the Matter of E-House (China) Enterprise Holdings Limited[1], dealing with creditors' schemes of arrangement, Justice Segal gave a helpful decision that provided judicial clarity on, among other matters, the potential impact of the recent sanctions regimes in the US, UK and Europe on the scheme, and the international effectiveness of the scheme.
On February 22, 2023, the United States Supreme Court (“the Supreme Court”) issued its Opinion in the matter of Bartenwerfer v. Buckley, No. 21-908, LEXIS 943 (Feb. 22, 2023), holding that per 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(A), a partnership member is not entitled to discharge a debt incurred by the fraud of another partnership member, regardless of the fact the innocent member had no knowledge of the fraud.
Background
In a recent per curium opinion, the Fifth Circuit recommitted to its practice of dismissing claims against court-appointed fiduciaries when plaintiffs fail to obtain permission before bringing suit. The court rested its decision on the Barton doctrine, which other courts, including the Eleventh Circuit, have found inapplicable in similar circumstances.
A recent U.S. bankruptcy court opinion out of the Central District of California may have cracked the door open for companies formerly tied to the cannabis industry to pursue legal strategies using bankruptcy. Federal prohibitions on cannabis have complicated the industry’s entitlement to legal protections, including chapter 11 bankruptcy. Judge Neil W.