Being one of the first defendants to settle claims has its pros and cons. On the one hand, defendants may avoid protracted litigation. On the other hand, future defendants may ultimately negotiate lower settlement amounts. To avoid “leaving money on the table,” defendants who settle early may seek to include an equal treatment provision, or “most favored nations” (MFN) clause, into the settlement agreement.
BACKGROUND
After an oversecured creditor obtained relief from the automatic stay and foreclosed on some property, the bankruptcy court asserted jurisdiction over disposition of the sale proceeds and denied in part the creditor’s claim for fees. The district court reversed and the case was appealed to the 5thCircuit.
In re Beltway Law Group, LLP, 514 B.R. 341 (Bankr. D. D.C. 2014) –
A managing partner filed an involuntary chapter 7 petition against a professional limited liability partnership. The bankruptcy court denied the petition and dismissed the case based on its interpretation that the entity was a corporation and not a partnership for purposes of the Bankruptcy Code.
On October 1, a bankruptcy judge ruled that the pension agreement between Stockton, California and Calpers, California’s massive state-run pension fund for public employees, is an executory contract that can be rejected in bankruptcy. Judge Christopher Klein of the Eastern District of California found that California laws designed to protect Calpers from municipal bankruptcies could not be enforced once a city entered bankruptcy.
On Aug.
On September 30, 2014, in In re SemCrude, L.P.,1 the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, affirming the Bankruptcy Court’s decision, held that direct partnership distributions by debtor SemGroup, L.P. (the “Debtor”) and indirect partnership distributions by its general partner, SemGroup G.P., L.L.C., to certain limited and general partners could not be avoided as constructive fraudulent transfers.
The perception that public employee pension obligations cannot be impaired in bankruptcy suffered a damaging blow several months ago in the City of Detroit bankruptcy case, and has now been fatally wounded by
The ability of a foreign debtor to avail itself of the protections of the Bankruptcy Code, such as the automatic stay, with respect to its property located within the United States is one of the most fundamental and valuable tools available to foreign debtors with domestically located property. When a foreign debtor obtains “recognition” of its principal insolvency proceeding by U.S.
Latham & Watkins operates worldwide as a limited liability partnership organized under the laws of the State of Delaware (USA) with affiliated limited liability partnerships conducting the practice in the United
Kingdom, France, Italy and Singapore and as affiliated partnerships conducting the practice in Hong Kong and Japan. The Law Office of Salman M. Al-Sudairi is Latham & Watkins associated office in the