On August 26, 2014, Judge Robert D.

Since it burst onto the Bankruptcy Code scene in 2005 with the passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA), section 503(b)(9) of the Bankruptcy Code, which affords a creditor administrative priority for the value of goods the debtor received within 20 days prior to its bankruptcy fi

Last year, the 112-year old retailer J.C. Penney was regularly in the news – and it was rarely good.  The stock was in a free-fall, in the process of dropping from about $20 per share in May 2013 to a low of a little more than $6 dollars per share in late October.  Media reports were grim, focusing on the attempt and failure of the former Apple executive Ron Johnson to turn the business around.  But now, as we approach the critical holiday season, J.C.

During the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath, it became commonplace for a distressed bank to be taken over(night) by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and then sold, that same day, to another bank (or bank holding company) that agreed to take on the depository liability associated with the failed bank in exchange for its assets (and customer base). Some banks, however, survived the tidal wave of takeovers.

Judge Christopher Sontchi of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware has now weighed in on a hotly debated circuit court split.

Can you really lease a cow?

According to the Sixth Circuit, the answer is “yes.” Dairy cattle leasing is an increasingly popular method for producers to add to their herds while conserving capital for other purposes. Leasing is particularly attractive for thinly capitalized producers who wish to spread their fixed costs across more cows.

Fourteen former MF Global executives, including Jon Corzine, the former chairman and chief executive officer, are entitled to access most of a US $200 million directors and officers liability insurance policy purchased by MF Global Holdings prior to the firm filing for bankruptcy in October 2011, under the decision of a US bankruptcy court in NYC last week. The executives had previously made a motion to access the insurance.

To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, publication notice is, quite often, the debtor’s “last refuge.” Yet it is frequently a necessary feature of the notices provided in bankruptcy cases. Debtors rarely possess an accurate method for notifying the many unidentifiable potential claimants. And so enters publication notice. Pursuant to well-settled law, publication notice – if sufficient – may satisfy the requirement to provide due process to unknown creditors in a bankruptcy proceeding.

In a case that was converted from a chapter 11 reorganization to a chapter 7 liquidation, the debtor sought an order directing the trustee to abandon certain real estate, arguing that there was no equity for the bankruptcy estate. A lender had already obtained relief from the automatic stay permitting it to foreclose on the property, and the debtor wanted to do a short sale with the consent of the lender. The chapter 7 trustee opposed the motion.

On August 26, 2014, Judge Drain, of the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, concluded the confirmation hearing in Momentive Performance Materials and issued several bench rulings on cramdown interest rates, the availability of a make-whole premium, third party releases, and the extent of the subordination of senior subordinated noteholders. This four-part Bankruptcy Blog series will examine Judge Drain’s rulings in detail, with Part I of this series providing you with a primer on cramdown in the secured creditor context.