In re Shubh Hotels Pittsburgh, Inc., Bankr. No. 10-26337JAD (Bankr. W.D. Pa. July 24, 2012)
CASE SNAPSHOT
In In re Interstate Bakeries Corporation, ___ F.3d ___ (8th Cir. 2012) (IBC), the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a perpetual, royalty-free trademark license was an executory contract and therefore subject to assumption or rejection by a bankruptcy debtor. This decision is at odds with a recent decision from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, In re Exide Technologies, 607 F.3d 957 (3d Cir. 2010), which found that such a license under similar circumstances was not an executory contract and could thus not be assumed or rejected by the bankruptcy debtor.
On October 10, 2012, Vertis Holdings, Inc. ("Vertis"), and various related entities, filed chapter 11 petitions for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. This is Vertis' third time in bankruptcy in recent years. As stated in the company's Declaration in Support of Chapter 11 Petitions (the "Decl."), Vertis filed a prepackaged bankruptcy in Delaware in July of 2008. Vertis filed its first bankruptcy in order to merge with American Color Graphics and restructure some of the company's debt. Decl.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee ruled in August that an LLC’s creditor could not pierce the LLC’s veil to assert its claim against the LLC’s sole member. In a twist, the LLC’s member, not the LLC, was the debtor in bankruptcy. In re Steffner, No. 11-51315, 2012 WL 3563978 (Bankr. E.D. Tenn., Aug. 17, 2012).
In re Coastal Broadcasting Systems, Inc., Case No. 11-10596 (Bankr. D. N.J. July 6, 2012)
CASE SNAPSHOT
At confirmation, the bankruptcy court considered whether the assignment of voting rights in an intercreditor agreement was enforceable. The bankruptcy court noted that various courts had reached differing conclusions, but ultimately found that the voting assignment in the intercreditor agreement before it was enforceable.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
In re Furrs Supermarkets, Inc., No. 11-01-10779 SA (Bankr. D.N.M. Aug. 15, 2012)
CASE SNAPSHOT
Wright v. Owens Corning, 450 B.R. 541 (W.D. Pa. 2011), aff’d in part, rev’d in part, 2012 WL 1759992 (3rd Cir. Pa.) (May 18, 2012).
A New York bankruptcy court recently rejected a debtor’s challenge to a consensual state court judgment (“Judgment”) in favor of mortgagee, General Electric Capital Corporation (“GECC”), that had accelerated a debt and obtained a prepetition foreclosure judgment against debtor, 410 East 92nd Street (the “Hotel”), in the amount of approximately $74 million. In re: Madison 92nd St. Associates LLC, 472 B.R. 189 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2012).
In re WL Homes LLC, Case No. 09-10571 (Bankr. D. Del. May 16, 2012)
CASE SNAPSHOT
The debtor’s insurer sought to lift the automatic stay in order to setoff $2.2 million in return premiums against potential defense costs that the insurer expected to incur related to certain insurance claims made against the debtor. The court denied the motion, finding that the insurer had not established a right to setoff under either state law or the Bankruptcy Code.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND