The Court of Appeal in England has unanimously upheld a first instance decision that a Financial Support Direction (FSD) issued by the Pensions Regulator to an entity after it has commenced insolvency proceedings will rank as an expense of the administration, therefore affording it superpriority over floating charge holders and other unsecured creditors. This decision has significant implications for lenders to groups with UK defined benefit pension plans if any of their security is taken as a floating charge.
In a case of first impression that has important implications for parties who acquire intellectual property rights under international license agreements, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia held that the protections of Section 365(n) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code applied to licensees of U.S. patents in a Chapter 15 case, despite the fact that those protection were not available under the foreign law applicable to the foreign debtor. In re Qimonda AG, Case No. 09-14766 (Bankr. E.D. Va., Oct. 28, 2011) (Mitchell, Bankruptcy J.).
Irving Picard's lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase & Co. styled Picard v. JPMorgan Chase & Co., 11-cv-913, in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, was dismissed on November 1, 2011. U.S.
Earlier today AMR Corporation, its subsidiary American Airlines, Inc., and 18 other affiliates ("Debtors") filed petitions under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan.1 The case was assigned to Bankruptcy Judge Sean H. Lane. The Debtors have asked the Court to consolidate all 20 cases for procedural purposes under the captionIn re: AMR Corporation, Case No. 11-15463.
On November 15, 2011, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") and the U.S. Department of Treasury ("Treasury") issued final regulations under Section1 108(e)(8) and certain other Sections relating to the application of Section 108(e)(8) to partnerships (collectively, the "Final Regulations").
Introduction
On November 4th, the Federal Bankruptcy Court granted the SIPC Trustee's motion to establish procedures for the issuance of subpoenas for document production and depositions in connection with the SIPC Trustee's independent investigation into the business and affairs of MF Global. Access to documents produced by witnesses and attendance at examinations will be limited to the SIPC Trustee and his professionals. The SIPC, SEC and CFTC will have access to the discovery upon the execution of confidentiality agreements.
Summary
In this memorandum opinion, the Court of Chancery denied a motion filed on behalf of a dissolved corporation to dismiss a petition for the appointment of a receiver under 8 Del. C. § 279, ruling that the petitioners might “conceivably” demonstrate entitlement to such appointment in light of their factual allegations concerning the dissolved corporation’s “plan of dissolution” under 8 Del. C. § 281(b). The Court also granted the petitioners’ motion to perfect service upon the dissolved corporation and denied the motion to dismiss for insufficiency of service of process.
On October 31, the MF Global enterprise collapsed into bankruptcy and a number of related insolvency proceedings. Amid allegations of improper commingling of customer accounts and rumors of misbegotten proprietary Eurobond trades, two unregulated entities – MF Global Finance USA Inc. and MF Global Holdings Ltd. (the Unregulated Debtors) – filed voluntary bankruptcy petitions on October 31, 2011. Later the same day, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation filed a complaint in the U.S.