A bankruptcy court’s characterization of a debtor’s pre-petition conveyance of an overriding royalty interest (“ORRI”) has an important effect on whether that ORRI is part of an oil and gas debtor’s bankruptcy estate and, in turn, what rights the ORRI holder has with respect to that interest. If an ORRI conveyance is characterized as the transfer of a real property interest, the conveyance is generally excluded from the debtor’s bankruptcy estate and the ORRI holder’s interest may not be affected by the bankruptcy.

In the latest chapter of the New Century bankruptcy cases, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit vacated a district court’s decision on the sufficiency of the debtors’ publication notice and remanded the case back to the district court to determine the critical issue of whether the plaintiff-appellees were known creditors entitled to actual notice. 

On August 9, 2015, ZLOOP, INC., and two affiliates, Zloop Knitting Mill LLC and Zloop Nevada, LLC filed voluntary chapter 11 petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.  The cases have been assigned to The Honorable Kevin J. Carey and are docketed as case no. 15-11660.  Zloop's Chairman and CEO, Robert M.

A Chapter 11 reorganization plan may extinguish a secured creditor’s lien if: (1) the plan “does not preserve the lien”; (2) the court confirms the plan; (3) the plan “dealt with” the lender’s collateral; and (4) the lender “participated in the bankruptcy” case, held the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Aug. 4, 2015. In re Northern New England Tel. Operations, LLC, 2015 WL 4619576 (2d Cir. Aug. 4, 2015).

As the adage goes, everything old is new again.  Just like old fads coming back into style, bankruptcy issues that first arose decades ago seem to present themselves again and again over the years, albeit with a different set of facts.  Such is the case with the bankruptcy of Johns-Manville Corporation and its affiliates.  Despite Manville’s emergence from bankruptcy in 1988, questions regarding the protections of the channeling injunction issued under Manville’s chapter 11 plan continue to present themselves today.  Much to the relief of one of Manville’s insurers, in a

Today, August 13, 2015, Hercules Offshore, Inc. and 14 of its affiliates filed a prepackaged chapter 11 bankruptcy case in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.  Hercules and its affiates are, according to the petition, providers of shallow-water drilling and marine services to the oil and natural gas exploration and production industry globally.  The cases have been assigned to the Honorable Kevin J.

On July 23, 2015, in an action arising from the huge TCEH chapter 11 bankruptcy, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued an opinion in Delaware Trust Company v.

Last week, we reviewed the recent decision of the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York that granted recognition to the Brazilian bankruptcy proceedings of three entities in the OAS Group (“OAS”), a Brazilian infrastructure enterprise. Part I of this series focused on the facts of the OAS cases and the objections to recognition interposed by two signific

The Bankruptcy Code is federal law. It affords debtors protections - including the automatic stay and debt discharge injunction - that hold creditors at bay.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) is also federal law. It contains limitations on what a debt collector can do when attempting to collect a debt.

Because debts - and more particularly attempts to collect those debts - drive people into bankruptcy, bankruptcy courts are sometimes forced to grapple with questions of how the Bankruptcy Code and FDCPA interact and impact each other.

Here, at the Bankruptcy Blog, we are committed to keeping you up to speed on the current state of bankruptcy law. Today’s post provides readers with an update to a decision by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, which considered whether the debtors were required to assume a bundle of related agreements as one executory contract, or whether the debtors could assume only those agreements that contained provisions most favorable to their ongoing operations.