On June 29, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the decision of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, which held that claims asserted by counterparties in relation to bilateral repurchase agreements do not qualify for treatment as customer claims under the Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970 (“SIPA”).

Benjamin Franklin is quoted as having said “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”  No offense to Mr. Franklin, but we had always thought that there was at least one other certainty in this world—in a bankruptcy case, creditors get paid pursuant to the priority scheme under section 507(a) of the Bankruptcy Code.  It turns out, however, that Mr.

On May 21, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (the “Third Circuit”) affirmed the order of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware in Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors v. CIT Group/Business Credit Inc. (In re Jevic Holding Corp.) approving a settlement and dismissal of a chapter 11 case by way of a “structured dismissal.” A structured dismissal is, simply, the dismissal of the bankruptcy case preceded by other orders, such as an order approving a settlement or granting releases, which survive dismissal of the case.

Introduction

On June 11, 2015, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey recognized that a condominium association’s lien is entitled to a limited six-month priority over a first mortgage.

Breach or termination?  In most cases involving the rejection of an unexpired lease where the debtor is the lessee, whether a rejection constitutes merely a “breach,” as stated in section 365(g) of the Bankruptcy Code, or a “termination” is largely academic – the debtor vacates the premises, and the lessor files a prepetition claim for rejection damages. The debtor and its landlord may argue about the

Despite the Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Executive Benefits Insurance Agency v. Arkinson, 573 U.S. ___ (2014) (Arkinson) and Stern v. Marshall, 564 U. S. ___ (2011) (Stern),which dealt with the division of authority between bankruptcy courts and Article III courts, the question of whether a party could consent to a bankruptcy court’s final adjudication of so-called “Stern claims” remained an open issue. No longer. Recently, in Wellness International Network, Ltd. v. Sharif, ___ U.S.

The Issue and Background

On Sunday, June 14, 2015, Colt Holding Company LLC and 9 affiliates, including Colt Defense, LLC filed voluntary chapter 11 petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.  The case is docketed as case no. 15-11296 and has been assigned to The Honorable Laurie Selber Silverstein.

On May 21, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (the "Third Circuit") held that in rare instances a bankruptcy court may approve a "structured dismissal"- that is, a dismissal "that winds up the bankruptcy with certain conditions attached instead of simply dismissing the case and restoring the status quo ante" - that deviates from the Bankruptcy Code's priority scheme. See Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors v. CIT Group/Business Credit Inc. (In re Jevic Holding Corp.), Case No.