EV Energy Partners, L.P., along with thirteen (13) affiliates and subsidiaries, has filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Lead Case No. 18-10814). EV, based in Houston, Texas, is an upstream oil & gas developer operating throughout the United States.

The Delaware Bankruptcy Court held that comity outweighed the parties' contractual choice of jurisdiction. Although claims would be allowed to be brought in the US, any recoveries would need to be pursued in Italian insolvency proceedings.

Energy Coal, an Italian company engaged in trading coal and other raw materials, commenced debt restructuring, or Concordato Preventivo ("Italian Proceedings"), proceedings in Italy in 2015. The restructuring plan allowed for the business to continue as a going concern and pay creditors from future revenues.

For the third time in less than two years, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a chapter 7 debtor who does not reaffirm the secured debt or redeem the property must surrender the property. In re Woide, No. 17-10776 (11th Cir. Apr. 5, 2018).

VER Technologies HoldCo LLC, along with eight subsidiaries and affiliates, has filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Lead Case No. 18-10834).

Frog Rock Investments, LLC, along with three subsidiaries and affiliates, has filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. All of the Debtors are affiliates of, and are seeking joint administration with, the Woodbridge Group of Companies, et al. (Lead Case No. 17-12560).

Destination Properties of America LLC, an Avondale, Arizona-based travel and real estate agency, has filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 18-10732).

THE BANKING LAW JOURNAL

First Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Fraudulent Transfer and Fiduciary Duty Claims

Michael L. Cook* This article discusses a recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit decision holding that the debt-financed purchase of a business was not a fraudulent transfer and did not violate the fiduciary duty of the company's directors.

Good news for colleges: Connecticut may be on the leading edge of a trend to bar bankruptcy trustees from pursuing colleges when parents default on their “Parent PLUS” loans.

When a parent signs a “Parent PLUS” loan to help her child pay for college and she later finds herself in bankruptcy, bankruptcy trustees often sue the child’s college to recover loan disbursements as a fraudulent transfer. Over the last several years, the law has allowed such claims.

Recently, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that overdraft payments advanced by Banks which are later repaid by their customer constitute preferential transfers under the Bankruptcy Code. In re Agriprocessors, Inc., involved a meat packing company which periodically overdrew its bank accounts, and the bank issued provisional credit to cover the overdrafts. The bank initially denominated those overdrafts as “intraday” overdrafts until the midnight settlement deadline, at which point they became “true” overdrafts.

The Eleventh Circuit recently reaffirmed the “person aggrieved” doctrine in In re Petricca, 17-10325, 2018 WL 1020046, at *1 (11th Cir. Feb. 22, 2018). The person aggrieved doctrine provides that a person may appeal from a bankruptcy court’s order only if he is a person aggrieved by the order. The doctrine limits the right to appeal a bankruptcy court order to those parties having a direct and substantial interest in the question being appealed.