Product liability claimants who lost their right to recover from General Motors LLC (GM) when that company’s assets were sold in bankruptcy have reportedly filed a notice of their intent to file an appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Eleventh Circuit recently affirmed the avoidance of nearly $2 million in postpetition payments made by debtor Delco Oil, Inc. (the "Debtor") to its petroleum supplier Marathon Petroleum Company, LLC ("Marathon").[1] The Eleventh Circuit held that funds received by Marathon from the Debtor constituted cash collateral that the Debtor had spent without the permission of either its secured lender, CapitalSource Finance ("CapitalSource"), or the bankruptcy court and, therefore, could be avoided under sections 549(a) and 363(c)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code.
A recent bankruptcy New York court decision1 highlights a less commonly used option for lenders to take control of troubled real estate projects. The lender obtained relief from the automatic stay to foreclose on membership interests pledged to secure its mezzanine loan instead of foreclosing on its mortgage against the underlying real property.
Here is the case, and what lenders can learn from it.
The Case
On 18 May 2010, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and its associated debtors (together, the "Debtors") filed a further six omnibus objections to claims filed in their Chapter 11 proceedings with the US Bankruptcy Court (the "Objections"). The Objections contain orders prepared by the Debtors on behalf of the US Bankruptcy Court which, if granted, will enable the Debtors to disallow and expunge the claims identified in each of the Objections from the register of claims.
Two recent rulings have provided significant guidance on the determination of whether an entity is eligible to be a debtor under Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code. On April 26, 2010, the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nevada issued a decision denying a motion to dismiss the Chapter 11 case of Las Vegas Monorail Company (LVMC) filed by Ambac Assurance Corp. In re Las Vegas Monorail Company (Las Vegas Monorail).
The United States District Court for the District of Delaware recently affirmed a Bankruptcy Court decision that invalidated the use by creditors of so-called “triangular”, or non-mutual, setoffs in which obligations are offset among not only the parties to a bilateral contract but also their affiliates. In re SemCrude, L.P., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42477 (D. Del.
Introduction
On May 31, 2010, Specialty Products Holding Corp ("SPHC" or the "Debtor"), filed for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. This post is one of two posts regarding the SPHC bankruptcy. The first post will look at the Debtor's businesses and events leading up to the bankruptcy filing, while a second post will look at how SPHC intends to deal with the large volume of asbestos claims that forced it to file for bankruptcy.
The Third Circuit recently held that a bankruptcy court may confirm a Chapter 11 plan that includes a sale of assets in which secured creditors are not permitted to “credit bid” for the assets. In re Philadelphia Newspapers, LLC, 599 F.3d 298 (3d Cir. 2010). In that case, the debtors in possession, companies that own and operate the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, moved the bankruptcy court to approve bid procedures for an auction of the debtors’ assets. Id. at 302.
Introduction