Earlier this month, Tri-Valley Corporation and various affiliates (collectively "Tri-Valley" or "Debtors") filed chapter 11 petitions for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.  This post will look briefly at Tri-Valley's business, why the company filed for bankruptcy as well as Tri-Valley's objectives while in bankruptcy.

Introduction

On February 10th, electricity operator LSP Energy LP ("LSP") filed chapter 11 petitions for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.  As stated in court filings, LSP owns and operates an electricity plant located in Batesville, Mississippi.  Aside from its gas-fired electric generation facility, LSP's assets consist primarily of 58 acres of land in which it operates its facility.  See Declaration of LSP's President in Support of First Day Motions (the "Declaration" or "Decl.").

On June 23, 2011, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that has sent waves through bankruptcy courts across the nation. Stern v. Marshall, 131 S.Ct. 2594 (2011), is the latest opinion in a long running dispute between the estate of Vickie Lynn Marshall, better known as Anna Nicole Smith, and the estate of her late husband’s son, Pierce Marshall.

Introduction

Earlier this month, Avidity Partners, LLC ("Avidity"), in its role as claims agent for the bankruptcy estates of AbitibiBowater, Inc, et al ("Debtors"), began filing avoidance actions against various defendants. As alleged in the complaints, on April 16, 2009, Debtors filed petitions for bankruptcy with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

Introduction

Earlier this month, the Chapter 7 Trustee for the Rehrig International bankruptcy estate filed several preference actions against various defendants. As set forth in the complaints, the Trustee seeks to avoid and recover payments which he contends are preferential transfers, fraudulent conveyances and/or postpetition transfers. Rehrig filed for bankruptcy on September 5, 2008. Less than four months later, Rehrig’s Chapter 11 proceedings were converted to cases under chapter 7. Soon after the conversion to Chapter 7, the Office of the United States Trustee appointed George L.

Introduction

The Chapter 7 Trustees in the Pope & Talbot and Specialty Motors bankruptcies recently filed hundreds of complaints in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. George Miller is the Chapter 7 Trustee in the Pope & Talbot bankruptcy while Jeoffrey Burtch is the Trustee in the Specialty Motors (aka "Von Weise Inc.") bankruptcy. Both groups of complaints seek the avoidance and recovery of alleged preferential transfers from various creditors of the debtors.

Because no recent opinions have been published by the Delaware Bankruptcy Court, I wanted to touch on a subject that is vital in nearly every preference or fraudulent transfer case: The Statute of Limitations For A Preference Claim

A. Statute of Limitations