A Chapter 7 trustee may pursue any claims or causes of action, including avoidance actions to challenge post-petition transfers of property of the estate, that are property of a debtor’s estate. In a recent decision in the case of In re Genger, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York addressed the distinction between direct claims versus derivative claims in the context of a post-petition release.
These decisions continue the Article III judiciary’s effort to calibrate the proper scope of bankruptcy court power in cases involving sophisticated parties and prepackaged plans, dispensing with equitable mootness and ruling on the merits of appeals.
Although often analyzed separately, these two systems are best understood together: corporate law establishes the conditions for risk, while bankruptcy law provides the rules for allocating losses when those risks fail. Here, we briefly compare the underlying philosophies of each and highlight their points of tension and complementarity.
A recent district court decision provides key lessons in the latest on liability management exercises. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, in Wesco Aircraft Holdings v. SSD Investments, reminds parties that it is critical to use precise language in debt documents rather than assuming the existence of implied rights, particularly where such rights are considered sacred.
The Diocese of Camden, NJ and a committee representing roughly 300 survivors of abuse by clergy have reached a $180 million settlement of long-running litigation in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
In a post-Purdue world — where non-consensual third-party releases are prohibited — bankruptcy practitioners and courts alike have been required to consider and determine what exactly “consent” means for purposes of soliciting such releases.
New York City laws and regulations relating to buildings provide for many different fees and charges payable to the city which can become liens on the property. While most of these liens will be subordinate to prior recorded mortgages and thus extinguished in a mortgage foreclosure, that is not universally the case,
A federal bankruptcy court in New Jersey recently dismissed a Chapter 11 filing from former board members of national fashion retailer Ashley Stewart, Inc., securing a win for Roseland firm Mandelbaum Barrett’s bankruptcy practice and emphasizing the importance of corporate governance structure in bankruptcy disputes.
A New York bankruptcy judge refused to dismiss Boies Schiller Flexner’s more than decade-old effort to hold Citibank liable on a class basis for allegedly refusing to notify credit reporting agencies of bankruptcy court orders discharging certain consumer debts.
Annual rate increases at Am Law 100 firms continued to exceed 10% this January in rate increase notices that Big Law firms filed in ongoing corporate bankruptcies. Meanwhile, rate hikes at three Second Hundred law firms showed rate increases by less than 10% for most levels of attorney, although two firms issued bigger bumps for senior associates.
