Features

Lateral Market for Bankruptcy Lawyers Not Stifled By Chapter 11 Slowdown
After a year filled with filings, commercial Chapter 11 bankruptcies fell off a cliff in 2021, causing bankruptcy lawyers to work on out-of-court restructurings or pivot to practices with overlapping skills such as real estate and commercial litigation.
Features

Appellate Court Holds FCC Penalty Claim Survives Chapter 11 Corporate Debtor's Discharge
A Chapter 11 corporate debtor's monetary penalty obligation owed to the FCC, resulting from "fraud on consumers," survived the debtor's reorganization plan discharge, even when the FCC "was not a victim of the fraud," the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently held.
Features

Payment Under Critical Vendor Order Does Not Bar Pursuing a Preference Claim
A supplier's receipt of payment under a critical vendor order does not bar the debtor or trustee from pursuing a preference claim to recover amounts paid prepetition to the vendor, according to a recent ruling from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
Features

Bankruptcy Court Provides Clarity on Unwritten Elements of Avoidance Actions under the Bankruptcy Code
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Mexico recently ruled that any attempt to avoid preferential or fraudulent transfers must be supported by evidence that the avoidance will benefit the debtor's estate and the debtor's creditors — not just the debtor itself.
Features

Plaintiffs Bar Not Happy with J&J's Shift of Liability to Victim Fund
A bankruptcy filing allows Johnson & Johnson to shift legal liability over its talc-based baby powder into a potential $2 billion compensation program for cancer victims, but not without a big fight from the plaintiffs bar.
Features

Retention of Title Disputes: Don't Take the Uniform Commercial Code for Granted
This article reminds us of the conflict-of-laws analysis at the heart of such retention of title disputes, and then discuss the multi-step UCC analysis that is also required.
Features

Second Circuit Applies Federal Bankruptcy Law, Not Securities Law, In Madoff SIPA Liquidation
The Second Circuit applied federal bankruptcy law when holding that good faith is an affirmative defense.
Features

Congress Seeks to Restrict Nondebtor Releases in New Bankruptcy Reform Bill
Members of Congress recently introduced the Nondebtor Release Prohibition Act, which proposes to amend the Bankruptcy Code to, among other things, restrict courts' ability to approve third-party releases of nondebtors and related injunctions under plans of reorganization or otherwise in Chapter 11 cases.
Features

Authority to File Chapter 11: A Matter of Contract or Public Policy?
If you think public policy favoring the freedom to file a Chapter 11 trumps the freedom to negotiate specific restrictions to such a filing, think again.
Features

Supreme Court's Denial to Hear Student Debt Discharge Case Leaves Ambiguity
With federal student loan forbearance set to expire at the end of September, many hoped the high court would provide, if not clarity, at least uniformity for the millions of Americans who currently are on the hook for student loans.
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