The economic impact of the pandemic has been catastrophic. For many companies, intellectual property are significant assets, and counsel for these businesses, as well as counsel for their creditors, licensees and licensors, will need to understand these issues that arise to avoid pitfalls and take full advantage of opportunities to exploit the full value of a company's IP for the benefit of their clients.
While commercial leases and the force majeure clauses contained in such leases vary widely, a recent decision from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois may provide guidance to parties and help them to resolve similar disputes without resorting to the courts.
In attempts to alleviate the impact of job losses and business disruption due to COVID-19, state and local governments have passed emergency orders and regulations temporarily prohibiting evictions and extending deadlines to pay rent, among other restrictions. When those restrictions are lifted, there is no guarantee that they will have done more than delay the inevitable: eviction and bankruptcy.
In a recent decision, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York held that claim disallowance issues under Section 502(d) of the Bankruptcy Code "travel with" the claim, and not with the claimant.
Under the Bankruptcy Code, not only can the initial recipient of a fraudulent conveyance be held liable, but so too can a subsequent transferee. However, there can be important nuances in the challenged transaction that may provide a subsequent transferee with a substantial defense.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled in a precedential decision that in cases where a trustee has abandoned a bankrupt entity, a creditor can nevertheless sue those who "plunder" a near-insolvent company of its remaining assets.
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
Malls across America, long suffering even before the rise of COVID-19, are now forced to confront a wave of store closures that will inevitably result from current factors. Troubled retailers will, without doubt, seek to close their failing mall locations. To stem these efforts, landlords have applied to courts for injunctive relief to force stores to remain open and operating through the enforcement of the "continuous operations provision" found in mall leases.
Single-asset real estate bankruptcies (SAREs) are streamlined reorganizations for debt taken out by borrowers on just one property, giving them a three-month window to propose a restructuring plan.
The pandemic has spurred analysis of legal issues as businesses grapple with their respective relationships with both private and public entities. In this article, the authors examine Section 525 of the Bankruptcy Code — the anti-discrimination section, and its implications during COVID-19.
