Features
The Supreme Court Speaks in Marrama
With its Feb. 21, 2007 holding in <i>Marrama v. Citizens Bank of Massachusetts</i>, 127 S. Ct. 1105 (2007), the Supreme Court stepped in to resolve a Circuit Court split concerning a debtor's right to convert a Chapter 7 case to a Chapter 13 case under the Bankruptcy Code, pursuant to ' 706(a) of the Code. On its face, ' 706(a) seems clear ' a debtor has an absolute, one-time right to conversion. Such clarity is, in the Supreme Court's view, hazy at best.
Features
Bankruptcy Rule 2019
Bankruptcy court procedural rulings typically go unnoticed. However, this year two bankruptcy court rulings regarding procedural disclosure requirements potentially applicable to investors participating in the bankruptcy process have caused quite a stir. Both rulings related to the scope of disclosure mandated by Bankruptcy Rule 2019, which applies to 'committees' and 'entities' that represent more than one creditor in a bankruptcy case.
Features
Bidders Beware
The aggregate value of private equity acquisitions worldwide in 2006 exceeded $660 billion. If this number seems mind-boggling, consider that this record-breaking volume of transactions appears well on the way to being eclipsed in 2007. Even with corporate financing for leveraged buyouts harder to come by as a consequence of the sub-prime mortgage fallout, there is, by some estimates, $300 billion sitting globally in private-equity funds.
Features
Clause & Effect
Recording Agreements/Forum-Selection Clause; Royalty Claims/Letter of Inducement; TV Music Scores/Synchhornization Royalties.
Features
Federal Contractors and Executive Order 11246
This past year has seen a flurry of activity under Executive Order 11246 ('EO 11246'), the law that governs the administration of affirmative action programs of employers that have certain government contracts or subcontracts. In the wake of these new changes, this article offers suggestions of best practices relating to one of the most noteworthy developments for EO 11246 compliance: the 'Internet Applicant' rule, which became effective on Feb. 6, 2006.
Features
Military Leave Laws Move to the Frontlines
The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act ('USERRA' or the 'Act') tends to be the employment-related statute most frequently placed on the back burner. Of course, this quickly changes when an employee seeks its protection or privileges. When that happens, managers and human resource professionals are often caught behind the eight ball trying to navigate requirements and entitlements of the law.
Features
Not Just Another Article on e-Discovery Review
The author believes that the best e-discovery-review best practices should be characterized as the application of real-life lessons. He believes they are not complicated, and that focusing on a few of these learned lessons with a thoughtful, deliberate approach will achieve a truly effective electronic discovery review.
Features
Keeping e-Secrets
e-Commerce and tech firms face constant threats to secrecy and challenges unheard of by their real-world predecessors. Today, for example, businesses that work with data about individuals, whether that data is a record of credit-card transactions or is housed in more complex medical databases, must comply with complex burdens to maintain the confidentiality of the people to whom the data pertains. As the many recent headlines about privacy breaches reveal, protecting against the risk ' and cost ' of worldwide criminals' vigilance to gain instant access to that data must be as much a part of any e-commerce firm's business plan as its marketing strategy.
Attorney General Gonzales Resigns
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales ' the nation's troubled top law enforcement officer ' ended speculation Monday and resigned after a months-long standoff with the Democratic-controlled Congress over his candor on several major issues, most notably the handling of the firing of at least eight U.S. attorneys.
Features
Corporate President May Avoid a Personal Guaranty
In a recent decision, <i>Cummings Properties, Inc. v. Aspeon Solutions, Inc., et al.</i> (Lawyers Weekly No. 13-019-07), the Massachusetts District Court/Boston Municipal Court Appellate Division affirmed the District Court judge's findings at trial that a defendant could not be held personally liable on a guaranty contained in a commercial real estate lease that the defendant quickly signed in two places before rushing off to the airport to make a flight. This decision was affirmed by the appellate division based on the defense of fraud in the factum.
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MOST POPULAR STORIES
- Risks of “Baseball Arbitration” in Resolving Real Estate Disputes“Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.Read More ›
- Private Equity Valuation: A Significant DecisionInsiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.Read More ›
- The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year LaterThe DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.Read More ›
- Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the RoughThere 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.Read More ›
- Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent TrollsWith trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.Read More ›