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Cover Story The Bankruptcy Strategist

  • The U.S. Trustee has recently taken the position that GUC Trusts (disbursements made by creditor trusts formed under bankruptcy plans) should be required to pay fees on account of their own disbursements to creditors. The outcomes in three recent bankruptcy cases highlight different approaches to addressing the U.S. Trustee's argument: closing bankruptcy cases early, deferring the issue to a later date, or focusing on the distinction between contingent and non-contingent assets.

    September 01, 2024Nicole M. Sweeney and Megan M. Wasson
  • Recent appellate decisions reflect a distaste for appeals from bankruptcy court sanction orders. A split Fourth Circuit even refused to hear such an appeal. Other courts tend to limit sanctions or, alternatively, accept a bankruptcy judge's findings under a stringent "abuse of discretion" standard.

    July 01, 2024Michael L. Cook
  • A bankruptcy court properly held that derivative claims based on "piercing the corporate veil theory of liability [were] released under" a confirmed reorganization plan, but that direct "claims for negligent undertaking" were not released and "could be asserted" in state court against the debtors' equity sponsors.

    May 01, 2024Michael L. Cook
  • When courts have made important exceptions in the past year, they have either added a gloss on the Judicial Code, corrected lawyers' errors, filled in statutory gaps, or clarified the relevant statutory language.

    March 01, 2024Michael L. Cook
  • By enforcing deadlines strictly, refusing to hear appeals from interlocutory orders, and rarely bypassing the district court for direct appeals, appellate courts have generally avoided what they view as unnecessary work and delay. But a few courts have made important exceptions in the past year.

    February 01, 2024Michael L. Cook
  • Courts have struggled with the interpretation of the 2019 amendment to Section 547, specifically whether the due diligence requirement is an element of a preference claim that must be adequately pleaded in the plaintiff's complaint. While the law is still developing, there are three important takeaways for trustees to consider.

    January 01, 2024Brad Jones