United States Supreme Court

  • There's a split among circuit courts on whether tax foreclosure sales may be avoidable as preferential and fraudulent transfers by property owners who subsequently seek relief under the Bankruptcy Code. If the Supreme Court eventually weighs in to resolve this circuit split, property owners, municipalities, and potential bidders for tax liens across the country will receive greater clarity on this critical issue.

    February 01, 2022Kenneth L. Baum
  • 'Purdue Pharma' Looms Although four cases presenting important bankruptcy issues were teed up for the Supreme Court's consideration this term, the Court denied certiorari for each. Each of these petitions involve splits among the circuit courts of appeals, influencing choice of venue and the extent to which bankruptcy decisions are subject to meaningful appeal.

    December 01, 2021Corinne Ball
  • The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Unicolors v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz to address the following question: "Did the Ninth Circuit err in breaking with its own prior precedent and the findings of other circuits and the Copyright Office in holding that 17 U.S.C. §411 requires referral to the Copyright Office where there is no indicia of fraud or material error as to the work at issue in the subject copyright registration?"

    September 01, 2021Robert W. Clarida and Robert J. Bernstein
  • The Court held that only those who obtain information from particular areas of the computer which they are not authorized to access can be said to "exceed authorization," and the statute does not — as the government had argued — cover behavior where a person accesses information which he is authorized to access but does so for improper purposes.

    July 01, 2021Patricia Kim and Maren Messing