Practice Areas
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Bankruptcy
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May 25, 2012
SP Newsprint Gets $5M Secrets Suit Against Employees Stayed
A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Thursday stayed a Georgia action brought by a former contractor of SP Newsprint Holdings LLC, which called the $5 million trade secrets suit against three SP employees an attempted end run around its automatic stay protection.
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May 25, 2012
Coudert Ruling Spells Trouble For Firms With Dewey Gains
Firms picking up Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP partners should watch their step, experts warned Friday in light of a New York federal court ruling that profits former Coudert Brothers LLP partners made on continuing business belonged to the defunct law firm.
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May 25, 2012
Top Banks Look To Take Raser's Short-Selling Suit Federal
A group of major investment banks — including Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Goldman Sachs & Co. LP — are seeking to duke it out with Raser Technologies Inc. in Georgia federal court over allegations that naked short selling led to the energy company's stint in bankruptcy.
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May 25, 2012
WaMu Noteholders Still Want In On $10B Deutsche Bank Suit
A group of more than two dozen Washington Mutual Bank NA noteholders on Friday asked the D.C. Circuit to review a decision rebuffing them from intervening in a Deutsche Bank AG unit's $10 billion suit over allegedly shoddy mortgages WaMu issued before regulators seized it.
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May 25, 2012
SEC Advises High Court To Leave Madoff Investor Suits Alone
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday advised the U.S. Supreme Court not to review cases challenging the methods of the trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, which would allow the trustee to start distributing roughly $9 billion to victims.
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May 25, 2012
AMR Judge Urges Airline, Unions To Cut A Deal
The New York bankruptcy judge overseeing American Airlines Inc. parent AMR Corp.'s bid to reject union contracts urged the parties Friday to reach a consensual solution outside of court in the weeks between now and when he's due to enter his judgment.
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May 25, 2012
Law Firms Can't Dodge Coudert Unfinished Business Claims
A federal judge said Thursday that unfinished client matters were the property of defunct law firm Coudert Brothers LLP on the day it was dissolved, moving the estate administrator closer to recouping money from firms to which former Coudert attorneys moved.
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May 25, 2012
Syms Ordered To Reopen Ch. 11 Talks With Creditors
Syms Corp. unveiled its liquidation plan Friday, promising full payment for most creditors and an ample recovery for equity holders, but a bankruptcy judge promptly sent the clothing retailer back to the negotiating table with unsecured creditors, who claim the plan unfairly favors shareholders.
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May 25, 2012
Would-Be NYC Condo Owners Head To Ch. 11
The owners of more than 30 largely rent-controlled residential properties in Manhattan filed for prenegotiated bankruptcy Thursday after defaulting on a $204 million loan they borrowed in 2007 to convert the buildings into condominiums.
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May 25, 2012
Dental Center Manager Gets Green Light For Sale To Lenders
A Tennessee bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved a credit bid to sell dental center manager Church Street Health Management LLC to a group of its lenders for $25 million plus their debt, just a few months after fallout from Medicaid fraud claims pushed the company into bankruptcy.
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May 24, 2012
Judge OKs Lehman Ex-Execs' $90M Payout To Investors
A New York federal judge on Thursday approved a $90 million settlement between Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. executives and a proposed class of Lehman investors, after previously balking at the settlement, which will be paid by insurance policies while letting directors and officers off the hook.
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May 24, 2012
ACE Objects To Hostess' ADR Plan For Tort Claims
ACE American Insurance Co. demanded changes Thursday to Hostess Brands Inc.'s plan to handle tort claims outside of court, saying the bankrupt Twinkie maker's alternative dispute resolution process needs to comport with its insurance policies.
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May 24, 2012
Tronox Atty Grills Kerr-McGee Adviser On Spinoff Plans
The financial adviser who drew a cartoon portraying Kerr-McGee Corp.'s pigment business as a flower being choked by a weed, representing the company's legacy environmental liabilities, took the stand Thursday in the second week of trial in Tronox Inc.'s $25 billion suit.
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May 24, 2012
Gibson Dunn Grabs Stutman Bankruptcy Pro In LA
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP brought on a Stutman Treister & Glatt PC bankruptcy expert Thursday to serve as a partner in the business restructuring and reorganization practice of its Los Angeles office.
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May 24, 2012
Evergreen Trustee Says Ex-Director Doomed Company
The Chapter 7 trustee of bankrupt Evergreen Energy Inc. slapped a former director of the company with a lawsuit Wednesday, alleging the director's conflict of interest obstructed the energy company from securing crucial financing and led directly to the firm's demise.
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May 24, 2012
Frontier Insurance Denied Approval Of Rehabilitation Plan
A New York state court on Thursday denied approval for a plan of rehabilitation for the insolvent Frontier Insurance Co., saying the plan did not provide for payment to all the necessary claim holders.
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May 24, 2012
US Trustee Rips Stalled Solyndra's $3M DIP Loan Request
The U.S. Trustee took issue on Wednesday with Solyndra LLC’s bid for an extra $3 million to fund its bankruptcy, arguing the defunct solar panel maker needs to make haste on a liquidation plan before receiving more cash to pay professionals.
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May 24, 2012
Pilots Can't Appeal AMR Ruling Straight To 2nd Circ.
A New York bankruptcy judge on Thursday denied the Allied Pilots Association union's bid to appeal straight to the Second Circuit his summary judgment ruling for bankrupt American Airlines Inc. parent AMR Corp. in a labor dispute between the parties.
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May 23, 2012
Nebraska Book Gears Up For Ch. 11 Confirmation
A Delaware bankruptcy judge agreed Wednesday to extend the exclusivity period for Nebraska Book Co.'s reorganization plan and expedite the hearing for an amended version of a crucial $80 million backstop loan in advance of the bookseller's Chapter 11 confirmation date next week.
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May 23, 2012
Syms Creditors Look To File Competing Ch. 11 Plan
Syms Corp.'s unsecured creditors asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge Wednesday for permission to lodge a rival liquidation plan for the company, saying the debtors' proposed plan stiffs creditors in favor of equity, particularly CEO and majority shareholder Marcy Syms.
Expert Analysis
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The Importance Of Hall V. United States
The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Hall v. United States may have far-reaching implications not only on the structure and timing of Chapter 12 reorganizations, but in other areas in which the Bankruptcy Code and Internal Revenue Code overlap, such as distressed merger and acquisition transactions and the tax treatment of debt restructuring, says Ferve Ozturk of Baker & Hostetler LLP.
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Jeopardized By Cherryland: Bankruptcy Remote Financings
If the Michigan Court of Appeals decision in Wells Fargo Bank NA v. Cherryland Mall Limited Partnership is widely followed, an array of unanticipated consequences may arise that could have profound effects on the debt capital markets generally and on single purpose entity borrowers in particular, say attorneys with Fox Rothschild LLP.
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Facing Greater Fraudulent Transfer Liability
A recent Eleventh Circuit decision in the bankruptcy case of homebuilder Tousa Inc. and its affiliates undermines the enforceability of upstream guarantees given by subsidiaries for the benefit of a parent borrower. To protect against its effects, lenders will need to ensure that subsidiary guarantors are solvent or will tangibly benefit from loans to the parent corporations, say Hugh McCullough and Bradley Duncan of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.
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Best Practices For Corporate Social Responsibility
As with many industries, the legal services industry has adapted to the demand for sustainability practices. An effective Corporate Social Responsibility program will manifest itself in all strategic planning, from best firm employee practices and environmental sustainability to providing legal services, recruiting and retention of employees, business development, marketing and philanthropy, says Howard Dakoff of Levenfeld Pearlstein LLC.
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Buyers Beware: Avoidance Risk Travels With Debt Purchases
The KB Toys and Enron decisions by the Delaware bankruptcy court demonstrate the need for careful diligence of claims and loans as well as carefully drafted indemnifications in the event of a disallowance or other claim impairment, say Paul Haskel and Keith Sambur of Richards Kibbe & Orbe LLP.
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Implications Of Sterling Chemicals V. Evans
The Fifth Circuit recently held in Sterling Chemicals V. Evans that a paragraph in an asset purchase agreement qualified as an amendment to an employee benefit plan, highlighting a split between circuits of the U.S. Courts of Appeal, say Paul Compernolle, Michael Graham and Maggie McTigue of McDermott Will & Emery LLP.
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Seeking Clarity On Credit Bidding
Does a secured creditor have an absolute right to credit bid? With the U.S. Supreme Court recently hearing oral arguments in RadLAX Gateway Hotel LLC v. Amalgamated Bank, there may soon be an answer to this question — one of the hottest debates in bankruptcy law in recent years, say Lisa Herrington and Douglas Gooding of Choate Hall & Stewart LLP.
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Case Study: In Re Hartford Computer Hardware
In Re Hartford Computer Hardware Inc. provides a window into the distinction between the orders that are available in a plenary case under the Canadian Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act compared with the orders that can be recognized under Part IV of the act. Clearly, Canadian courts are very sensitive to the need for close cooperation with U.S. courts in cross-border insolvency matters, say Steven Golick and Patrick Riesterer of Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.
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Circuit Split? Mirant Vs. Adelphia
The Fifth Circuit decision in In re Mirant Corp. appears to be in direct conflict with Adelphia Recovery Trust v. Bank of America NA, but a closer analysis reveals that the two decisions are reconcilable. Unfortunately, the court in Mirant adopted legal conclusions without much analysis — or any mention of the analysis provided by Adelphia — making the status of this area of law unclear, says Vincent Roldan of Vandenberg & Feliu LLP.
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Where Rubber Hits Road: Examples Of Alternative Fees
Creating new approaches to fee agreements is something to embrace rather than fear — and when structured and managed correctly, it can be financially advantageous. Take, for example, fixed-fee arrangements, result-based billing and portfolio billing, say Bill Rudnick and Keith Maziarek of DLA Piper.