Overall
Key cases
Industries
Intellectual Property
Labor & Employment
Corporate
Practice Areas
Bankruptcy
-
May 1, 2013
Appeal In $7.5B Nortel Cash Feud Sent Directly To 3rd Circ.
A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Wednesday sent an appeal directly to the Third Circuit regarding who has authority to decide how to split $7.5 billion raised in Nortel Networks Corp.'s liquidation among its global affiliates and their respective creditors.
-
May 1, 2013
Hostess CEO’s Anti-Union Talk Shows Silence Can Be Golden
Hostess Brands LLC's recent rush to deny media reports based on a top executive's comments that the revamped company was looking to hire only nonunion workers should serve as a lesson to employers to watch what they say when opining publicly on labor issues.
-
May 1, 2013
Portrait Studio Co. Seeks Ch. 7 After Abrupt Closures
St. Louis-based photography portrait studio operator CPI Corp. filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection Wednesday, weeks after abruptly closing all of its nearly 3,000 U.S. locations and fielding a lawsuit over claims of unpaid wages.
-
May 1, 2013
$84M Claim Against Haynes & Boone Dismissed
A Texas state judge has dismissed an $84 million malpractice claim alleging bad advice from Haynes & Boone LLP led to a missed opportunity to sell methane gas, saying the plaintiffs had failed to preserve their claims against the firm in bankruptcy court.
-
May 1, 2013
Bankrupt Weapons Training Co. Gets OK For Sale Procedures
High-tech law enforcement and military training systems provider Advanced Interactive Systems Inc. on Wednesday received a Delaware bankruptcy judge’s approval to sell off its remaining assets in an open auction.
-
May 1, 2013
2nd Circ. Upholds Kodak's $24M Win In Patent Licensing Row
The Second Circuit on Wednesday affirmed a $24 million win for bankrupt Eastman Kodak Co. in a dispute over camera patents, finding a licensing agreement was not ambiguous in specifying when digital camera maker Asia Optical Co. Inc. had to pay royalties to Kodak.
-
May 1, 2013
Kodak Reveals Plans For Life After Ch. 11
Eastman Kodak Co. filed its Chapter 11 plan Tuesday and said it expects to emerge from bankruptcy some time in the third quarter, casting off much of the consumer photography business that made it an icon and focusing on the commercial imaging industry.
-
May 1, 2013
Q&A With Pachulski Stang's Robert Feinstein
The Office of the United States Trustee initiated changes in the wake of the Universal Building Products case, but these changes have not been clearly articulated to the bankruptcy community, says Robert Feinstein, managing partner of Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP's New York office.
-
May 1, 2013
Trump-Brand Developer Hits Ch. 11 With $220M In Debt
A real estate company developing a Trump-brand hotel tower in Panama checked into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York on Wednesday, with a plan to restructure more than $220 million in debt.
-
May 1, 2013
Fillmore Capital Sues Capmark Over $220M Miami Mall Loan
A unit of Fillmore Capital Partners sued the formerly bankrupt Capmark Finance Inc. in New York state court Tuesday, contending Capmark wrongfully induced a borrower to default on a $220 million loan secured by a Miami mall and hotel complex.
-
May 1, 2013
Experian Must Drop LFG Suit As Judge Mulls Sanctions
A Virginia bankrupcty judge ruled Tuesday that Experian Information Solutions Inc. must drop its conflict of interest lawsuit against the liquidation trustee in title insurer LandAmerica Financial Group’s bankruptcy case, and will consider later this month whether to hold the credit report provider in contempt of LFG's Chapter 11 plan.
-
May 1, 2013
Banks Sued For $200M Over Retiree Village Loans
A group of developers said in Pennsylvania state court Tuesday that Sovereign Bank NA and HSH Nordbank AG broke commitments to finance a suburban Philadelphia retirement community, causing them to go bankrupt and miss out on more than $200 million in potential profit.
-
May 1, 2013
Electric Car Co. Files Ch. 11, To Sell Unit To Fortress
Electric-car maker Coda Holdings Inc. rolled into bankruptcy in Delaware on Wednesday with plans to sell its automobile assets to lenders led by Fortress Investment Group LLC, while shifting gears to concentrate on its energy-storage business.
-
May 1, 2013
Energy Investment Co.'s Bankruptcy Case Converted To Ch. 7
A New York bankruptcy judge on Wednesday converted Ampal-American Israel Corp.'s Chapter 11 bankruptcy to a Chapter 7 liquidation after determining that the energy investment holding company does not have sufficient cash to execute a reorganization plan.
-
April 30, 2013
Nortel, Disabled Workers Await Final OK On $25M Deal
The committee representing Nortel Networks Inc.'s disabled employees asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge Tuesday for final approval of a $25 million settlement and permission to begin paying out the proceeds, but was unable to get a ruling on either during a six-hour hearing.
-
April 30, 2013
Borders Gift Card Holders Push To Revive Refund Claims
Customers who hold gift cards from bankrupt book seller Borders Group Inc. asked a federal judge Tuesday to let them bring a class action seeking refunds, saying they did not get an adequate chance to press their claims.
-
April 30, 2013
Republic Airways Plans To Offload Frontier By Summer
Republic Airways Holdings Inc. told investors Tuesday that it hopes to sell its Frontier Airlines unit by the summer, less than four years after it purchased the discount carrier out of bankruptcy.
-
April 30, 2013
Reader's Digest Can Start Collecting Votes For Ch. 11 Plan
Reader’s Digest Association Inc.’s publisher on Tuesday received a New York bankruptcy judge’s approval of its disclosure statement, allowing the company to begin soliciting creditor votes for its Chapter 11 exit plan.
-
April 30, 2013
Ampal Creditors, CEO Back Trustee's Bid To Liquidate
Ampal-American Israel Corp.’s unsecured creditors and owner have both backed its Chapter 11 trustee’s bid to convert the case to a Chapter 7 liquidation following months of bickering over how the energy investment company's bankruptcy should be handled.
-
April 30, 2013
Crying Fraud, Banks Seek Ch. 7 For Specialty Lender
Three banks owed nearly $63 million, led by Israel Discount Bank of New York, moved Monday to force Oak Rock Financial LLC into Chapter 7 liquidation, claiming the specialty asset-based lending firm has committed a “massive fraud” against its secured lenders.
Expert Analysis
-
7th Circ. Unpierces The Veil: Command Video V. Roti
Recently, in On Command Video Corp. v. Roti, the Seventh Circuit reversed a ruling of an Illinois federal district court that allowed a plaintiff to “pierce the corporate veil” and collect from its judgment debtor’s owner. By so doing, the Seventh Circuit confirmed that the doctrine of veil-piercing is a limited one, and is not intended as an all-encompassing collection vehicle for frustrated judgment creditors, says Steven Wilamowsky of Bingham McCutchen LLP and Seth Pruss of Himmelfarb & Sher LLP.
-
Putting The Stockton Bankruptcy In Perspective
In addition to illustrating the limitations on a bankruptcy court’s jurisdiction in municipal bankruptcy cases, the In re City of Stockton, Calif., decision potentially opens the door in other Chapter 9 cases to the impairment of vested contractual rights under retiree benefit plans without complying with the protections for retirees applicable in Chapter 11 cases under section 1114 of the Bankruptcy Code, say Jeffrey Ellman and Mark Douglas of Jones Day.
-
How Bankruptcy Can End Environmental Cleanup Obligations
Whenever buyers and sellers negotiate environmental cleanup obligations under a real estate purchase agreement, they must consider what will happen if the party bearing the cleanup obligations files for bankruptcy. There are practical implications for such buyers and sellers following the recent decision by the Southern District of New York in Route 21 Associates of Belleville Inc. v. MHC Inc., say William Wagner and Paul Deignan of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP.
-
In Re Zota's Place In The 363 Sale Debate
The bankruptcy court ruling in In re Zota Petroleums LLC is undeniably a positive development for both commercial and residential lessees and sublessees of landlords that file for bankruptcy protection. However, Zota Petroleums is only one lower court’s take on a divisive issue. Moreover, the only authority at the circuit level regarding this question is at least arguably to the contrary, say Charles Oellermann and Mark Douglas of Jones Day.
-
How Traveling Structures Work In Leveraged Finance
Aggressive structures not seen since the leveraged finance bull market of 2006 have re-entered the market. Driven largely by best efforts deals, certain private equity sponsors have sought, and obtained in limited cases, so-called "traveling structures," say Joshua Thompson and Monica Holland of Shearman & Sterling LLP.
-
10th Circ. Has Left Less Static For Secured Creditors
The Tenth Circuit recently reversed the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado and U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado and held that a creditor bank had a valid security interest in the proceeds of a future sale of a federally issued broadcast license. While the issue may not be entirely put to rest, lenders will have more certainty going forward about the validity of their security interest in the proceeds of broadcast license sales, say attorneys with Choate Hall & Stewart LLP.
-
California Dreaming? CalPERS And San Bernardino’s Ch. 9
The positions taken by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System in the San Bernardino Chapter 9 bankruptcy are extremely aggressive and novel. Most appear easy to dismiss. The remainder turn on complex constitutional questions beyond the territory bankruptcy courts typically occupy. However, the result of this case could have widespread implications in the three pending California bankruptcies as well as the many other distressed California municipalities, say Douglas Mintz and Thomas Curtin of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP.
-
Navigating The 546(e) Safe Harbor Provision
The recent decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in MBS Management Services Inc. v. MXEnergy Electric Inc. further defines the contours of Bankruptcy Code section 546(e) and offers lessons that may help companies prevent certain transfers from being clawed back, say attorneys with Vinson & Elkins LLP.
-
'Fair And Equitable' Means More Than Amortization Schedule
All too often, a secured creditor’s negotiation and litigation of Chapter 11 plan confirmation issues centers disproportionately on the amortization schedule of a secured claim and lacks focus on other issues that shift risk or otherwise have significant economic impact on the relative rights of the parties. The recent ruling in Federal National Mortgage Association v. Village Green I GP reminds us that material modifications to a secured creditors’ rights go beyond the interest rate and loan repayment schedule, says Richard Robinson of Reed Smith LLP.
-
The Scope Of Bankruptcy Court Power In Light Of Bellingham
Since Stern v. Marshall was decided, federal courts have struggled to determine the extent of the bankruptcy court’s power to adjudicate various nominally “core” matters. While there is probably at least one decision to support every reasonable view, the emerging consensus seems to be consistent with the conclusion made by the Ninth Circuit in In re Bellingham Insurance Agency, say Steven Wilamowsky and Jeffrey Rosenfeld of Bingham McCutchen LLP.