Large Cap
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March 17, 2025
US Trustee Leader Ousted, Eletson's Ex-Owners Face Fines
The reported removal of the director of the U.S. Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog program has thrown the historically apolitical office into broader waves of upheaval, a bankruptcy judge has said he would impose a daily fine on the former owners of Eletson, and another bankruptcy judge detailed why he overruled objections in Spirit Airlines' Chapter 11 plan. This is the week in bankruptcy.
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March 17, 2025
Yellow Corp. Creditors Threaten To File Competing Ch. 11 Plan
The official committee of unsecured creditors for troubled trucking company Yellow Corp. told a Delaware bankruptcy judge Monday the group would push its own version of a Chapter 11 proposal if the debtor cannot reach a global settlement with its creditors.
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March 17, 2025
Forever 21 Hits Ch. 11 Again With $1.6B Of Debt, Sale Plan
Fashion retailer Forever 21's U.S. operator has filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware bankruptcy court with $1.58 billion of funded debt and plans to wind down operations at its 354 U.S. stores if it fails to find a last-minute buyer for the business.
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March 14, 2025
Reed Smith To Fight Removal In $102M Shipping Award Suit
A New York federal judge has paused his order removing Reed Smith LLP as counsel for the former owners of reorganized international shipping group Eletson Holdings in litigation over a $102 million arbitral award while the BigLaw firm appeals the decision to the Second Circuit.
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March 14, 2025
Under The Radar: Bankruptcy News You May Have Missed
Avon's international unit asked a bankruptcy judge to extend the window during which only it can propose a Chapter 11 plan, consulting firm Azzur Group Holdings asked the Delaware bankruptcy court to approve its Chapter 11 plan disclosures and allow it to hold a vote, and Philadelphia's University of the Arts proposed selling a property for nearly $7 million. These are some of the bankruptcy stories you may have missed in the last week.
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March 14, 2025
Three Arrows Beats FTX To Get $1.5B Bankruptcy Claim
The liquidators of failed cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital have prevailed in a dispute with FTX Trading Ltd. over the allowance of a $1.53 billion bankruptcy claim, with a Delaware judge deciding to grant Three Arrows' bid to change its original claim despite FTX asserting that the move was made in bad faith.
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March 14, 2025
Mitel Networks' 5-Year Journey Into Bankruptcy
Business telecommunications company Mitel Networks hit bankruptcy earlier this month after a societal shift in working conditions began five years prior with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to its court filings.
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March 14, 2025
Wellpath Gets OK For Vote On Ch. 11 Reorganization Plan
A Texas bankruptcy judge on Friday gave prison healthcare business Wellpath permission to go ahead with a vote on its Chapter 11 plan after a claimants' committee said it would reserve objections for the plan confirmation hearing.
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March 14, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Davis Polk, Paul Weiss
In this week's Taxation With Representation, Mallinckrodt PLC and Endo Inc. combine, Rocket Cos. buys Redfin, and Endo divests its international pharmaceuticals business to Knight Therapeutics Inc.
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March 13, 2025
Judge To Weigh Doc Release In San Francisco Diocese Ch. 11
A California bankruptcy judge on Thursday said he wouldn't immediately decide whether to make public two documents the creditors committee in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco's Chapter 11 case wants to allow the public to see.
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March 13, 2025
Judge Won't Toss $35M Ch. 11 Bank Fee Clawback Lawsuit
A Delaware bankruptcy judge has denied a summary judgment bid to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that an $1.8 billion loan set medical testing company Millennium Laboratories on course for its 2015 Chapter 11.
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March 13, 2025
Bankruptcy Watchdog Ouster Crosses Into Uncharted Waters
The recent removal of the head of the U.S. Trustee's Office may be sending the previously nonpolitical bankruptcy watchdog into unknown territory, causing concerns in the legal space.
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March 13, 2025
Sandy Hook Families Oppose Revived Infowars Sale Bid
Families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have urged a Texas bankruptcy judge to block an Alex Jones-affiliated company's revived bid to buy his Infowars platform, saying it will cause delays in the more than three-year-old related bankruptcy cases.
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March 13, 2025
6 Firms Steer $6.7B Mallinckrodt, Endo Pharma Merger
Six law firms are guiding a $6.7 billion merger between Ireland's Mallinckrodt PLC and Pennsylvania-based Endo Inc. on a deal announced Thursday that the companies said will create a global pharmaceutical industry leader with projected 2025 revenues of $3.6 billion.
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March 13, 2025
Senate Stablecoin Bill Advances With Democrats Divided
The Republican-led U.S. Senate Banking Committee advanced its stablecoin framework Thursday with the help of Democrats who broke from ranking member Sen. Elizabeth Warren's opposition, while a separate bill on what is being called debanking passed along party lines.
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March 13, 2025
Alex Jones' Sandy Hook Atty Suspended Over Info Release
Former Alex Jones attorney Norm Pattis will be suspended from practicing law for two weeks, a Connecticut judge has ruled, capping a three-year ethics saga that started when Pattis asked an associate to send Sandy Hook families' medical records to the Infowars host's Texas bankruptcy lawyer.
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March 12, 2025
Spirit Airlines Release Ruling Is Another Boost For Opt-Outs
A New York bankruptcy judge's decision last week to approve a contentious form of third-party release in Spirit Airlines' Chapter 11 case signals that courts are increasingly comfortable finding that a creditor's silence can be used to establish their consent, an issue hotly debated in the months since the U.S. Supreme Court's Purdue Pharma ruling.
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March 12, 2025
Mo. Court Finds Exclusion Bars Mallinckrodt Opioid Coverage
A group of insurers have no coverage obligations under certain policies issued to drugmaker Mallinckrodt as a trust created from the company's first bankruptcy seeks to resolve underlying opioid claims with the help of insurance benefits, a Missouri state court ruled, finding a "your products" exclusion applicable.
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March 12, 2025
Willkie Beats Malpractice Suit Over ERISA Ch. 11 Advice
An Ohio federal judge affirmed Tuesday a bankruptcy court's decision tossing legal malpractice claims filed by a coal company executive's estate against Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, rejecting the estate's arguments it sufficiently alleged Willkie was grossly negligent in failing to warn the estate about a potential $6.5 billion ERISA liability.
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March 12, 2025
Northvolt's Ch. 11 Dismissal Possible After Swedish Filing
Bankrupt electric vehicle battery maker Northvolt AB told a Texas bankruptcy judge that its Chapter 11 case is possibly headed for dismissal after its parent company filed an insolvency case in Swedish court early Wednesday.
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March 12, 2025
HSBC Says Madoff Trustee Claims Were Filed Years Too Late
Units of the London-based bank HSBC say that more than $324 million of claims brought by the trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernie Madoff's bankruptcy estate should be thrown out because they were filed more than a decade late.
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March 12, 2025
US Trustee Seeks Sanctions Against NY Lawyer
The federal bankruptcy watchdog asked a New York judge Wednesday to sanction a lawyer who allegedly concealed her conflicts of interest while representing a debtor and a buyer in two separate Chapter 11 cases.
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March 12, 2025
Ex-Eletson Owners Face $5K Daily Fine For Ch. 11 Challenge
A New York bankruptcy judge on Wednesday ordered the prebankruptcy shareholders of Greek shipping group Eletson Holdings to end their opposition to overseas recognition of the company's Chapter 11 plan or pay $5,000 a day in fines.
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March 12, 2025
2nd Circ. Upholds Sanctions In Chinese Billionaire's Ch. 11
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday torpedoed an appeal from the daughter of bankrupt Chinese exile Miles Guo — also known as Ho Won Kwok — and her attorney seeking to overturn a nearly $83,400 discovery sanction, saying the contempt ruling was merited.
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March 12, 2025
Fox Rothschild Hires Lewis Brisbois Litigator In DC
A trial attorney who spent the past four years at Lewis Brisbois, has moved his practice to Fox Rothschild LLP and told Law360 Pulse in an interview Wednesday that his new role continued a family tradition of Fox Rothschild attorneys stretching back 100 years.
Expert Analysis
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A Look At DOJ's New Nationwide Investment Fraud Approach
Investment fraud charges are increasingly being brought in unlikely venues across the country, and the rationale behind the U.S. Department of Justice's approach could well be the heightened legal standards in connection with prosecuting investment fraud, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
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Decoding The Digital Asset Landscape In Bankruptcy
Recent cases show the explosion of cryptocurrency as an asset class has created new challenges for debtors-in-possession, bankruptcy trustees, and federal and state receivers, and fiduciaries will have to consider a number of legal and practical considerations when determining how to manage these assets in insolvency, say David Castleman at Otterbourg and Anthony Facciano at Stretto.
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How Fla. Bankruptcy Ruling May Affect Equity Owners
A Florida bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in Vital Pharmaceuticals — which rejected the Third Circuit’s Majestic Star decision that determined a bankrupt corporation’s flow-through status was not protected by the automatic stay — may significantly affect how equity owners can mitigate the impact of flow-through structures in bankruptcy, say Eric Behl-Remijan and Natasha Hwangpo at Ropes & Gray.
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Calif. Ruling May Open Bankruptcy Trustees To Tort Liability
In Martin v. Gladstone, a recent California appellate court decision, the application of tort concepts to bankruptcy trustees could pose a new concern for trustees and federal receivers when controlling and maintaining commercial property, says Jarrett Osborne-Revis at Buchalter.
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Co. Directors Must Beware Dangers Of Reverse Factoring
New accounting requirements governing the disclosure of so-called reverse-factoring programs have revealed billions of dollars worth of hidden liabilities on companies’ ledgers, and directors of corporate boards should review their companies’ books for this hidden danger, say Garland Kelley at Looper Goodwine, Amin Al-Sarraf at Locke Lord and Jill Basinger at Discovery Land.
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Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence
Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Why 7th Circ. Libel Ruling Is Crucial For The Media
As more defamation plaintiffs attorneys argue that allowing a published statement to remain online after additional evidence of falsity emerges equates to actual malice, the Seventh Circuit's recent National Police Association v. Gannett opinion should be lauded by the media and online publishers as a favorable decision, say attorneys at Vedder Price.
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Tips For Litigating Against Pro Se Parties In Complex Disputes
Litigating against self-represented parties in complex cases can pose unique challenges for attorneys, but for the most part, it requires the same skills that are useful in other cases — from documenting everything to understanding one’s ethical duties, says Bryan Ketroser at Alto Litigation.
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3 Cases Show Tensions Between Arbitration And Insolvency
The intersection of international arbitration and insolvency may influence the formulation of litigation strategy on a global scale, and several recent cases illustrate the need for counsel to understand how courts are varying in their approaches, say attorneys at Skadden.
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Air Ambulance Ch. 11s Show Dispute Program Must Resume
Air Methods’ recent bankruptcy filing highlights the urgent need to reopen the No Surprises Act’s independent dispute resolution program for air ambulances, whose shutdown benefits insurance companies and hurts providers, says Adam Schramek at Norton Rose.
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Pro Bono Work Is Powerful Self-Help For Attorneys
Oct. 22-28 is Pro Bono Week, serving as a useful reminder that offering free legal help to the public can help attorneys expand their legal toolbox, forge community relationships and create human connections, despite the challenges of this kind of work, says Orlando Lopez at Culhane Meadows.
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Why Delaware ABCs Are No Longer As Easy As 1-2-3
In light of the Court of Chancery's recent focus on additional disclosures, the assignment for the benefit of creditors process in Delaware may no longer be as efficient as it once was, and companies should be prepared to provide significantly more information leading up to an ABC, say attorneys at Goodwin.
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Diamond Sports Cases Shed Light On Executory Contracts
Recent Texas bankruptcy cases involving telecast fees payable by Diamond Sports to certain Major League Baseball teams provide a window into the dynamic relationship that can develop between debtors and counterparties under some executory contracts, say Joseph Badtke-Berkow and Robin Spigel at Allen & Overy.