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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Gendered Dimensions Of Social Insurance For The "Non-Poor" In Canada, Stephanie Ben-Ishai
The Gendered Dimensions Of Social Insurance For The "Non-Poor" In Canada, Stephanie Ben-Ishai
Stephanie Ben-Ishai
This article emerges from an exploration of the meanings of consumer bankruptcy in the current context of Canadian society, as well as the role consumer bankruptcy plays in shaping this context. Examining consumer bankruptcy through the lens of gender relations, the claim is made that Canadian consumer bankruptcy legislation, policies, practices, and accompanying discourses are implicated in the causation and perpetuation of the conditions of marginalization and subordination endured by women who experience long-term poverty. These women are affected not only in terms of access to the bankruptcy system, but also by the broader implications of the delivery of consumer …
Sales Or Plans: A Comparative Account Of The "New" Corporate Reorganization, Stephanie Ben-Ishai, Stephen J. Lubben
Sales Or Plans: A Comparative Account Of The "New" Corporate Reorganization, Stephanie Ben-Ishai, Stephen J. Lubben
Stephanie Ben-Ishai
In this article, Professors Stephanie Ben-Ishai and Stephen Lubben explore the recent surge in popularity of “quick-sales,” essentially the pre-reorganization plan sale of an insolvent debtor’s assets. In their examination of quick sales, the authors use the recent examples of Lehman Brothers and Chrysler to illustrate the popularity and relevance of the pre-plan sales. The authors then move on to a more detailed discussion of the quick sales process in both Canada and the United States, isolating the differences and similarities between both countries, and weighing the costs and benefits of each approach. Ultimately, the authors argue that questions of …
Bankruptcy For The Poor?, Stephanie Ben-Ishai, Saul Schwartz
Bankruptcy For The Poor?, Stephanie Ben-Ishai, Saul Schwartz
Stephanie Ben-Ishai
The conventional wisdom is that the poor are not heavy users of the insolvency system, because creditors are unwilling to take risks on the poor and because many of the poor are judgment-proof. However, credit is now widely available across the spectrum of income groups. In addition, poverty is often a temporary state for many Canadians; therefore, being judgment-proof is likewise temporary. Some of those who are poor at any point in time are in fact in need of bankruptcy protection. They have debts that they are unable to pay and little likelihood of being able to repay in the …
Hidden In Plain View: The Pension Shield Against Creditors, Patricia E. Dilley
Hidden In Plain View: The Pension Shield Against Creditors, Patricia E. Dilley
Patricia E Dilley
This Article examines the virtually unquestioned protection of retirement assets from creditors, in both state and federal law, with a view to determining whether tax qualification or even retirement itself is a sufficient rationale for preserving debtor assets in the face of creditors' claims, and if so, what the limits of such protection should be. The problems of current law stem in large part from the use of tax qualified status as a convenient shortcut for determining the appropriate bankruptcy treatment of retirement accounts. The result is a wide disparity in the treatment of debtors epitomized by the cases of …
Bankruptcy Treatment Of Intellectual Property Assets: An Economic Analysis, Peter S. Menell
Bankruptcy Treatment Of Intellectual Property Assets: An Economic Analysis, Peter S. Menell
Peter Menell
No abstract provided.
Who Bears The Burden? The Place For Participation Of Municipal Residents In Chapter 9, C. Scott Pryor
Who Bears The Burden? The Place For Participation Of Municipal Residents In Chapter 9, C. Scott Pryor
C. Scott Pryor
No abstract provided.
International Insolvency Case Venue In The European Union: The Parmalat And Daisytek Controversies, Samuel Bufford
International Insolvency Case Venue In The European Union: The Parmalat And Daisytek Controversies, Samuel Bufford
Hon. Samuel L. Bufford
The European Union Insolvency Regulation (the EU Regulation) is a giant step forward in promoting international cooperation among EU countries for cross-border insolvency proceedings. It adopts a modified universalist solution to cross-border proceedings insofar as they are located within the EU. However, experience has shown that it needs improvement to work effectively. A venue battle now rages between courts of several European countries over which country's courts will administer particular cross-border proceedings and how the center of main interest is to be determined for this purpose. This Article begins with a detailed examination of the two principal cases where conflicts …
Chapter 11 Case Management And Delay Reduction: An Empirical Study, Samuel Bufford
Chapter 11 Case Management And Delay Reduction: An Empirical Study, Samuel Bufford
Hon. Samuel L. Bufford
Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases will drag on interminably if judges let them. The recent nine-month O.J. Simpson trial was short compared to the careers of some chapter 11 bankruptcy cases. The typical duration of chapter 11 cases can be reduced remarkably, however, through moderate judicial case management. The data in this study show that relatively modest judicial case management can squeeze a substantial amount of delay out of chapter 11 cases within the context of the present bankruptcy law. The case management program in this study, applied to 81.2% of the chapter 11 case load, shortened by 24.1% the time …
The Chapter 13 Alternative: A Legislative Solution To Undersecured Home Mortgages, Samuel Bufford
The Chapter 13 Alternative: A Legislative Solution To Undersecured Home Mortgages, Samuel Bufford
Hon. Samuel L. Bufford
This article discusses minor changes to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code that would make avoiding foreclosure possible for a homeowner who (a) is presently not able to make the mortgage service payments but (b) could make payments for a mortgage that is reduced to the market value of the property and to a fixed market mortgage rate. This article does not address the political issue of what protections Congress might decide to provide mortgage owners and servicers as a part of such legislation.
Introduction To The Articles Presented By Three Rising Stars In Bankruptcy Scholarship, Samuel Bufford
Introduction To The Articles Presented By Three Rising Stars In Bankruptcy Scholarship, Samuel Bufford
Hon. Samuel L. Bufford
Bankruptcy law is one of the fundamental legal structures necessary to the functioning of a market economy. In the common law tradition of the United States and England, bankruptcy law dates back to 1542. Bankruptcy law's origins are even more ancient, with roots extending back to at least the Hammaurabi Code and the Law of Moses. In the transition to market economies and Western-style legal systems in Central and Eastern Europe, the development of a viable bankruptcy law is one of the first priorities. This, the United States bankruptcy law that forms the background for this symposium is central to …
Global Venue Controls Are Coming: A Reply To Professor Lopucki, Samuel Bufford
Global Venue Controls Are Coming: A Reply To Professor Lopucki, Samuel Bufford
Hon. Samuel L. Bufford
This Article details my disagreements with Professor Lynn LoPucki's article "Global and out of Control" (79 Am. Bankr. L.J. 79). Part I discusses universalism and territorialism, especially the modified version of universalism that I support. Part II examines the international venue provisions of the Model Law and the EU Regulation. Part III introduces the relevant venue shopping cases. Only two groups of cases are relevant for the purpose of this paper: the French and German subsidiaries of Daisytek and Eurofood (a subsidiary of Parmalat SpA, the Italian conglomerate). None of the other cases that Professor LoPucki discusses was subject to …
What Is Right About Bankruptcy Law And Wrong About Its Critics, Samuel Bufford
What Is Right About Bankruptcy Law And Wrong About Its Critics, Samuel Bufford
Hon. Samuel L. Bufford
My comments in this paper focus on the papers in thus Symposium by Professors Barry Adler, James Bowers, and Philippe Aghion, Oliver Hart, and John Moore. I argue that the central points of these papers are gravely mistaken because they completely misunderstand the character of the bankruptcy caseload and procedures, they ignore some important purposes of bankruptcy reorganization, and they misstate the success rate for reorganizations. I have chosen these papers for comment for two reasons: they recommend radical changes in bankruptcy law, and they are based on the thinnest knowledge of bankruptcy practice. Incidentally, they also all take an …
Romanian Bankruptcy Law: A Central European Example, Samuel Bufford
Romanian Bankruptcy Law: A Central European Example, Samuel Bufford
Hon. Samuel L. Bufford
Romania now has one of the best-drafted bankruptcy laws in Central and Eastern Europe. The new Romanian bankruptcy law went into effect on August 26, 1995 and replaced the previous bankruptcy provisions in §695-987 of the Romanian Commercial Code, which was translated from the Italian Commercial Code of 1884 and enacted in 1887. While the commercial code fell into disuse during the Communist era, it was never repealed. After the Romanian revolution and the demise of Nicolae Ceauşescu at the end of 1989, the commercial code as well as the civil code remained good law and needed only to be …
Why Do Distressed Companies Choose Delaware? An Empirical Analysis Of Venue Choice In Bankruptcy , Kenneth M. Ayotte, David A. Skeel Jr.
Why Do Distressed Companies Choose Delaware? An Empirical Analysis Of Venue Choice In Bankruptcy , Kenneth M. Ayotte, David A. Skeel Jr.
Kenneth Ayotte
We analyze a sample of large Chapter 11 cases to determine which factors motivate the choice of filing in one court over another when a choice is available. We focus in particular on the Delaware court, which became the most popular venue for large corporations in the 1990s. We find no evidence of agency problems governing the venue choice or affecting the outcome of the bankruptcy process. Instead, firm characteristics and court characteristics, particularly a court's level of experience, are the most important factors. We find that court experience manifests itself in both a greater ability to reorganize marginal firms …
Making Sense Of Successor Liability, Marie T. Reilly
Making Sense Of Successor Liability, Marie T. Reilly
Marie T. Reilly
A firm that buys assets from another firm ordinarily does not acquire liability to the seller's creditors simply by buying its assets. This ordinary rule is subject to important exceptions. The buyer's consent triggers an exception. If a buyer agrees to assume the seller's liability to third parties, it is for that reason liable. This article considers a more controversial exception - successor liability. When a court decides that an asset acquirer should be treated as a "successor" to the transferor, it is liable for the transferor's debts as though it were the transferor.
The Wasted Sacrifice Of Lessors' Lost Profit Claims In Bankruptcy, Marie T. Reilly
The Wasted Sacrifice Of Lessors' Lost Profit Claims In Bankruptcy, Marie T. Reilly
Marie T. Reilly
Bankruptcy Code section 502(b)(6) sets the maximum allowable amount of a real property lessor's claim for damages arising for breach of lease in a tenant's bankruptcy case. To the extent a lessor's damages claim under nonbankruptcy law exceeds the maximum amount, it is disallowed. The implicit premise for such disallowance is that real property lessors' damages claims are less worthy of respect in bankruptcy than other claims for damages against the debtor. Real property leases are legally distinct from leases of personal property or other contractual relationships that allocate property rights. But, it does not obviously follow from the distinction …
Reflections Of The World Bank’S Report On The Treatment Of The Insolvency Of Natural Persons In The Newest Consumer Bankruptcy Laws: Colombia, Italy, Ireland, Jason J. Kilborn
Reflections Of The World Bank’S Report On The Treatment Of The Insolvency Of Natural Persons In The Newest Consumer Bankruptcy Laws: Colombia, Italy, Ireland, Jason J. Kilborn
Jason Kilborn
In 2011, the World Bank initiated its first-ever examination of the policies and characteristics of effective insolvency systems for individuals (natural persons). This paper describes the two-year process that led to the publication of the World Bank’s landmark Report on the Treatment of the Insolvency of Natural Persons. After examining the key content and three major themes of the Report, three of the most recent new personal insolvency regimes are introduced with an eye to identifying the ways in which the themes of the Report are reflected in these new laws. The personal insolvency provisions in Colombian law most directly …
The Needs Of Members In A Legitimate Democratic State, John A. Powell
The Needs Of Members In A Legitimate Democratic State, John A. Powell
john a. powell
No abstract provided.