Law Commons^™

Managers’ Fiduciary Duties In Financially Distressed Corporations: Chaos In Delaware (And Elsewhere), Rutheford B. Campbell Jr., Christopher W. Frost

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The inherent conflict between creditors and shareholders has long occupied courts and commentators interested in corporate governance. Creditors holding fixed claims to the corporation's assets generally prefer corporate decision making that minimizes the risk of firm failure. Shareholders, in contrast, have a greater appetite for risk, because, as residual owners, they reap the rewards of firm success while sharing the risk of loss with creditors.

Traditionally, this conflict is mediated by a governance structure that imposes a fiduciary duty on the corporation's managers-its officers and directors-to maximize the value of the shareholders' interests in the firm. In this traditional view, …

The Past And Future Of Kentucky's Fraudulent Transfer And Preference Laws, Douglas C. Michael

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

An important part of the law of creditors' remedies is the ability of creditors to recover property formerly held by the debtor, but transferred to others under circumstances that are considered to be unfair or inequitable. There are two principal ways a creditor can seek to have a debtor's transfer characterized as unfair in order to recover it. First, a transfer to another creditor or a third party can be fraudulent as to one or all of the remaining creditors, or may be deemed to be fraudulent because of the circumstances surrounding the transfer, such as a transfer made by …

Corporate Fiduciary Principles For The Post-Contractarian Era, Rutheford B. Campbell Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The impact of the law and economics movement on legal scholarship, legal analysis, and, ultimately, on the rules under which our society operates is substantial. The proponents of this movement ("Contractarians") articulate their positions skillfully and apply their principles broadly across the entire spectrum of our laws, including, of course, the area of corporate law.

The purpose of this Article is to propose, explain, and defend broad and unifying principles to guide the development of fiduciary duties of corporate managers in the post-Contractarian period. These principles are based on Pareto criteria, which are demonstrably appealing to society and provide workable …

Pleading And Practice In Commercial Paper Cases: Burdens Of Proof, Harold R. Weinberg

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Money debts are frequently paid by checks and evidenced by notes subject to Article Three of the Uniform Commercial Code. Financial institutions and other creditors ordinarily take these instruments with the expectation that they will be paid on time without resort to litigation. This expectation fails when the debtor or some other obligor on the instrument claims that its signature was unauthorized or that there is a defense against payment. This Article analyzes the Uniform Commercial Code rules concerning burdens of proof that apply to these disputes and gives consideration to related procedural and evidentiary questions. It concludes with some …

Kentucky Law Survey: Commercial Law And Consumer Credit, Harold R. Weinberg

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This article is a survey of commercial law and consumer credit in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The most significant development during the past survey year was the demise of the holder in due course doctrine and other related doctrines which insulated creditors financing consumer sales from consumer claims and defenses. As a result of this development, consumers will now be able to assert claims or defenses arising out of the sale financed against the financer under certain circumstances. Other developments also surveyed herein relate to the Uniform Commercial Code statutes of frauds and prejudgment creditors’ remedies.

Toward Maximum Facilitation Of Intent To Create Enforceable Article Nine Security Interests, Harold R. Weinberg

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Article Nine of the Uniform Commercial Code generally facilitates individual autonomy in the creation of consensual security interests by imposing limited form and content requirements on security agreements. Private autonomy is subordinated, however, where the Article's draftsmen believed that certain other policies required a degree of regulation. Through the process of interpreting and applying a number of Code provisions which set forth the requirements for creating security interests, a court can effectuate what it considers to be the appropriate balance between facilitating the parties' intent to create a security interest and insuring that regulatory policies, such as protecting creditors and …

Kentucky Law Survey: Commercial Law, Harold R. Weinberg

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This article provides a survey of Kentucky legal developments in the area of commercial law. The focus of this survey is whether a creditor’s statutory prejudgment remedies, which involve an application of state authority, are constitutional under the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment.