Bankruptcy Law Commons^™

Of Hotel Revenues, Rents, And Formalism In The Bankruptcy Courts: Implications For Reforming Commercial Real Estate Finance, R. Wilson Freyermuth

Faculty Publications

This article is intended to continue the dialogue begun by the proposed Restatement and has two distinct goals in this effort. Parts I through III argue that the position of the Restatement drafters is both legally and functionally sound and that bankruptcy courts should embrace and apply the proposed Restatement in administering distressed real estate developments. Part I reviews the reasoning articulated in the hotel bankruptcy cases, demonstrating how courts have applied the provisions of the Bankruptcy Code and state law in a formalistic manner to extinguish the hotel mortgagee's lien upon postpetition room revenues. Part II rejects the analysis …

The Classification Veto In Single-Asset Cases Under Bankruptcy Code Section 1129(A)(10), David G. Carlson

Articles

No abstract provided.

Baseline Problems In Assessing Chapter 11, Theodore Eisenberg

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Dealing with failing businesses is like dealing with failing marriages. It is messy. The bigger the business the messier the process is likely to be. Many big business failures in the United States go through their death throes or cure their ills in reorganizations under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Act. As the vehicle in which big business messes travel, Chapter 11 is viewed as unnecessarily complex, time-consuming, and costly. The justification for Chapter 11's very existence has been challenged.

This article suggests that we are blaming the vehicle for the mess that it carries. Much of what is problematic …

Organizational Form, Misappropriation Risk, And The Substantive Consolidation Of Corporate Groups, Christopher W. Frost

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The financial collapse of a corporation raises significant questions regarding its shareholders and creditors' ex ante allocation of the risk that such a collapse might occur. In bankruptcy, most of these risk allocation issues relate to the priority of particular creditors' claims against the assets of the failed business. But determining priority first requires some reasoned means of identifying the assets against which creditors may assert their claims. In many cases, this question is simply one of locating and distributing assets. However, when bankrupt firms have conducted their operations through a complex web of subsidiary corporations, each holding distinct assets …

Postpetition Security Interests Under The Bankruptcy Code, David G. Carlson

Articles

Section 364(c) and (d) of the Bankruptcy Code provides for the creation of security interests in real and personal property under federal law. In this Article, David Gray Carlson discusses the quality and nature of these federal security interests, their remarkable immunity from reversal on appeal, and the ability of postpetition lenders to obtain preferences over other creditors through "cross-collateralization" clauses and the like.

Aviation Law And Regulation: Abridged Student Edition, Robert M. Hardaway, Paul Stephen Dempsey, William E. Thoms

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

We sought to write a comprehensive reference book for aviation lawyers and practitioners, and airline and aircraft manufactuing executives in need of vital information regarding law and government regulation in the field of commercial and general aviation. We envision this book as an aid for the neophyte and experienced practitioner alike.

Grammarians At The Gate: The Rehnquist Court's Evolving Plain Meaning Approach To Bankruptcy Jurisprudence, Walter Effross

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Limitations On Use Of The California Homestead Exemption In Bankruptcy Cases: The Case For Following In Re Pladson, Leslie Burton, Jeffrey C. Wurms

Publications

Two decisions, a 1991 California Court of Appeal decision, Spencer v. Lowery, and a 1993 United States District Court for the Northern District of California decision, In re Pladson, severely restricted the homestead exemption available in bankruptcy cases filed in California. Some bankruptcy courts have refused to follow the Spencer and Pladson cases and the California Legislature has passed new legislation on the use of the homestead exemption in bankruptcy. This article will explore the background and rationale of the decisions and the legislative scheme, and offer support for limiting the Homestead exemption in bankruptcy cases.

Saybrook Manufacturing: Is Cross-Collateralization Moot?, Karen Gebbia, Lawrence E. Oscar

Publications

This article examines the Saybrook decision in the context of prior case law and the general principles underlying the Code. The first section lays the foundation for an analysis of Saybrook by identifying the fundamental tenets of the Code and outlining the protections available under the Code to preserve secured creditors' property interests in their collateral and to induce lenders to provide DIPs with new credit. The next section defines cross-collateralization, analyzes the Saybrook decision in the context of prior case law, and considers whether cross-collateralization is permissible under the Code's express provisions and general policies. The authors conclude that …

The Bifurcation Of Undersecured Residential Mortgages Under Sec. 1322(B)(2) Of The Bankruptcy Code: The Final Resolution, Veryl Victoria Miles

Scholarly Articles

In August of 1992 the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, in its decision in Nobleman v. American Savings Bank (In re Nobleman), interpreted § 1322(b)(2) of the Code as prohibiting the bifurcation of a claim secured only by a lien against a debtor's principal residence. This decision is contrary to the position taken previously by the Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Ninth and Tenth Circuits on the same question. On December 7, 1992 the Supreme Court granted a petition for certiorari, filed by the debtor in Nobleman, to resolve the split now existing among the courts of appeals. …

Clearer Conceptions Of Insider Preferences, Peter A. Alces

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Preference Conundrums, James J. White, Daniel Israel

Articles

Every law teacher and many law students and practitioners understand the intellectual sport to be found in Section 547 on preference law. Because the preference rules are so intricate, rigorously logical-but really not logical-they command more than their fair attention, not only in law school but also in continuing legal education and even in the courts. Our purpose in this article is not to answer any of the difficult questions or to give a global explanation of preference law. Rather it is to confront a few of the conundrums in Section 547 and to follow the paths of those conundrums …

Bankruptcy In The Seventh Circuit: 1992, Douglass Boshkoff

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Attack On Chapter 11, Douglass G. Boshkoff

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Professor Westbrook's Two Thoughts About Insider Preferences, Peter A. Alces

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Revising Article 9 To Reduce Wasteful Litigation, James J. White

Articles

For reasons that are unclear to me, the committees reviewing the articles of the Uniform Commercial Code and drafting revisions are congenitally conservative. Perhaps these committees take their charge too seriously, namely, to revise, not to revolutionize. Perhaps their intimate knowledge of the subject matter exaggerates the importance of each section and consequently magnifies the apparent size of every change. In any case, my own experience with two such committees tells me that the members quickly become focused on revisions and amendments that any outsider would describe as modest. To the extent that the revision of any of the articles …

Corporate Governance In The Bankruptcy Reorganization Of Large, Publicly Held Companies, Lynn M. Lopucki, William C. Whitford

UF Law Faculty Publications

Part I of this Article describes the context in which the issues of corporate governance typically arise and the common sources of conflict among management, shareholders, and creditors. We also review other studies which bear on the corporate governance issues we address. Part II describes the sources of management power and the means by which that power is limited or controlled by various constituencies. In Part III, we examine the uses managements made of their power. We attempt to assess how much power managements had and for whose benefit they applied it. In Parts II and III, our discussion is …

Patterns In The Bankruptcy Reorganization Of Large Publicly Held Companies, Lynn M. Lopucki, William C. Whitford

UF Law Faculty Publications

Several recent articles contend that Chapter of the Bankruptcy Code does not provide efficient procedures for redressing the financial distress of large firms. The authors of these articles argue that the creditors of a financially distressed firm would fare better if the corporation's problems were resolved in some other way. The argument has proceeded principally on a theoretical level, since it is virtually impossible to know for certain how firms that have been in Chapter 11 would have fared under a different procedure. We recently completed an extensive empirical study of forty-three Chapter 11 cases involving large, publicly held firms. …

The Trouble With Chapter 11, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

The length of time companies remain in bankruptcy reorganization is critically important. During that time, the business is at risk because management incentives are inappropriate, professional fees accrue at a rapid rate, and business uncertainties increase. Creditors may be injured because the reorganizing debtor does not make payments during the case and because some creditors are not entitled to accrue interest during the pendency of the case. In this Article, Professor LoPucki presents data from several studies showing approximately a 150% increase from 1964 to 1987 in the median time companies spend in Chapter 11. Using data from other studies, …

Markets, Courts, And The Brave New World Of Bankruptcy Theory, David A. Skeel Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Financial Distress As A Non-Cooperative Game: A Proposal For Overcoming Obstacles To Private Workouts, Claire Oakes Finkelstein

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Article 9 Study Committee Report: Strong Signals And Hard Choices, Steven L. Harris, Charles W. Mooney Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.