Bankruptcy Law Commons^™

Sovereign Debt Restructuring And English Governing Law, Steven L. Schwarcz

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

The problem of sovereign indebtedness is becoming a worldwide crisis because nations, unlike individuals and corporations, lack access to bankruptcy laws to restructure unsustainable debt. Decades of international efforts to solve this problem through contracting and attempted treaty-making have failed to provide an adequate debt-restructuring framework. A significant amount of outstanding sovereign debt is governed, however, by English law. This Article argues that the U.K. Parliament has the extraordinary power to help solve the problem of unsustainable country debt by changing English law to facilitate fair and consensual debt restructuring. This Article also proposes modifications to English law that Parliament …

Promesa And The Bankruptcy Clause: A Reminder About Uniformity, Stephen J. Lubben

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

The Bankruptcy Clause—Article I, Section 8, Clause 4—provides that “The Congress shall have power . . . [t]o establish . . . uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States . . . .”[1] But Congress has just enacted a bankruptcy law that applies to a single American territory. In early May 2017, Puerto Rico and one affiliated entity filed a petition under this new law. In late May, the Employees Retirement System commenced a case, along with the Puerto Rico Highway and Transportation Authority. Other Puerto Rican sub-entities are expected to follow. I use this short …

Decision-Making And The Shaky Property Foundations Of Municipal Bankruptcy Law, Juliet M. Moringiello

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Municipal bankruptcies are unpredictable. There are several reasons for this statement— municipal bankruptcies are rare, involvement of the state itself in the process varies according to the governing state law, and chapter 9, the Bankruptcy Code chapter governing the municipal bankruptcy process, has many gaps. Congress constructed the modern chapter 9 on a foundation of corporate bankruptcy law, a foundation whose roots—corporate finance—are significantly different from the rules governing municipal finance. In this Article, Professor Moringiello aims a spotlight on the property roots of private bankruptcy law and compares them to the promissory and statutory roots of municipal finance law …

Towards A Jurisprudence Of Public Law Bankruptcy Judging, Edward J. Janger

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

In this essay Professor Janger considers the role of bankruptcy judges in Chapter 9 cases in light of the scholarly literature on public law judging. He explores the extent to which bankruptcy judges engaged in the fiscal restructuring of a municipality use tools, and face constraints, similar to those utilized by federal district court judges in structural reform cases, where constitutional norms are at issue.

Caring For Humanity: Non-Profit Elderly Law, Sierra Samp

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This Capstone was an internship that focused on care in Humanity at Legal Services for Seniors. There is a journal that includes the observations of care in the law office. I focus on how attorneys care for each clients humanness while they are working on their cases. Attorneys may be doing work that can be quite intimidating, but the care they give is quite extraordinary.

Consent, Coercion, And Bankruptcy Administration, S. Todd Brown

S. Todd Brown

No abstract provided.

Cybergenics Ii: Precedent And Policy Vs. Plain Meaning, Nancy A. Haller

Maine Law Review

On September 20, 2002, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a panel opinion concluding that a court may not authorize a creditors' committee to commence an avoidance action in the trustee's name, on behalf of a bankruptcy estate. The decision shocked the bankruptcy bar and raised such a stir that many commentators raised it to the status of one of the “top cases of the year.” Furthermore, within two months, the Second Circuit came down with a squarely contrary decision, reaffirming the validity of the practice within the Second Circuit and failing to even acknowledge recent …

Justice Scalia’S Bankruptcy Jurisprudence: The Right Judicial Philosophy For The Modern Bankruptcy Code?, Megan Mcdermott

Utah Law Review

This Article surveys an area of Justice Scalia’s legacy that is often overlooked by scholars who write broadly about the Supreme Court: his many contributions to the field of bankruptcy law. The Bankruptcy Code is rife with statutory interpretation questions that demand clear and predictable answers, due to the efficiency interests at stake and the absence of any intermediate interpretive forces, such as administrative agencies. Justice Scalia arrived on the high court at the outset of the modern bankruptcy era and this Article argues that his brand of rulebased textualism is a particularly good fit for bankruptcy law.

Specifically, four …

Bankruptcy On The Side, Kenneth Ayotte, Anthony J. Casey, David A. Skeel Jr.

Northwestern University Law Review

This Article provides a framework for analyzing side agreements among stakeholders in corporate bankruptcy, such as intercreditor and “bad boy” agreements. These agreements are controversial because they commonly include a promise by a stakeholder to remain silent—to waive some procedural right they would otherwise have under the Bankruptcy Code—at potentially crucial points in the reorganization process.

Using simplified examples, we show that side agreements create benefits in some instances. But, in other cases, parties to a side agreement may attempt to extract value from nonparties to the agreement by contracting for specific performance or excessive stipulated damages that impose negative …

Bankruptcy - The Last Resort: Protecting The Diocesan Client From Potential Liability Judgments, John B. Jarboe

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Credit Cards, Attorney's Fees, And The Putative Debtor: A Pyrrhic Victory? Putative Debtors May Win The Battle But Nevertheless Lose The War, Jennifer M. Smith

Maine Law Review

For decades, scholars have written about credit cards and attorney’s fees, but rarely together. This Article addresses the current financial crises of Americans, the credit card industry (including the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act) and attorney’s fees—perhaps a unique combination. It is based upon an actual case that left the putative debtor in a worse financial crisis than before the lawsuit was filed. This Article addresses the current credit card industry and its detrimental impact on society, and it discusses the history and purpose of attorney’s fees, as well as the pitfalls in attorney’s fee legislation. It analyzes …

Tipping The Scales: Balancing The Weight Of Equity With Loan Rescissions In Bankruptcy, Corey Scott Hadley

Maine Law Review

Prior to the passage of the Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA) in 1968, consumers were vulnerable to many deceptive practices employed by creditors when participating in loan transactions. Following the passage of TILA, it was the hope of Congress that consumers would now have the tools necessary to fend off predatory or deceptive credit terms buried within the fine print of a loan agreement. One of the options afforded to consumers facing a suspect loan agreement is the right to rescission. When lenders, creditors, and other parties in the credit transaction “fail to provide the consumer with proper disclosures about the loan …

Cross-Border Insolvencies: To “Universalize” Or To Arbitrate?, Young Hye (Martina) Chun

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This note makes a cost-benefit analysis of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code Chapter 15 and International Commercial Arbitration in the context of cross-border bankruptcy proceedings. Part I sets the stage by providing two opposing theoretical approaches to cross-border insolvencies: territorialism and universalism. Part II introduces the UNCITRAL’s Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, which is incorporated into the U.S. Bankruptcy Code Chapter 15. It presents how the Model Law has attempted to compensate for the lack of a global court by incorporating universalism. Part III demonstrates that while Chapter 15 sounds good in theory, it fails to address the very issue it …

Rethinking Preemption And Constitutional Parameters In Bankruptcy, Michelle M. Harner

William & Mary Law Review

Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code allows financially distressed businesses to reorganize and emerge from bankruptcy free of their pre-bankruptcy debts and obligations. In general, a business can achieve this kind of “fresh start” by confirming a plan of reorganization or pursuing a going-concern sale that typically facilitates a change in ownership, a reduction in leverage, and the elimination of most claims against the company’s assets. Through these kinds of transactions, a business can emerge from bankruptcy with a stronger balance sheet and often a new ownership structure. It also can streamline operations by, for example, assuming valuable contracts …

Restoring Bankruptcy’S Fresh Start, Jonathan S. Hermann

Fordham Law Review

The discharge injunction, which allows former debtors to be free from any efforts to collect former debt, is a primary feature of bankruptcy law in the United States. When creditors have systemically violated debtors’ discharge injunctions, some debtors have attempted to challenge those creditors through a class action lawsuit in bankruptcy court. However, the pervasiveness of class-waiving arbitration clauses likely prevents those debtors from disputing discharge injunction violations outside of binding, individual arbitration. This Note first discusses areas of disagreement regarding how former debtors may enforce their discharge injunctions. Then, it examines the types of disputes that allow debtors to …

The Bankruptcy Of Refusing To Hire Persons Who Have Filed Bankruptcy, Terrence Cain

Faculty Scholarship

In 1978, Congress made it illegal for government employers to deny employment to, terminate the employment of, or discriminate with respect to employment against a person who has filed bankruptcy. In 1984, Congress extended this prohibition to private employers by making it illegal for such employers to terminate the employment of, or discriminate with respect to employment against a person who has filed bankruptcy. Under the law as it currently exists, private employers can refuse to hire a person who has filed bankruptcy solely because that person has filed for bankruptcy. Meanwhile, employers have substantially increased their use of credit …

The Bankruptcy Of Airlines As Lessee In Finance Leasing Based On Cape Town Convention 2001 And Harmonization With The Bankruptcy And Suspension Of Payment Act Number 37 Years 2004, Shafira Hijriya

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

By the development of the airlines industry in Indonesia today, international lease finance from all around the world (lessor) puthigher trustto airline business in Indonesia. In reality many airlines company (lessee) is bankrupt, because of the inability to pay his debt to the lessor. Based on the Irrevocable Deregistration and Export Request Authorization (IDERA) in the Cape Town Convention, if the airlines company had been bankrupt and could not pay the debt of finance leasing, the aircrafts must bereturned to the finance leasing. In contrary, there is disparities with Bankruptcy and Suspension of Payments Act No.7/2004 in Indonesia, so we …

Bankruptcy: Activist Investors And Chapter 11, Jared A. Ellias

The Judges' Book

No abstract provided.

Do Economic Conditions Drive Dip Lending?: Evidence From The Financial Crisis, Frederick Tung

Faculty Scholarship

When contemplating Chapter 11, the first step for many firms is to seek financing for their continuing operations in bankruptcy. Because such financing would otherwise be hard to find, the Bankruptcy Code authorizes debtors to offer sweeteners to debtor-in-possession (DIP) lenders. These inducements can be highly effective in attracting financing. But because these sweeteners are thought to come at the expense of other stakeholders, the Code permits these inducements only if the judge determines that no less generous a package would have been sufficient to obtain the loan.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the use of certain controversial inducements—I focus on …

Lessons From The Bankruptcy Of Hanjin Shipping, Yutong Pan

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Ln Mgmt. Llc Series 5105 Portraits Place V. Green Tree Loan Servicing Llc, 133 Nev. Adv. Op. 55 (Aug. 03, 2017), Wesley Lemay Jr.

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

If a homeowner that owns property in Nevada but declares bankruptcy in Texas and fails to list the Home Owners Association (HOA) as a creditor, the HOA cannot violate the automatic stay imposed by the bankruptcy and sell the property. If the property is sold in violation of the automatic stay, the sale is invalid. Under Ninth Circuit law, the sale is void ab initio while the Fifth Circuit holds that these types of sales are voidable, but can be approved by the bankruptcy court.

K&P Homes V. Christiana Trust, 133 Nev. Adv. Op. 51 (July 27, 2017), Yolanda Carapia

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined that the SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC v. U.S. Bank, N.A. decision, extinguishing first security interests, applies retroactively to all foreclosures occurring prior to the date of the decision and since NRS 116.3116’s inception.

Husky International Electronics, Inc. V. Ritz: Rethinking Actual Fraud, Badges Of Fraud, And Pleading Standards In Federal Bankruptcy Litigation, Meagan George

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Authority Of The Financial Services Authority (Ojk) In Publishing Insurance Regulation In The Perspective Of Insurance Law In Indonesia, Wetria Fauzi

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Legal basis of the formation of the Financial Services Authority (OJK) is based on the Article 34 of the Law No. 3 of 2004 on Bank Indonesia. The legislation process was then approved and endorsed the Law No. 21 of 2011 on the Financial Services Authority (OJK). Article 6 of the law gives the OJK authority to supervise both for bank and non-bank financial institution, including insurance agencies. Article 5 of the Insurance Law, OJK is given a mandate to make a regulation to expand the scope of the insurance business activities in accordance with the needs of the society. …

Bankruptcy, John T. Laney Iii, Nicholas J. Garcia

Mercer Law Review

This Article is a review of select bankruptcy opinions issued in 2016 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The selected bankruptcy opinions surveyed and summarized by the Authors involve the following bankruptcy topics: Stale Debt Collection, the Dischargeability of Debts, Exemptions, Contempt, Judicial Estoppel, and the Rules of Procedure. During 2016, the Eleventh Circuit addressed some "exceptionally important" issues arising in consumer bankruptcy cases and created a circuit split requiring resolution by the United States Supreme Court.

Trump Entertainment Resorts: Three Bankruptcies And The Failure To Make Atlantic City Great Again, Ryan Gallagher, Andrew Hale

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Criminal Contempt, John A.E. Pottow, Jason S. Levin

Articles

It is of course too early to tell whether we are in a new era of bankruptcy judge (dis)respectability. Only time will tell. But this Article performs a specific case study, on one discrete area of bankruptcy court authority, based upon a particular assumption in that regard. The assumption is this: certain high-salience judicial events-here, the recent Supreme Court bankruptcy judge decisions, coupled with earlier constitutional precedents involving the limits of Article III-can trigger overreaction and hysteria. Lower courts may read these Supreme Court decisions as calling into question the permissibility of certain bankruptcy court practices under the Constitution, and …

Bankruptcy's Gray Area: Are Bankruptcy Courts "Courts Of The United States"?, Angelo G. Labate

Notre Dame Law Review

This Note seeks to evaluate the circuit split regarding the status of bankruptcy courts and propose a solution to the problem through an efficiency-based lens. After laying out a brief history of bankruptcy in the United States and the current bankruptcy system and outlining the circuit split within the courts of appeals as to the proper definition of “courts of the United States,” this Note will analyze the statutory language, the United States Code, and the relevant historical context to determine if the bankruptcy courts qualify as “courts of the United States.” This Note will argues that the bankruptcy courts …

Turning The Page: The Demise Of The “Queenan Doctrine” Requiring The Adoption Of A Foreclosure Valuation Methodology In Chapter 11 Cases, Harrison Denman

University of Miami Business Law Review

This Article traces the evolution of the default standard applied by bankruptcy courts to valuing a secured lender’s collateral under section 506(a) for purposes of determining whether a “diminution in value” has occurred sufficient to trigger the need for adequate protection. Historically, bankruptcy courts applied a standard premised on the scholarship of Judge Queenan of the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts. That standard called for, absent contractual language to the contrary, application of a foreclosure valuation methodology regardless of the actual or anticipated use of such collateral during the chapter 11 cases. In recent years, there has been …

Legal Status Of Individual Bankrupt Debtors After Termination Of Bankruptcy And Rehabilitation Under Indonesian Bankruptcy Law, Sonnyendah Retnaningsih, Isis Ikwansyah

Indonesia Law Review

The Indonesian bankruptcy law system adheres to the debt collective principle which is general seizure (sita umum) of the debtor’s property as guarantee for the payment of debt through the bankruptcy institution. The principle of debt collective stresses that the debtor’s debt shall be paid immediately from the property owned by the debtor. Based on such principle, bankruptcy serves as a means of coercion to materialize the creditors’ rights through liquidation of the debtor’s assets. Bankruptcy law in Indonesia does not recognize the principle of debt forgiveness, among others, the implementation of debt relief granted to the debtor to pay …