Bankruptcy Law Commons^™

Revisiting The Scrap Heap: The Decline And Fall Of Smith V. F.W. Morse & Co., Parker B. Potter Jr.

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] "One of the more difficult tasks facing a federal court is trying to predict how a state’s highest court would rule on a question of law it has not yet addressed. That difficulty is well illustrated by the history of Wenners v. Great State Beverages, Inc., and in particular, the interpretation of that opinion contained in Smith v. F.W. Morse & Co. [ . . . ]

This article begins with a close examination of Wenners and the two opinions on which Wenners relied for its now-canonical statement of the relationship between statutory and common law remedies. I continue …

Presenter, Tenth Circuit Judicial Conference., Bruce Price

Bruce M Price

No abstract provided.

Finding Nemo: Rediscovering The Virtues Of Negotiability In The Wake Of Enron, Adam J. Levitin

ExpressO

Creditors have long understood that any claims they submit for repayment in a bankruptcy might be valid, but subject to subordination in the order of payment of the bankruptcy estate’s limited funds if the creditor behaved inequitably as the debtor failed. A groundbreaking opinion in Enron’s on-going bankruptcy has expanded the practice of equitable subordination far beyond its traditional reach. According to the court, buyers of bankruptcy claims are now subject to subordination, not just for their own conduct, but also for conduct of previous owners of the claims, regardless of whether the conduct related to the claims.

In a …

Recent Defined Benefit Pension Reform: Reasons And Results, Daniel B. Klaff

ExpressO

In the face of corporate bankruptcies, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”) assures workers that their defined benefit pensions will be protected. It is this fact which has motivated recent reform of the PBGC and the overarching defined benefit plan system by Congress. This paper explores those reforms by addressing the reasons for and results of the most recent reform which had as its primary aim restoring the fiscal solvency of the PBGC. The paper challenges popular accounts of the reform process while examining the results of such reform for important stakeholders without resorting to an overly technical discussion of …

Just Until Payday, Ronald Mann, James Hawkins

ExpressO

Abstract The growth of payday lending markets during the last 15 years has been the focus of substantial regulatory attention both here and abroad, producing a dizzying array of initiatives by federal and state policymakers. Those initiatives have conflicting purposes – some seek to remove barriers to entry and others seek to impose limits on the business. As is often the case in banking markets, the resulting patchwork of federal and state laws poses a problem when one state is able to dictate the practices of a national industry. For most of this industry’s life, just that has happened – …

A Failure Of Expression: How The Provisions Of The U.S. Bankruptcy Code Fail To Abrogate Tribal Sovereign Immunity, Greggory W. Dalton

Washington Law Review

Sections 106(a) and 101(27) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code use the general phrase "other foreign or domestic government" to abrogate sovereign immunity without specifically referencing Indian tribes. The U.S. Supreme Court has not yet decided whether these sections of the Code abrogate tribal sovereign immunity, and lower court decisions have come to varying conclusions. As a general rule, Indian tribes are immune from suit due to their inherent sovereignty. Congress, however, may abrogate the sovereign immunity of tribes by unequivocally stating its intent to do so in a statute. When interpreting abrogation provisions in a statute, courts have only found …

Greed And Pride In International Bankruptcy: The Problems And Proposed Solutions To “Local Interests”, John A. E. Pottow

Law & Economics Working Papers Archive: 2003-2009

From just-enacted (2005) chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to the U.K. Enterprise Act of 2002, legislative reforms to international bankruptcy are on the rise. One of the thorniest issues facing scholars and policymakers alike in these efforts is what to do with the nettlesome problem of “local interests.” What exactly are these “local interests,” and what is it that we are we trying to protect? Literature to date has been elusive in pinning this down and has offered, for the most part, only undifferentiated anxiety that an international bankruptcy regime may impinge undesirably upon “local concerns.” This article …

Words That Wound: Defining Discussing, And Defeating Bankruptcy "Corruption", A. Mechele Dickerson

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Where Do You Get Off - A Reply To Courting Failure'S Critics, Lynn M. Lopucki

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Primer Congreso Nacional De Organismos Públicos Autónomos, Bruno L. Costantini García

Bruno L. Costantini García

Memorias del Primer Congreso Nacional de Organismos Públicos Autonomos

European Implications Of Bankruptcy Venue Shopping In The U.S., David A. Skeel Jr.

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Comments, Brady C. Williamson

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Venue Choice: Where The Action Is, William C. Whitford

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Courting Failure, Lynn M. Lopucki

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Beyond Recidivism, Douglas G. Baird, Douglas G. Baird

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fast, Cheap, And Creditor-Controlled: Is Corporate Reorganization Failing?, Melissa B. Jacoby

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Courting Controversy, Charles J. Tabb

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Comments, Robert D. Martin

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bankruptcy, James D. Walker Jr., Amber Nickell

Mercer Law Review

Never underestimate the persistence of the credit lobby. In the most significant development in bankruptcy law since last year's Article, Congress finally, after eight years of trying, enacted bankruptcy reform legislation in the form of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act ("BAPCPA" or the "Act"). At least one judge has stated that "to call the Act a 'consumer protection' Act is the grossest of misnomers." Indeed, the Act creates new roadblocks for entrance into bankruptcy, such as the pre-petition credit counseling requirement and Chapter 7 means testing; limiting or eliminating the protection of the automatic stay for repeat …

Bond Repudiation, Tax Codes, The Appropriations Process And Restitution Post-Eminent Domain Reform, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

This brief comment suggests where the anti-eminent domain movement might be heading next.

Priority As Pathology: The Pari Passu Myth, Riz Mokal

ExpressO

This paper aims to analyse the pari passu principle of insolvency law (which provides that the creditors of a company in liquidation are to be paid rateably), and to ask how it relates to other principles available for the treatment of claims in corporate liquidation. The discussion reveals that the principle has rather limited effect in governing distributions of the insolvent's estate. Not only do various types of secured claim fall beyond its ambit, even unsecured claims are often exempt from its application. Nevertheless, the principle thrives both in judicial rhetoric and in academic arguments. For example, many a challenge …

The Search For Someone To Save: A Defensive Case For The Priority Of Secured Credit, Riz Mokal

ExpressO

The priority of secured credit has repeatedly and famously been attacked for allowing the exploitation of certain types of unsecured creditor. It has also been blamed for creating inefficiencies. This paper examines these arguments specifically as applied to this jurisdiction, and using both theoretical analysis and recent empirical data, suggests none of them can be sustained. It is argued that security is unlikely to lead to the exploitation of involuntary, ‘uninformed’, or ‘unsophisticated’ creditors, since the perverse incentives it allegedly creates for the debtor’s management are likely to be outweighed by the managers’ liquidation-related costs. It is then pointed out …

The Bapcpa's Chilling Effect On Debtor's Councel, Alan Eisher

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Implications Of The Third Circuit's Armstrong Decision On Creative Corporate Restructuring: Will Strict Construction Of The Absolute Priority Rule Make Chapter 11 Consensus Less Likely?, Harvey R. Miller, Ronit J. Berkovich

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Few Lines, David G. Epstein

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Testing The Limits Of Statutory Construction Doctrines: Deconstructing The 2005 Bankruptcy Act, John Rao

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Access To Justice: Consumer Bankruptcy, Richard I. Aaron

Utah Law Review

Bankruptcy is a privilege for the honest but unfortunate debtor; not for the knave or churl. All agree that bankruptcy should be available for those who are unable to pay their debts, but not for those who are just unwilling. The homilies are simple to state but not easy to apply. Why do consumers file bankruptcy? There are many explanations, all of them contentious and layered with disputed data. There simply is no definitive answer. Furthermore, as the following possible explanations demonstrate, Congress's choice to limit access to bankruptcy ignores the complexity of the question.

U.S. Corporate And Bank Insolvency Regimes: A Comparison And Evaluation, Robert R. Bliss, George G. Kaufman

ExpressO

In the U.S., the insolvency resolution of most corporations is governed by the federal bankruptcy code and is administered by special bankruptcy courts. Most large corporate bankruptcies are resolved under Chapter 11 reorganization proceedings. However, commercial bank insolvencies are governed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and are administered by the FDIC. These two resolution processes—corporate bankruptcy and bank receiverships—differ in a number of significant ways, including the type of proceeding (judicial versus administrative); the rights of managers, stockholders and creditors in the proceedings; the explicit and implicit goals of the resolution; the prioritization of creditors’ claims; the costs of …

The Authentic Consent Model: Contractarianism, Creditors' Bargain, And Corporate Liquidation, Riz Mokal

ExpressO

The first part of this article asks if the Creditors’ Bargain Model, long employed by insolvency scholars as the starting point for many an analysis, can explain or justify even the most distinctive and fundamental feature of insolvency law. After examining the defining features of the model’s construction, the role of self-interest and consent in it, and its ex ante position, it is concluded that the Bargain model can neither explain nor legitimate the coercive collective liquidation regime.

The second part of the article develops an alternative model to analyse and justify insolvency law. The starting premise is that all …

The Floating Charge – An Elegy, Riz Mokal

ExpressO

This paper argues that the usual way of conflating floating with fixed charges as small variations on a single theme – as priority-based devices differing only in degree – fundamentally misunderstands its true nature. The floating charge plays a distinctive role as a residual management displacement device which can only be effective if coupled with an appropriate set of fixed security that enables its holder to gather information about the competence of the debtor’s managers and to control their incentives to misbehave. The floating charge allows the debtor free use of its circulating assets while its management is doing well, …