Law Commons^™

Scarlet-Lettered Bankruptcy: A Public Benefit Proposal For Mass Tort Villains, Samir D. Parikh

Northwestern University Law Review

Financially distressed companies often seek refuge in federal bankruptcy court to auction valuable assets and pay creditor claims. Mass tort defendants—including 3M, Johnson & Johnson, and Purdue Pharma—introduce new complexities to customary Chapter 11 dynamics. Many mass tort defendants engage in malfeasance that inflicts widespread harm. These debtors fuel public scorn and earn a scarlet letter that can destroy value for an otherwise profitable business. Scarlet-lettered companies could file for bankruptcy and quickly sell their assets to fund victims’ settlement trusts. This Article argues, however, that this traditional resolution option would eviscerate victim recoveries. Harsh public scrutiny has diminished the …

An Innovative Framework: Evaluating The New German Business Stabilization And Restructuring Law (Starug), Andreas Rauch

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This comment examines the restructuring framework, restrukturierungsgesetz (“StaRUG”), and argues that this new law represents an effective—albeit radical—departure from Germany’s previous, conservative insolvency regime. Passed in response to a 2019 EU Directive aimed at modernizing restructuring law Union-wide, and integrated into the German legal system against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, StaRUG and its ancillary reforms in other areas of German law create a restructuring proceeding that places a premium on a debtor’s continued business operations. Thus, in a striking shift from the traditional German approach to business distress, which strongly emphasized creditor rights, the new StaRUG focuses on …

Clarity About Comity: How Courts Have Attempted Greater Guidance For Chapter 15 Litigants, Sabrina Lieberman

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Abstract

This note explores the development of courts’ refusal to extend comity to foreign representatives who have filed a proceeding under chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Congress adopted chapter 15 as part of a comprehensive 2005 bankruptcy reform. It allows foreign entities to receive protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. In most cases, foreign representatives who file a chapter 15 proceeding are involved with ancillary insolvency proceedings outside the United States. There is often a question of how or if a U.S. court overseeing the chapter 15 proceeding will defer to a judgment or process within the foreign …

The Crypto Quandary: Is Bankruptcy Ready?, Megan Mcdermott

Northwestern University Law Review

As the United States grapples with how best to manage a global pandemic, bankruptcy courts are bracing for the inevitable fallout from COVID-19. As we saw in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, hard- hit businesses will need to reorganize to adjust to new conditions, while out- of-work consumers will need debt relief options. But there will be a new twist for this impending wave of bankruptcies: how should bankruptcy courts deal with crypto assets like Bitcoin? This Essay argues that the rise of cryptocurrency investments over the last decade poses serious complications for the next round of consumer …

Screened Out Of Housing: The Impact Of Misleading Tenant Screening Reports And The Potential For Criminal Expungement As A Model For Effectively Sealing Evictions, Katelyn Polk

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Having an eviction record “blacklists” tenants from finding future housing. Even renters with mere eviction filings—not eviction orders—on their records face the harsh collateral consequences of eviction. This Note argues that eviction records should be sealed at filing and only released into the public record if a landlord prevails in court. Juvenile record expungement mechanisms in Illinois serve as a model for one way to protect people with eviction records. Recent updates to the Illinois juvenile expungement process provided for the automatic expungement of certain records and strengthened the confidentiality protections of juvenile records. Illinois protects juvenile records because it …

Chasing The Fruits Of Misery: Confronting The Historical Relationships Between Opioid Revenues, Offshore Financial Centers, And International Regulatory Networks, Stephen C. Wilks

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

As the opioid crisis continues to claim lives throughout the U.S., tort litigants have faced challenges pursuing Purdue Pharma – one of the drug makers responsible for aggressively promoting OxyContin while downplaying the drug’s addictive effects. Much of this litigation posture sought to recover billions in public health costs incurred responding to the crisis at federal, state and local levels. As the plaintiff class grew, Purdue Pharma petitioned for bankruptcy protection, at which point auditors discovered the entity’s beneficial owners had caused it to wire billions in opioid profits into offshore accounts – placing them beyond the reach of litigants. …

Bankruptcy's Cathedral: Property Rules, Liability Rules, And Distress, Vincent S.J. Buccola

Northwestern University Law Review

What justifies corporate bankruptcy law in the modern economy? For forty years, economically oriented theorists have rationalized bankruptcy as an antidote to potential coordination failures associated with a company’s financial distress. But the sophistication of financial contracting and the depth of capital markets today threaten the practical plausibility, if not the theoretical soundness, of the conventional model. This Article sets out a framework for assessing bankruptcy law that accounts for changes in the technology of corporate finance. It then applies the framework to three important artifacts of contemporary American bankruptcy practice, pointing toward a radically streamlined vision of the field. …

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 …

Betting On The Upside: Why Affirming River Road Favors Distressed Debt Speculators Over The Rehabilitation Of Businesses, Julia L. Onorato

Northwestern University Law Review

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy process demands a careful balance between protecting the creditors’ rights to be repaid and allowing a failing entity the ability to restructure. The Supreme Court in RadLAX Gateway Hotel affirmed the Seventh Circuit’s holding in River Road and interpreted the Bankruptcy Code in a way that improperly shifts this balance towards the most senior creditors at the expense of business. This Note will analyze the circuit disagreement over the cramdown provision in the Bankruptcy Code and the Supreme Court’s ultimate resolution. It will argue that in light of recent trends in the credit markets - including …

Choosing The "Per-Debtor" Approach To Plan Confirmation In Multi-Debtor Chapter 11 Proceedings, Suzanne T. Brindise

Northwestern University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The New Danger Of Being Fired: Section 525(B)’S Disproportionate Effect On Older Workers And A Call To Amend, Jina Kim Yun

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This Note explores an increasingly perverse effect of an anti-discriminatory provision of the Bankruptcy Code on numerous Americans who have declared personal bankruptcies after the recent economic recession of 2007. Under § 525(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, a private employer is not prohibited from barring a former debtor from prospective employment based on a past insolvency. This provision has had an immense impact on the large number of former debtors seeking the fresh start that bankruptcy law is meant to provide. With the dramatic increase in the number of personal bankruptcies, this Note argues that such an impact is overly …

The Scorecard So Far: Emerging Issues In Cross-Border Insolvencies Under Chapter 15 Of The U.S. Bankruptcy Code, Megan R. O'Flynn

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code was modeled after the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, drafted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade and Law (UNCITRAL) in 1997. Despite the relatively small number of cases commenced in U.S. Courts under Chapter 15 since its adoption, no other section of the current Bankruptcy Code has broader implications for international business transactions and global foreign business relations than the provisions of Chapter 15. Moreover, since the United States has long been an innovator at the forefront of international insolvency law, interpretation of key provisions of the Chapter and related UNCITRAL …

Bankruptcy Law Dilemma: Appraisal Of Corporate Value And Its Distribution In Corporate Reorganization Proceedings, Jongho Kim

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This article will analyze issues arising in reorganization proceedings with which the bankruptcy court has not yet grappled. If the questions arising in the remainder of this article can be clearly answered, then to a certain extent numerous arguments about Chapter 11 can be settled. This article will also analyze both Korean and U.S. bankruptcy law and will maintain a comparative approach with a critical perspective. Though Korean bankruptcy law indirectly adopted11 that of the United States in 1962, the actual application and interpretation of Korean bankruptcy law is quite different and I will accurately compare and contrast the two …

Center Of Main Interests, International Insolvency Case Venue, And Equality Of Arms: The Eurofood Decision Of The European Court Of Justice, Samuel L. Bufford

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The European Court of Justice ("E.C.J.") issued a ruling on May 2, 2006 in the Eurofood case, finding that the commencement of an insolvency case for Eurofood in Ireland gave the Irish court priority under E.U. law over a similar insolvency case commenced shortly thereafter in Italy. The E.C.J.'s ruling responded to the Supreme Court of Ireland's referral to the E.C.J. of five questions of E.U. law based on the E.U. Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings ("E.U. Regulation"). The Irish Supreme Court had referred these questions to the E.C.J. preliminary to deciding a pending appeal of the Dublin High Court's decision …

The New Chapter 15 Of The Bankruptcy Code: A Step Toward Erosion Of National Sovereignty, John J. Chung

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

If Chapter 15 and universalism offer uncertain benefits but certain harms, why have their principles gained such a following? One explanation is that Chapter 15 is part of today's growing trend to internationalize American law. Much like the inclination of some Supreme Court Justices to look to foreign law for guidance, it appears many bankruptcy scholars, judges, and practitioners have developed a taste for international trendiness. This article contends that the debate surrounding Chapter 15 in bankruptcy circles is a variation of the ongoing national debate regarding the citation of foreign law in Supreme Court opinions. This internationalism is a …

The Innovative German Approach To Consumer Debt Relief: Revolutionary Changes In German Law, And Surprising Lessons For The United States, Jason J. Kilborn

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This Article seeks to achieve two goals as it describes the consumer provisions of the new German Insolvency Act. First, it reveals critical distinctions between the theory of consumer insolvency, as described in German law and legal literature, and the reality of consumer insolvency in practice, as it has developed in the four-and-a-half years since the law went into effect. From both theoretical and practical perspectives, the German experience both supports and challenges many of the notions underlying consumer bankruptcy reform debates in the United States. As it turns out, the German and U.S. consumer debt relief systems produce largely …

Russia's Intactable Economic Problems And The Next Steps In Legal Reform: Bankruptcy And The Depoliticization Of Business , William P. Kratzke

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Law reform in Russia proceeds on many fronts. This paper takes the position that the most important legal reforms for Russia are those that eliminate the reward system that encourages economic activity that can be highly inefficient. These legal reforms are an effective bankruptcy law and the de-politicization of business. The two go hand-in-hand. It is the politicization of business that renders Russia's bankruptcy laws ineffective by making non-viable business entities .appear to be solvent. These two reforms, were they adequately implemented, would eliminate rewards for inefficiency. Only when the Russian government-and its people-have removed this reward system can conditions …

Wysko Investment Company V. Great American Bank: A New Attack On The Usefulness Of Letters Of Credit, Robert Jay Gavigan

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The letter of credit has long been accepted as a valuable instrument of assured payment in international business. In Wysko Investment v. Great American Bank, however, an Arizona district court jeopardized the usefulness of the letter of credit transaction by enjoining payment to the beneficiary after the issuing party became insolvent.' This note addresses the issue of whether a bankruptcy court has the power to enjoin payment of a letter of credit issued by the debtor's principal, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 105(a), when the court finds the injunction necessary for the debtor's reorganization. Further, this note examines whether such …