Law Commons^™

Collecting Debts From The Ill And Injured: The Rhetorical Significance, But Practical Irrelevance, Of Culpability And Ability To Pay, Melissa B. Jacoby

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Will Big Tobacco Seek Bankruptcy Protection? A $145 Billion Verdict Poses The Question, Mark Gottlieb, Richard A. Daynard

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Bankruptcy, Just For The Rich? An Analysis Of Popular Fee Arrangements For Pre-Petition Legal Fees And A Call To Amend, Kerry H. Ducey

Vanderbilt Law Review

The scenario is typical. An individual sits amid a pile of overdue bills. He calculates and recalculates only to verify what he has already suspected-his debt far exceeds his monthly income. Meanwhile, creditors and collection agencies demand payment while threatening repossession and other legal action. With no ready source of additional income, the debtor ultimately decides to file for bankruptcy. He consults an attorney, and the two agree to file a consumer no-asset Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition.' The lawyer then promises to use her best efforts to secure relief for the debtor. All she needs is a retainer. A retainer? …

Crumbs For Oliver Twist: Resolving The Conflict Between Tax And Support Claims In Bankruptcy, Michelle A. Cecil

Faculty Publications

This article is premised on the assumption that the congressional goal of preferring support claims over federal income tax claims is indeed a laudable one, based on three interrelated policy justifications. First, support claimants are unable to spread their risk of loss like the government is able to do by raising tax rates or increasing tax revenue from other sources. As three prominent bankruptcy scholars noted in their recent study of consumer bankruptcy entitled The Fragile Middle Class: Americans in Debt:

The Failure Of Public Company Bankruptcies In Delaware And New York: Empirical Evidence Of A "Race To The Bottom", Lynn M. Lopucki, Sara D. Kalin

Vanderbilt Law Review

Commentators sometimes recognize Delaware's preeminence in corporate law, but they almost invariably treat Delaware's recent popularity as a bankruptcy venue choice as raising entirely different issues. In fact, the two are integrally related. Specifically, just as the efforts of Delaware and other states to attract corporations--a process often referred to as "charter competition'-has induced Delaware to regulate corporate law in a generally efficient manner, the same forces will have a beneficial effect on Delaware's bankruptcy judges

. -Professor David Skeet'

Is International Bankruptcy Possible?, Frederick Tung

Michigan Journal of International Law

Although international business firms proliferate, there is no international bankruptcy system. Instead, bankruptcy law remains a matter for individual states. The failure of a multinational firm therefore raises difficult questions of conflict and cooperation among national bankruptcy laws. In the discourse over the appropriate design for an international bankruptcy system, universalism has long held sway as the dominant idea, embraced nearly universally by bankruptcy scholars. Universalism offers a simple and elegant blueprint for international bankruptcy. Under universalism, the bankruptcy regime of the debtor firm's home country would govern worldwide, enjoying global reach to treat all of the debtor's assets and …

Whither The Race? A Comment On The Effects Of The Delawarization Of Corporate Reorganizations, Randall Thomas, Robert K. Rasmussen

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Recent empirical work has demonstrated that large, publicly held firms tend to file for bankruptcy in Delaware. In our previous work, we have documented this trend, and argued that it may be efficient for prepackaged bankruptcies, while it unclear if it is efficient for traditional Chapter 11 cases. In this piece, we respond to LoPucki and Kalin's assertion that Delaware bankruptcy court performs worse than others. They base this claim on the observation that firms that file for bankruptcy in Delaware are more likely to file for bankruptcy a second time than are firms that file in another jurisdiction. We …

Revised Article 9, Securitization Transactions And The Bankruptcy Dynamic, Lois R. Lupica

Faculty Publications

Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code ("U.C.C.")1 is the law governing the creation, perfection, and enforcement of security interests in personal property. Originally enacted in 1960,2 Article 9 was substantially revised in 1972 in response to changes in commercial financing markets and practices. Since this last revision, there have been further changes, including technological advances, affecting commercial practice and custom. These changes have led the Permanent Editorial Board for the U.C.C. ("PEB") to recommend to the American Law Institute ("ALI") and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws ("NCCUSL") that Article 9, once again, be significantly revised. …

Bankruptcy Court Jurisdiction And Agency Action: Resolving The Nextwave Of Conflict, Rafael I. Pardo

Scholarship@WashULaw

This Comment criticizes a pair of decisions by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, FCC v. NextWave Personal Communications, Inc. (In re NextWave Personal Communications, Inc.) and In re FCC, which held that a bankruptcy court lacks jurisdiction to determine whether the Federal Communications Commission is stayed from revoking a debtor's licenses. The Comment argues that the Second Circuit interpreted the bankruptcy court's jurisdiction too narrowly because it failed to distinguish properly between an agency's action as a creditor and as a regulator. It concludes that bankruptcy courts and courts of appeals have concurrent jurisdiction to …

The Failure Of Public Company Bankruptcies In Delaware And New York: Empirical Evidence Of A "Race To The Bottom", Lynn M. Lopucki, Sara D. Kalin

UF Law Faculty Publications

In the early 1990s, Delaware replaced New York as the jurisdiction of choice for the bankruptcy reorganization of large, public companies. In an empirical study of 188 companies emerging from bankruptcy reorganization from 1983 through 1996, the authors found that the refiling rates for public companies reorganized in Delaware and New York were about five to seven times the refiling rates for companies reorganized in other courts. Nine of the thirty large, public companies emerging in Delaware from 1991 to 1996 (30%) have already refiled. New York rates were higher during the period of New York's dominance than during the …

Cases And Materials On Bankruptcy, Margaret Howard, Peter Alces

Margaret Howard

No abstract provided.

Vern Countryman And Bary Zaretsky: A Legacy Of Ideas, Margaret Howard

Margaret Howard

No abstract provided.

Shifting Risk And Fixing Blame: The Vexing Problem Of Credit Card Obligations In Bankruptcy, Margaret Howard

Margaret Howard

No abstract provided.

A Tale Of Two Codes: Examining § 522(F) Of The Bankruptcy Code, § 9-103 Of The Uniform Commercial Code And The Proper Role Of State Law In Bankruptcy, Juliet M. Moringiello

Juliet M. Moringiello

No abstract provided.