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Full-Text Articles in Law
A Capital Market, Corporate Law Approach To Creditor Conduct, Mark J. Roe, Frederico Cenzi Venezze
A Capital Market, Corporate Law Approach To Creditor Conduct, Mark J. Roe, Frederico Cenzi Venezze
Michigan Law Review
The problem of creditor conduct in a distressed firm—-for which policymakers ought to have the distressed firm’s economically sensible repositioning as a central goal—-has vexed courts for decades. Because courts have not come to coherent, stable doctrine to regulate creditor behavior and because they do not focus on building doctrinal structures that would facilitate the sensible repositioning of the distressed firm, social costs arise and those costs may be substantial. One can easily see why developing a good rule here has been hard to achieve: A rule that facilitates creditor intervention in the debtor’s operations beyond the creditor’s ordinary collection …
Assessing The Chrysler Bankruptcy, Mark J. Roe, David Skeel
Assessing The Chrysler Bankruptcy, Mark J. Roe, David Skeel
Michigan Law Review
Chrysler entered and exited bankruptcy in forty-two days, making it one of the fastest major industrial bankruptcies in memory. It entered as a company widely thought to be ripe for liquidation if left on its own, obtained massive funding from the United States Treasury, and exited via a pseudo-sale of its main assets to a new government-funded entity. The unevenness of the compensation to prior creditors raised concerns in capital markets, which we evaluate here. We conclude that the Chrysler bankruptcy cannot be understood as complying with good bankruptcy practice, that it resurrected discredited practices long thought interred in the …
Bankruptcy Vérité, Lynn M. Lopucki, Joseph W. Doherty
Bankruptcy Vérité, Lynn M. Lopucki, Joseph W. Doherty
Michigan Law Review
In the empirical study we report in Bankruptcy Fire Sales, we compared the recoveries from the going-concern bankruptcy sales of twenty-five large, public companies with the recoveries from the bankruptcy reorganizations of thirty large, public companies. We found that, controlling for the asset size of the company and its presale or pre-reorganization earnings ("EBITDA"), reorganization recoveries were more than double sale recovenes. We are honored that Professor James J. White has chosen to comment on our study. White is an eloquent defender of the status quo, pulls no punches, and always has something interesting to say. Bankruptcy Noir is …
Bankruptcy Fire Sales, Lynn M. Lopucki, Joseph W. Doherty
Bankruptcy Fire Sales, Lynn M. Lopucki, Joseph W. Doherty
Michigan Law Review
For more than two decades, scholars working from an economic perspective have criticized the bankruptcy reorganization process and sought to replace it with market mechanisms. In 2002, Professors Douglas G. Baird and Robert K. Rasmussen asserted in The End of Bankruptcy that improvements in the market for large public companies had rendered reorganization obsolete. Going concern value could be captured through sale. This Article reports the results of an empirical study comparing the recoveries in bankruptcy sales of large public companies in the period 2000 through 2004 with the recoveries in bankruptcy reorganizations during the same period. Controlling for company …
Contract As Statute, Stephen J. Choi, G. Mitu Gulati
Contract As Statute, Stephen J. Choi, G. Mitu Gulati
Michigan Law Review
The traditional model of contract interpretation focuses on the "meeting of the minds." Parties agree on how to structure their respective obligations and rights and then specify their agreement in a written document. Gaps and ambiguities are inevitable. But where contract language exists for the point in contention and a dispute arises as to the meaning of this language, courts attempt to divine what the parties intended. Among the justifications for deferring to the intent of the parties is the assumption that parties know what is best for themselves. Deference also arguably furthers autonomy values. Not all contracts and contract …
The Political Economy Of The Bankruptcy Reform Act Of 1978, Eric A. Posner
The Political Economy Of The Bankruptcy Reform Act Of 1978, Eric A. Posner
Michigan Law Review
These are the goals of this article. In particular, this article analyzes the legislative history of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 19783 and related materials, in the hope of describing the influence of interest groups on the final statute. It has, of course, long been assumed that certain narrow provisions of the 1978 Act reflect the influence of interest groups - for example, the section that gives special protection to security and lease interests in aircraft. This article goes farther and argues that fundamental elements of the 1978 Act reflect political compromises among competing interest groups. In particular, I claim …
The Equal Access To Justice Act--Are The Bankruptcy Courts Less Equal Than Others?, Matthew J. Fischer
The Equal Access To Justice Act--Are The Bankruptcy Courts Less Equal Than Others?, Matthew J. Fischer
Michigan Law Review
This Note argues that the bankruptcy courts have authority under the BAJA to shift fees against the federal government. Part I discusses the relevant caselaw and examines the basis of the current controversy. Part II examines the statutory language, the legislative history, and the stated purposes of the BAJA and concludes that each of these aspects of the statute demonstrates a congressional intent to grant fee-shifting authority to the bankruptcy courts. Part III considers alternatives to finding bankruptcy court jurisdiction over BAJA disputes, rejecting each as inefficient and unnecessary. This Note concludes that courts should construe the BAJA consistently with …
The Outer Fringes Of Chapter 11: Nonconsenting Senior Lenders' Rights Under Subordination Agreements In Bankruptcy, David Kravitz
The Outer Fringes Of Chapter 11: Nonconsenting Senior Lenders' Rights Under Subordination Agreements In Bankruptcy, David Kravitz
Michigan Law Review
This Note focuses on the options a senior creditor in Frugal's position may have when a reorganization plan provides for payments in violation of a subordination agreement that the creditor wishes to enforce. Part I explains the different types of subordination agreements and discusses their treatment under pre-Code bankruptcy law and under the Bankruptcy Code. Because of the dearth of case law regarding nonconsenting senior lenders and subordination agreements, Part II considers a question in a related area of bankruptcy law where more authority exists: whether a reorganization plan may release a nonbankrupt guarantor from its obligations under the guaranty …
Strange Visions In A Strange World: A Reply To Professors Bradley And Rosenzweig, Lynn M. Lopucki
Strange Visions In A Strange World: A Reply To Professors Bradley And Rosenzweig, Lynn M. Lopucki
Michigan Law Review
Much about chapter 11 is in need of improvement. But, as is so often the case, the resonant themes are not the right ones. All three legs of Bradley and Rosenzweig's argument for repeal are seriously flawed. The heart of their empirical argument is their claim to have shown that financially stronger companies reorganizing under chapter 11 have been paying less to both their creditors and their shareholders than did weaker companies reorganizing under prior law. In Part I below, I present several more plausible explanations for the stock and bond price phenomena they observed. In all likelihood, their data …
Philosophy In Bankruptcy, David Gray Carlson
Philosophy In Bankruptcy, David Gray Carlson
Michigan Law Review
A Review of The Logic and Limits of Bankruptcy Law by Thomas H. Jackson
Exemption Of Erisa Benefits Under Section 522(B)(2)(A) Of The Bankruptcy Code, Michigan Law Review
Exemption Of Erisa Benefits Under Section 522(B)(2)(A) Of The Bankruptcy Code, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
This Note argues that the two federal statutes are exempting statutes under section 522(b)(2)(A), and thus BRISA funds should be exempt in a bankruptcy action when the debtor uses the state exemption scheme. Part I argues that standard principles of statutory interpretation, as applied to the language of the bankruptcy statute, refute the possibility that Congress intended the list of statutes in the legislative history to be exclusive. Having established that statutes other than those listed may be included under section 522(b )(2)(A), Part II first refutes the argument that the absence of BRISA from the list of exempting statutes …
Abandoning Bankruptcy Law's "Identity Of Interest" Exception, Michigan Law Review
Abandoning Bankruptcy Law's "Identity Of Interest" Exception, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Section I of this Note discusses the goals and weaknesses of the identity of interest exception; Section II explains the advantages of consolidation and novation; and the final Section suggests a way to separate cases where novation is appropriate from those where consolidation is the preferred remedy.
Federal Income Taxation--Section 165 (C) Loss Allowed For Securities Loaned To Brokerage Firm That Subsequently Became Insolvent And Sold The Securities To Meet The Claims Of Creditors--Stahl V. United States, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
It is frequently said that there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently upheld a district court decision that considerably eased the latter burden for plaintiff-taxpayer in Stahl v. United States. On April 12, 1962, Mrs. Stahl, a widowed musician and music teacher, reached an agreement with Balough & Company (Balough), a Washington securities firm, under which she was to surrender to it control of securities with a market value of approximately $210,000. Balough used the securities to meet the minimum capital requirements for brokerage firms established …
Bankruptcy--1970 Amendments To The Bankruptcy Act--An Attempt To Remedy Discharge Abuses, Michigan Law Review
Bankruptcy--1970 Amendments To The Bankruptcy Act--An Attempt To Remedy Discharge Abuses, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
December 18, 1970, marked the end of a fifteen-year chapter in the history of American legislative proceedings dealing with "personal'' bankruptcy. On that date Public Law Number 91-467 took effect and thereby instituted changes in the Bankruptcy Act designed to "effectuate more fully the discharge in bankruptcy by rendering it less subject to abuse by harrassing creditors." The legislative steps leading to the 1970 amendment began with the introduction of the first "dischargeability" bill in 1955. This initial effort at reform stimulated a continuing flow of similar proposals leading to the ultimate acceptance of new substantive and procedural rules for …
Bankruptcy--Stay Of Bankruptcy Proceedings Denied To Creditor Seeking Lien On Exempt Property--Harris V. Hoffman, Michigan Law Review
Bankruptcy--Stay Of Bankruptcy Proceedings Denied To Creditor Seeking Lien On Exempt Property--Harris V. Hoffman, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
The appellants, husband and wife, executed a promissory note to the appellee-bank. Thereafter, they purchased real property which they occupied as a homestead. Acting pursuant to an Iowa statute which subjects a homestead to debts contracted before the homestead was acquired, the bank commenced a suit on the note in state court, but this proceeding was stayed when appellants filed a voluntary petition in bankruptcy. After the trustee in bankruptcy set the homestead apart as property exempt under Iowa law, the bank sought a stay of discharge in bankruptcy for a reasonable period of time so that it could obtain …
Insolvent Decedents' Estates, Kurt H. Nadelmann
Insolvent Decedents' Estates, Kurt H. Nadelmann
Michigan Law Review
The problems of insolvent decedents' estates have created special difficulties in all legal systems. Two unrelated fields of the law are involved: decedents' estates and insolvency. Treatment of the topic in works on one or the other field is often scanty and few studies exist which deal exclusively with insolvent decedents' estates law. Research in the conflicts problems of the field has led the writer to investigate the differences in the treatment of insolvent decedents' estates in this country, other common law countries, and countries of the civil law. Results of this study are used to discuss problems of the …
Bankruptcy-Set-Off-Bank Deposits, A. E. Anderson S.Ed.
Bankruptcy-Set-Off-Bank Deposits, A. E. Anderson S.Ed.
Michigan Law Review
Endorsers of a corporation's notes caused the corporation to make deposits in the payee bank in the regular course of business, knowing the corporation to be insolvent, and the bank took over the deposits within four months of adjudication in bankruptcy. It was contended that under the amended definition of "transfer" as set out in section 1 (30) of the Bankruptcy Act of 1938, this transaction resulted in a voidable preference to the endorsers under section 60. The trial court rejected this contention. On appeal, held, affirmed. Although the 1938 amendment gave a broader significance to the term "transfer" …
Corporations-Insolvency-Corporate Officers As Preferred Wage Claimants, E. C.V. Greenwood
Corporations-Insolvency-Corporate Officers As Preferred Wage Claimants, E. C.V. Greenwood
Michigan Law Review
A closed corporation, soon after its formation, executed an assignment for the benefit of creditors. One of the large creditors objected to a preferred wage claim allowed by the assignee to a vice-president and director of the assignor, the officer who had in fact been instrumental in executing the assignment. The claim was for wages amounting to two hundred fifty dollars for alleged manual work for the assignor prior to the assignment and was granted by the assignee on the theory that preferential treatment was authorized by the New York debtor and creditor statutes. The applicable statute reads as follows: …
Bankruptcy - Voidable Preferences - Transfer Perfected Within Four Months Of Bankruptcy, Elizabeth Durfee
Bankruptcy - Voidable Preferences - Transfer Perfected Within Four Months Of Bankruptcy, Elizabeth Durfee
Michigan Law Review
Two recent cases, Adams v. City Bank & Trust Co., and In re Quaker City Sheet Metal Co., both involving section 60 of the Chandler Act, bring to the fore a question of interpretation of that section which has bothered Congress and courts and lawyers for some forty years. The bankrupt executes a mortgage to secure repayment of a present loan, but the recording of the mortgage is withheld until a later date, and finally takes place within four months of bankruptcy. Or, as in the Quaker City case, he assigns a chose in action to the creditor …
Bankruptcy - Reorganization - Nature Of Farmer-Debtor's Right To Adjudication Under Section 75 (S), Louis C. Andrews, Jr.
Bankruptcy - Reorganization - Nature Of Farmer-Debtor's Right To Adjudication Under Section 75 (S), Louis C. Andrews, Jr.
Michigan Law Review
Plaintiff, a farmer, filed his original petition May 3, 1934, under section 74 of the Bankruptcy Act. Eleven months later he amended his petition, seeking relief under section 75 (a)-(r). Until March 2, 1940, no progress was made, and at that time the plaintiff sought adjudication under subsection (s). The district court entered an order that the petition be denied and the mortgagee's title recognized. The circuit court of appeals affirmed, stating that the petitioner had an affirmative duty to proceed diligently in obtaining a composition and extension agreement under subsections (a)-( r). Held, reversed. The benefits of section …
Bankruptcy - Effect Of Discharge - Suspension Of Driver's License For Non-Payment Of Judgment As Conflicting With The Bankruptcy Act, Walter Muller
Bankruptcy - Effect Of Discharge - Suspension Of Driver's License For Non-Payment Of Judgment As Conflicting With The Bankruptcy Act, Walter Muller
Michigan Law Review
Under section 94-b of the New York Vehicle and Traffic Law, as amended in 1936 and 1939, if a judgment entered against a driver for 'damages for injury to person or property remains unpaid for fifteen days, the clerk of the court where the judgment was entered must (but only upon written demand of the judgment creditor) forward a copy thereof to the commissioner of motor vehicles, whose duty it then becomes to suspend the driving license of such judgment debtor; further, section 94-c provides (a) that such suspension shall continue for such part of three years as the judgment …
Corporations - Limitation Of Actions - Nature Of Directors' Statutory Liability For Illegal Loans To Stockholders, Oscar Freedenberg
Corporations - Limitation Of Actions - Nature Of Directors' Statutory Liability For Illegal Loans To Stockholders, Oscar Freedenberg
Michigan Law Review
The creditors of a bankrupt corporation sued its directors under a New Jersey statute that made the directors liable for all corporate debts to the extent of loans illegally made to stockholders. The decision hinged on the nature of the directors' liability with respect to the New Jersey statute of limitations. The directors maintained that the action was either for a contractual debt or else for a penalty, and that in either case it was barred by limitations. Held, that the liability of the directors was neither for a simple debt nor for a penalty within the meaning of …
Constitutional Law - Due Process And The Frazier-Lemke Acts, Henry Earnest Halladay
Constitutional Law - Due Process And The Frazier-Lemke Acts, Henry Earnest Halladay
Michigan Law Review
Recent decisions involving the constitutional validity of the first and second Frazier-Lemke Acts have again raised the old spectre of due process. The questions involved related to the power of the Federal Government to regulate the rights, duties, and liabilities existent between debtors and creditors in the field of farm mortgages under the bankruptcy power. To forego an extended discussion of the history of due process as a limitation on governmental fiat, let it suffice to say that the concept, which began with Magna Carta ran through early definitions in the United States limiting it to procedural matters and attempts …
Corporations-Right Of Officers To Purchase Claims Against The Corporation And Enforce Them At Their Face Value
Michigan Law Review
Defendant was enlisted by one of the insolvent corporation's creditors, a holder of preferred stocks and debentures, to buy up landlord's claims against the corporation. These claims were large in number and amounts and were crucial elements in a successful reorganization. By means of the stock vote of the creditor, defendant was elected director of the corporation and remained as such for one month, though during this time he was not active in acquiring landlord's claims. Upon resignation as director, defendant was successful in buying up most of the landlord's claims, it being a fair inference from the facts that …
Corporate Reorganization Under Section 77b Of The Bankruptcy Act, Jacob J. Kaplan
Corporate Reorganization Under Section 77b Of The Bankruptcy Act, Jacob J. Kaplan
Michigan Law Review
In the closing hours of its legislative life the 73rd Congress adopted the amendment to the Bankruptcy Act providing for the reorganization of corporations, and designated as Section 77B. The Act was approved. by the President on June 7, 1934. The statute had had a long and checkered history in Congress. Such legislation barely failed of enactment in the preceding session when Congress first gave to natural persons availing themselves of bankruptcy procedure the right to call themselves "debtors" rather than "bankrupts," and provided a substantially similar method of reorganization for railroad corporations engaged in interstate commerce. The present statute …
Bankruptcy - Fraudulent Transfers -Trustee's Assignee
Bankruptcy - Fraudulent Transfers -Trustee's Assignee
Michigan Law Review
Since bankruptcy proceedings contemplate a sale of the debtor's assets, the importance of knowing what the trustee may sell is at once obvious. One must, however, go further and inquire as to the rights of purchasers from the trustee. This question assumes importance to the trustee, since it determines what he may sell, and is also important to the purchaser, since it determines what he may buy. The answer determines the efficiency of our bankruptcy machinery. In this comment we propose to consider one phase of this general question: May the trustee assign his right to set aside a fraudulent …
Bankruptcy - Suspension Of State Statutes Regulating General Assignments
Bankruptcy - Suspension Of State Statutes Regulating General Assignments
Michigan Law Review
An insolvent debtor made a voluntary assignment of. all his property to the defendants for the benefit of his creditors. The plaintiff, a nonassenting creditor, brought garnishment proceedings against the defendants, contending that the state statute governing general assignments had been suspended by the National Bankruptcy Act. The Wisconsin Supreme Court was of the opinion that only that portion of the Act which provides for a discharge of the assignor from his debts was suspended. On appeal to the United-States Supreme Court the decision was affirmed. Pobreslo v. Joseph M. Boyd Co., 287 U. S. 518, 53 Sup. …
Bankruptcy -- Fraudulent Conveyances -- Dealings Between One-Man Corporations Owned By One Person
Bankruptcy -- Fraudulent Conveyances -- Dealings Between One-Man Corporations Owned By One Person
Michigan Law Review
H was president of corporations A, B, and C. Through his control of B and C he secured personal advances approximating $600,000. This money he loaned as personal funds to A which through its directors and officers, in their official capacities, was aware of the source of the funds though not of the exact amounts nor of the fact of unlawful diversion. F bank held certain matured promissory notes of B upon which H had become obligated as guarantor. B and H were in financial difficulties and F bank threatened to throw H into bankruptcy.A thereupon, and …
Receivers - Consent Receivership Not Allowed In Michigan
Receivers - Consent Receivership Not Allowed In Michigan
Michigan Law Review
A general creditor filed a bill alleging that the defendant corporation's assets as shown by its books have a value in excess of its indebtedness but that it cannot meet its current obligations although its assets, when converted into money would be sufficient to meet them and continue its business; that several suits have been instituted by defendant's creditors and that if executions are issued and levies made, defendant will be compelled to cease operations and losses will be suffered by all of defendant's creditors, whereas, if a receiver is appointed to operate its business their claims may be paid …
Interest On Claims In Receivership Proceedings, Ralph E. Clark
Interest On Claims In Receivership Proceedings, Ralph E. Clark
Michigan Law Review
Outside the cases of receivership, the Supreme Court of the United States has said: "We reach the conclusion that whatever may have been the English and early American rule, the tendency in Virginia as elsewhere in this country, is to allow interest on contracts to pay money from the date that the debt becomes due."'