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Articles 1 - 30 of 47
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
Law, Legalism, And Community Before The American Revolution, Bruce H. Mann
Law, Legalism, And Community Before The American Revolution, Bruce H. Mann
Michigan Law Review
The connections between law and community are difficult to identify, let alone explain. It may be best to begin by seeing how law and the ways people used it changed, and then attempt to relate those changes to the surrounding economy and society. One must, of course, be wary of finding what one looks for. Nonetheless, as with objects against a dark background, it is sometimes easier to see things when they move than when they remain still. To illustrate the interactive nature of legal change and community, I will draw on examples from Connecticut before the Revolution - not …
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.
Legislative Restriction Of Creditor Powers And Remedies: A Case Study Of The Negotiation And Drafting Of The Wisconsin Consumer Act, Jeffrey Davis
Legislative Restriction Of Creditor Powers And Remedies: A Case Study Of The Negotiation And Drafting Of The Wisconsin Consumer Act, Jeffrey Davis
Michigan Law Review
This Article discusses the background, negotiation, and drafting of selected WCA restrictions on creditor powers and remedies and compares those provisions to the analogous restrictions proposed by other reform measures. In addition to the UCCC, the MCCA and the WCA, two other major works must be considered in any discussion of consumer-credit legislation. First is Working Redraft No. 4 of the UCCC (UCCC Redraft). This proposed revision, published in December 1972, represents a marked change in the UCCC. Many provisions favorable to the consumer have been added, and many of the parallel provisions on sales and loans have been consolidated. …
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 …
Choice Of Law In Secured Personal Property Transactions: The Impact Of Article 9 Of The Uniform Commercial Code, Russell J. Weintraub
Choice Of Law In Secured Personal Property Transactions: The Impact Of Article 9 Of The Uniform Commercial Code, Russell J. Weintraub
Michigan Law Review
It is likely that, in view of the adoption in forty-nine states of the Uniform Commercial Code (Code), particularly of article 9 dealing with secured transactions, the incidence of interstate conflict-of- laws problems concerning commercial transactions in personal property will be greatly reduced. The reason for this anticipated reduction is that the Code creates uniformity in the applicable law governing the rights and duties both between the secured creditor and the debtor and between the secured creditor and third parties who challenge the secured creditor's right to enjoy his security interest.
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: …
Executors And Administrators-Priority Of Payment Of United States Claims, E. M. Deal S.Ed.
Executors And Administrators-Priority Of Payment Of United States Claims, E. M. Deal S.Ed.
Michigan Law Review
When decedent died in 1940, his personal estate was consumed by the widow's exemption and expenses of administration, leaving only a one-sixth interest in certain real estate formerly owned by his deceased father. Proceedings to partition this property resulted in a sum of $2,306.17 payable to decedent's widow, subject to the payment of his debts. The executors of one Davidson who had obtained a $24,588.00 judgment against decedent in 1933 claimed the entire fund as did the United States under tax liens entered in 1940 and 1941 of $2,202.89 and $8,904.67. The government based its claim on section 3466 of …
Taxation-Income Tax-Deduction For Worthless Stock-Objective V. Subjective Test, Rosemary Scott
Taxation-Income Tax-Deduction For Worthless Stock-Objective V. Subjective Test, Rosemary Scott
Michigan Law Review
The taxpayer held stock in a corporation - which had been in receivership for five years, and which had, during all of that time, liabilities substantially exceeding its assets. When the receivership was ended and when a derivative suit against the management was compromised, the taxpayer declared the stock to be worthless and claimed a deduction for 1937. The commissioner denied the deduction on the ground that the stock had not become worthless in 1937. The Tax Court sustained this ruling and the circuit court of appeals affirmed. Held, the value of the stock should be determined by an …
Future Interests-Worthier Title Doctrine Applied To Remainder To Next Of Kin Where The Subject Matter Is Personalty, Margaret Groefsema S.Ed.
Future Interests-Worthier Title Doctrine Applied To Remainder To Next Of Kin Where The Subject Matter Is Personalty, Margaret Groefsema S.Ed.
Michigan Law Review
The trustee bank petitioned for instructions as to the proper disposition of the remainder of a trust of personal property, the principal of which amounted to some $29,000 upon the life beneficiary's death in 1942. The donor had provided for a life estate in the income, the principal to go to the settler's statutory next of kin under the laws of intestacy of the state of Massachusetts in default of the exercise by the settler of a reserved power of appointment. The court, having held that a will which Nicolls, the settler, had executed in favor of various friends of …
The Organization Of The Probate Court In America: Ii, Lewis M. Simes, Paul E. Basye
The Organization Of The Probate Court In America: Ii, Lewis M. Simes, Paul E. Basye
Michigan Law Review
It is the purpose of the discussion which follows to consider how far the court organization in typical jurisdictions is adapted to a differentiation between contentious and noncontentious business. The sharp differentiation in English law will first be pointed out. Then the probate judicial organizations of various typical states will be considered in connection with the questions: How far have they retained the distinction between contentious and noncontentious business emphasized in the English system which served as their model? How far have they developed a basis of differentiation unlike the English model? The answer to these questions will involve some …
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 …
Wills - Validity Of Clause Restricting Alienation Of A Legacy During Administration, Herbert R. Whiting
Wills - Validity Of Clause Restricting Alienation Of A Legacy During Administration, Herbert R. Whiting
Michigan Law Review
A Pennsylvania court in Horton's Estate held that legacies are subject to garnishment by a creditor of the legatee while the property is in the hands of the deceased's executor. The case also intimated that had the testator so provided in his will this process would not lie and the creditor would have to stand by until possession of the property passed to the legatee. This last bit of dictum has since been established as the law of Pennsylvania by Holmesburg Building Association v. Badger.
The Impact Of The Law Of Powers Upon Our Internal Revenue Laws, Montgomery B. Angell
The Impact Of The Law Of Powers Upon Our Internal Revenue Laws, Montgomery B. Angell
Michigan Law Review
An interesting difference in view has arisen recently in the halls of the Harvard Law School on the use of powers of appointment under the federal estate tax act. One view is that the chief efficacy today of the power of appointment lies in its capacity for use in tax evasion, which should be corrected. The other view is that there is a salutary tendency toward using sensible and flexible powers of appointment, which should be encouraged in meeting changing and difficult family situations, but which would be checked were the former view accepted. Thus we find here the age-old …
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 …