Law Commons^™

The Long And Winding Road To The Small Business Reorganization Act: Why Our Next Stop Should Be Simplicity And Accessibility, Daniel O'Hare

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Brief Of Amici Curiae Law Professors In Support Of Appellees Regarding The “Abuse” Standard, Pamela Foohey

Faculty Amicus Briefs

This amicus brief explains how and why the nondebtor releases granted to the Sackler family, and a large and indeterminate number of other persons and entities in the chapter 11 reorganization of opioid-maker Purdue Pharma, were "abusive" as that term has historically been understood in bankruptcy.

In the 2005 Metromedia opinion, the Second Circuit warned that a nondebtor release "lends itself to abuse" because it “operates as a bankruptcy discharge arranged without a filing and without the safeguards of the Bankruptcy Code.” Liabilities arising from fraudulent transfers, as well as “willful and malicious injury,” have been considered classic examples of …

Bankruptcy Grifters, Lindsey Simon

Scholarly Works

Grifters take advantage of situations, latching on to others for benefits they do not deserve. Bankruptcy has many desirable benefits, especially for mass-tort defendants. Bankruptcy provides a centralized proceeding for resolving claims and a forum of last resort for many companies to aggregate and resolve mass-tort liability. For the debtor-defendant, this makes sense. A bankruptcy court’s tremendous power represents a well-considered balance between debtors who have a limited amount of money and many claimants seeking payment.

But courts have also allowed the Bankruptcy Code’s mechanisms to be used by solvent, nondebtor companies and individuals facing mass-litigation exposure. These “bankruptcy grifters” …

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 …