Law Commons^™

Fiduciary Duties Of Officers And Directors Of Distressed Corporations, Royce De R. Barondes

Faculty Publications

This Article argues that this widely-accepted premise for analyzing the incentives created by various alternative structures of federal bankruptcy law is suspect.

Community Property Reimbursement, Roger Bernhardt

Publications

This article discusses how California community property rules intersect with dissolution and bankruptcy claims, dealing with the effect of a couple making the down payment with funds from one of the spouse’s parents.

The Bankruptcy Crisis, Elizabeth Warren

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Re-Reading Reading: "Fairness To All Persons" In The Context Of Administrative Expense Priority For Postpetition Punitive Fines In Bankruptcy, Stephen D. Hurd

Vanderbilt Law Review

Who gets the money when there isn't enough to go around? This is the practical question that the bankruptcy system seeks to answer every day.' In answering this question, the Bankruptcy Code draws a particularly bright line at the filing of a bankruptcy petition. The filing of a petition creates the bankruptcy estate, which is a distinct legal entity from the debtor. Creditors with claims against the debtor arising before filing ("prepetition) receive payment of their claim, if at all, through bankruptcy's collective distribution scheme. In contrast, persons whose claims arose after filing ("postpetition"), but before completion of the bankruptcy …

An Evolutionary Theory Of Corporate Law And Corporate Bankruptcy, David A. Skeel, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

In this Article, Professor Skeel argues that the important recent literature exploring historical and political influences on American corporate law has neglected a crucial component of corporate governance: corporate bankruptcy. Only by appreciating the complementary relationship between corporate law and corporate bankruptcy can we understand how corporate governance operates in any given nation.

To show this, the Article contrasts American corporate governance with that of Japan and Germany. America's market-driven corporate governance can only function effectively if the bankruptcy framework includes a manager-driven reorganization option. The relational shareholding that characterizes Japanese and German corporate governance, by contrast, requires a much …

The Outer Boundaries Of The Bankruptcy Estate, Thomas E. Plank

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Why Bankruptcy Judges Need Not And Should Not Be Article Iii Judges, Thomas E. Plank

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Our House, Our Rules: The Need For A Uniform Code Of Bankruptcy Ethics, Nancy B. Rapoport

Scholarly Works

This article argues that there should be a separate code of professional responsibility for lawyers in bankruptcy cases.

How Fresh A Start?: What Are "Household Goods" For Purposes Of Section 522 (F)(1)(B)(I) Lien Avoidance?, Michael G. Hillinger

Faculty Publications

What do camcorders, walkman players, personal computers, stereo components, firearms, chain saws, lawn and garden tools, bicycles, and video game machines have in common?

Well, they are all the things one might find in the typical American home. Although not necessarily cheap to buy new, such items generally do not retain value over time. They frequently serve as collateral for nonpurchase money loans. In a bankruptcy context, they share another characteristic; courts have had to decide if they are household goods such that a debtor is able to avoid a nonpossessory, nonpurchase money security interest in them. Indeed, over 270 …

Junior Secured Creditors And The Automatic Stay, David G. Carlson

Articles

No abstract provided.

Bankruptcy Lawyers And The Shape Of American Bankruptcy Law, David A. Skeel, Jr.

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Family Values And The Bankruptcy Code: A Proposal To Eliminate Bankruptcy Benefits Awarded On The Basis Of Marital Status, A. Mechele Dickerson

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Need For New Bankruptcy Ethics Rules: How Can "One Size Fits All" Fit Anybody?, Nancy B. Rapoport

Scholarly Works

Short discussion why dormant, temporary, actual conflicts (DTACs) in bankruptcy cases can't be handled appropriately under state ethics rules.

Asset Securitization: The Unsecured Creditor's Perspective, Lois R. Lupica

Faculty Publications

The Article examines assumptions behind literature that uncritically assumes that securitization transactions are necessarily efficient, finding that these assumptions are unwarranted. The Article is the first to view securitization transactions from an unsecured creditor’s perspective, and concludes that from such a perspective, securitization is not the panacea its proponents claim it to be.

The article first defines structured finance and describes the nature of the current market for asset-backed securities. Then, it outlines the benefits that securitization provides to originators and other transaction participants. With that background, it turns to the debate on the efficiency of secured transactions, applies the …

The Slippery Slope To Bankruptcy - Should Some Claimants Get A 'Carve-Out' From Secured Credit? No: It's A Populist Craving For A Petit Bourgeois Valhalla, James J. White

Articles

In 1996, Professor Elizabeth Warren made a proposal to the American Law Institute and the Drafting Committee for Article 9 for a “20 percent set aside” for unsecured claimants. As I understand it, her proposal would amend Section 9-301 of Article 9 (the section that now implicitly subordinates a lien creditor to a prior perfected secured creditor).

The Theory, Reality, And Pragmatism Of Corporate Governance In Bankruptcy Reorganizations, Christopher W. Frost

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Governing a corporation during a Chapter 11 reorganization presents a special case of the age-old problem of the separation of ownership and control. Critics of Chapter 11 have long pointed to the insulation provided by the automatic stay to managers of the business as one of the causes of bankruptcy inefficiency. Protected from the normal contractual and market forces that restrain the behavior of managers of healthy companies, managers of firms in bankruptcy, the harshest critics charge, use delay and other strategies to enrich themselves and the shareholders at the expense of the firm's creditors.

This Article addresses the financial …

Unexpected Gifts Of Chapter 11: The Breach Of A Director's Duty Of Loyalty Following Plan Confirmation And The Postconfirmation Jurisdiction Of Bankruptcy Courts, Daniel Bogart

Daniel B. Bogart

This article addresses the intersection of two aspects of chapter 11 jurisprudence: the fiduciary duties of directors and officers of the debtor and the post confirmation jurisdiction of bankruptcy courts. The article suggests that the normal application of fiduciary duties to confirmed debtors creates particular opportunities for directors and officers to act in a disloyal manner. The article examines two cases in particular. These include Bernstein v. Donaldson (In re Insulfoams, Inc.) and Cumberland Farms, Inc. v. Hasenotes (In re Cumberland Farms, Inc.) Traditionally, courts and commentators suggest that normal state fiduciary standards govern directors post confirmation. The article argues, …

Distinguishing Hogs From Pigs: A Proposal For A Preference Approach To Pre-Bankruptcy Planning, Juliet Moringiello

Juliet M Moringiello

No abstract provided.

Finding The Still Small Voice: The Liability Of Bankruptcy Trustees And The Work Of The National Bankruptcy Review Commission, Daniel Bogart

Daniel B. Bogart

This article examines section 3.3.2 of the Report of the National Bankruptcy Review Commission. That section proposed altering the Bankruptcy Code to clarify the law governing the liability and fiduciary obligations of trustees in bankruptcy. The article was prepared in connection with a symposium evaluating the Commission's Report held at Dickinson Law School. The Commission issued its Report on October 20, 1997, following many months of controversy, heated hearings and significant public debate. The article argues that section 3.3.2 represents a failure of the drafter to understand and delineate the two basic doctrines of fiduciary law and derived judicial immunity. …