Law Commons^™

A Historical Account Of The Orderly Payment Of Debts Act Reference: Limiting Provincial Efforts To Protect Insolvent Debtors, Thomas Gw Telfer, Virginia Torrie

Dalhousie Law Journal

This paper analyzes the history of the Alberta Orderly Payment of Debts Act and the constitutional controversy that followed. The legislation sought to protect debtors by imposing restrictions on creditors. In 1960, the Supreme Court of Canada in Reference re Validity of Orderly Payment of Debts Act, 1959 (Alberta) ruled that the legislation was ultra vires on the basis that it interfered with the federal bankruptcy and insolvency power. The Orderly Payment of Debts Act reference is the capstone in a trilogy of cases in which provincial legislation was invalidated for encroaching upon the federal bankruptcy and insolvency power. The …

Hostile Restructurings, Diane L. Dick

Washington Law Review

The conventional wisdom holds that out-of-court loan restructurings are mostly consensual and collaborative. But this is no longer accurate. Highly aggressive, nonconsensual restructuring transactions—what I call “hostile restructurings”—are becoming a common feature of the capital markets. Relying on hypertechnical interpretations of loan agreements, one increasingly popular hostile restructuring method involves issuing new debt that enjoys higher priority than the existing debt; another involves transferring the most valuable collateral away from existing lenders to secure new borrowing.

These transactions are distinguishable from normal out-of-court restructurings by their use of coercive tactics to overcome not only the traditional minority lender holdout problem, …

The Future Of Insolvency Law In A Post-Pandemic World, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The COVID-19 crisis has encouraged many countries to amend their insolvency laws. In most cases, these amendments took place temporarily – especially during the hibernation phase of the pandemic. In other countries, however, the pandemic has led to permanent changes in the insolvency legislation. More importantly, the COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the insolvency reforms already existing in the political agenda of many countries, and it has encouraged other jurisdictions to reassess the desirability of their insolvency and restructuring frameworks. This article analyzes the current trends, reforms and policy discussions that are expected to reshape the future of insolvency law in …

Bank Resolution And Creditor Distribution: The Tension Shaping Global Banking – Part I: “External And Intra-Group Funding” And “Ex Ante Planning V. Ex Post Execution” Dimensions*, David Ramos, Javier Solana

University of Miami Business Law Review

Banking has drastically changed since the 2007-2009 financial crisis and its aftermath. Of all the reforms that impinge upon the ability of global banks to run their business, none is more consequential than the new frameworks on bank resolution, which try to end “too-big-to-fail.” Yet bank resolution’s “macro” goals, such as systemic stability, limitation of contagion, and avoidance of moral hazard, run in the face of insolvency law and the more “micro” principles underpinning it. Among the latter, none is more pervasive than the need for fairness between creditors, and between (and within) creditor classes, enshrined in the ranking and …

Venezuela Undermines Gold Miner Crystallex's Attempts To Recover On Its Icsid Award, Sam Wesson

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Debt-Buyer Lawsuits And Inaccurate Data, Peter A. Holland

Faculty Scholarship

Pursuant to secret purchase and sale agreements (also known as forward flow agreements), the accounts that banks sell to debt buyers are often sold “as is,” with explicit and emphatic disclaimers that the debts may not be owed, the amounts claimed may not be accurate, and documentation may be missing. Despite their full knowledge that the accuracy and completeness of the data has been specifically disclaimed by the bank, when they sue consumers, debt buyers tell courts that the information obtained from the bank is inherently reliable and accurate. In order to avoid a fraud on the courts, the contents …

Debt-Buyer Lawsuits And Inaccurate Data, Peter A. Holland

Peter A. Holland

Pursuant to secret purchase and sale agreements (also known as forward flow agreements), the accounts that banks sell to debt buyers are often sold “as is,” with explicit and emphatic disclaimers that the debts may not be owed, the amounts claimed may not be accurate, and documentation may be missing. Despite their full knowledge that the accuracy and completeness of the data has been specifically disclaimed by the bank, when they sue consumers, debt buyers tell courts that the information obtained from the bank is inherently reliable and accurate. In order to avoid a fraud on the courts, the contents …

Who Decides Whether Clarity Is Clear?: An Analysis Of Tila’S Clarity Of Disclosure Requirement In Actions By Consumers Against Creditor Card Companies, Brandon Mohr

Pace Law Review

Section 1 begins by discussing credit card usage and the levels of debt of American consumers. Section 2 outlines the history of TILA, which was promulgated by Congress in 1968, as well as the enforcement power bestowed by Congress on the Federal Reserve Board to implement TILA. This exploration also includes descriptions of Regulation Z and the Schumer Box requirements that state exactly what information needs to be clearly and conspicuously displayed in credit card application materials as well as how the information is to be displayed for consumers to review. Section 3 discusses the recent Ninth Circuit case Rubio …

Private Equity's Three Lessons For Agency Theory, William Wilson Bratton

Articles

No abstract provided.

Grasping Intangibles: Domain Names And Creditors’ Rights, Juliet Moringiello

Juliet M Moringiello

No abstract provided.

Chuck And Steve's Peccadillo (Symposium: Threats To Secured Lending And Asset Securitization), James J. White

Articles

Are investors in securitized receivables to be treated as the owners of an asset whose sale has taken it beyond the reach of the trustee in bankruptcy of their sellers? O are they to be treated as holders of a security interest in the transferred asset who have left behind an interest in the sellers' hands that would cause the asset to be subject to claims and interference by the sellers' grasping trustee? By adopting contrasting-arguably conflicting-statements in two subsections of a single section, the drafters of 1999 Article 9 have thrust this issue in the faces of courts and …

Seizing Domain Names To Enforce Judgments: Looking Back To Look To The Future, Juliet M. Moringiello

Juliet M. Moringiello

No abstract provided.

2001: A Code Odyssey (New Dawn For The Article 9 Secured Creditor), Michael G. Hillinger

Faculty Publications

This Article attempts to describe what bankruptcy lawyers and judges most need to know about the Revised Article 9. (Of course, if bankruptcy judges and lawyers need to know it, a fortiori, secured creditors’ attorneys need to know it.)

At the top of the most-need-to-know list are Revised Article 9’s choice-of-law and filing rules. Section 544(a) of the Bankruptcy Code, the “trustee’s strong-arm” clause, permits the trustee (and debtor-in-possession) to avoid unperfected security interests. For many transactions, Revised Article 9’s choice-of-law provisions will change where the creditor must file to perfect its interest. Those who do not know about Revised …

On The U.C.C. Revision Process: A Reply To Dean Scott, David Frisch

Law Faculty Publications

This Article takes account of the forces that shape revisions of the commercial law and notes the relationship between those forces and the tenor of the resulting codification; Part II peruses Scott's thesis. It responds to his criticism of the UCC drafting and revision processes and describes how uniform commercial law Jurisprudence reveals the incongruities in his analysis. Part III tests Scott's conclusions about private legislatures by considering the realist Jurisprudence of the UCC and compares the UCC's "private legislature" (PL) commercial law to the commercial- law product of a "public legislature," the Bankruptcy Code promulgated by the United States …

Harmonizing The Policy Of The Bankruptcy Code And Article 9, Edwin E. Smith, Elizabeth Warren, James J. White

Other Publications

In a true sense bankruptcy law--at least as represented by the 1978 Code--is in conflict, not in harmony, with Article 9. To a considerable degree (perhaps more than they realize) debtors and unsecured creditors got things they wanted from Congress by the adoption of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978. It is doubtful that that Act could have been passed in any Congress before or since. In many ways, the rights of the debtor and of the unsecured creditors have been cut back since the adoption of the Bankruptcy Reform Act.

Rights Of Subrogation In Letters Of Credit Transactions, James J. White

Articles

The past twenty years have seen more than a dozen cases, in which parties to letter of credit transactions have sought subrogation to the rights of the person they have paid or to the rights of the persons on behalf of whom, they have acted.' The most obvious case arises when the issuer of a standby letter of credit pays a beneficiary on a debt that is owed to the beneficiary by a bankrupt applicant. Having failed to take 'collateral from the applicant, the issuer seeks to be subrogated to the security interest of the beneficiary. Failing subrogation, the issuer …

Reforming Article 9 Priorities In Light Of Old Ignorance And New Filing Rules (Symposium: 'Managing The Paper Trail': Evaluating And Reforming The Article 9 Filing System), James J. White

Articles

The other papers in this Symposium demonstrate that we have the technical capacity to build a filing system that will exceed the expectations of Grant Gilmore in every dimension.1 With more thought about what is put into the system and more clever software to get it out, the most sophisticated system possible under current technology will store and produce enough information about a debtor to give the ACLU a fright. All of the issues on improving the filing system are important, but I do not concern myself with any of them directly. I am here discuss a different question. In …

Harvey's Silence (Symposium: Letters To The Commission), James J. White

Articles

Harvey Miller has a reputation as a leading bankruptcy lawyer, and he deserves it. As his criticism shows, he understands why and how the Code changed the Act in 1978 and how the drafters of Chapter 11 erred. Better than all but a handful of other lawyers, Harvey Miller knows how to manipulate Chapter 11 to serve his clients' interests. He understands both the legal and practical intricacies of Chapter 11. Were I the CEO of a large and troubled company, I would hire Harvey Miller and gladly pay him twice what most other bankruptcy lawyers would charge. In short, …

Article 5: Highlights Of The Proposed Revision, James J. White

Other Publications

I. The Current Status of Article 5: Drafting, Approval and Promulgation--The Most Significant Changes or Clarifications -- II. The Most Contentious Issues in the Revision of Article 5 -- III. More Subtle Questions About Revised Article 5

Work And Play In Revising Article 9 (Symposium On The Revision Of Article 9 Of The Uniform Commercial Code), James J. White

Articles

For Professors Harris and Mooney the time has come to distinguish between work and play. Debating whether security is efficient is play. Revising Article 9 is work. Even Professor Schwartz does not argue for the abolition of Article 9; he merely reiterates the "puzzle" of secured credit and argues in his playful fashion that security might not be efficient.' Were it not for the fact that this debate might give us some insights about certain priority rules (such as those having to do with purchase money), it would be pure intellectual masturbation, a game with no purpose other than to …

Revising Article 9 To Reduce Wasteful Litigation, James J. White

Articles

For reasons that are unclear to me, the committees reviewing the articles of the Uniform Commercial Code and drafting revisions are congenitally conservative. Perhaps these committees take their charge too seriously, namely, to revise, not to revolutionize. Perhaps their intimate knowledge of the subject matter exaggerates the importance of each section and consequently magnifies the apparent size of every change. In any case, my own experience with two such committees tells me that the members quickly become focused on revisions and amendments that any outsider would describe as modest. To the extent that the revision of any of the articles …

Lender Liability: The Dilemma Of The Controlling Creditor, J. Dennis Hynes

Publications

No abstract provided.

U.C.C. Survey: General Provisions, Bulk Transfers, And Documents Of Title, David Frisch

Law Faculty Publications

This year several cases discussed the preemptive effect of the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act upon state law tort and contract claims arising from the sale of cigarettes to smokers who contracted cancer. This is aptly illustrated by Forster v. R. Reynolds Tobacco Co., which was decided by the Minnesota Supreme Court. In that case, the smoker (Forster) sued a cigarette manufacturer (R.J. Reynolds) in strict products liability, misrepresentation, breach of warranty, and negligence. The cigarette manufacturer moved for summary judgment on the ground that the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act preempted all state tort claims. The trial …

Dancing On The Edge Of Article 9, James J. White

Articles

Despite the fact that Article 9 is a much more comprehensive personal property security statute than was ever found in American law prior to its enactment, cases continue to present issues on the scope of the Article. Gone are the cases in which a court was called upon to determine whether a "conditional sales contract" could be dealt with under the "factor's lien" law; it is now clear that all such personal property security devices are governed by Article 9. Yet many problems remain for the unwary lawyer. I will identify several and deal in detail with three of these …

Efficiency Justifications For Personal Property Security, James J. White

Articles

In February of 1983 Pan American World Airways issued 100 million dollars of convertible secured notes. As security for these notes it put up three Boeing 747 SP aircraft, two 747-100 aircraft, and one McDonnell Douglas DC10-30. The appraised value of these aircraft was 157 million dollars. To the extent possible under the law, Pan American made these aircraft subject to the claims of the owners of the new notes. On default, the note holders would have the first claim on these aircraft, would have the right to repossess them outside of bankruptcy, and would have the right to the …

The Recent Erosion Of The Secured Creditor's Rights Through Cases, Rules And Statutory Changes In Bankruptcy Law, James J. White

Articles

One can view the law of creditors' rights as a series of cyclesin which alternatively the rights of the creditor and then those of the debtor are in ascendancy. Looking back through Americanlegislative history, one sees both the state legislatures and the Congress intervening on behalf of debtors in a variety of ways onmany occasions. An early example of such intervention was the enactment, particularly in the Midwest and West, of generous exemption laws that removed a variety of property beyond the reach of general creditors. A second example is the enactment of usury laws, which continue to be a …

Consumer Warranty Claims Against Companies In Chapter 11 Reorganizations, Elizabeth Warner

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article examines the rights of individuals who have purchased warranted goods from a business that subsequently undergoes reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978. Part I establishes that warranty rights are claims in bankruptcy and outlines the procedure that must be followed by a creditor for distribution from the debtor's estate. Part II focuses on how warranty claims are treated in Chapter 11. Part III discusses ways to alleviate the warranty creditor's representational burden, particularly through the intervention and aid of public interest groups. This article concludes that . warranty creditors will receive favorable treatment …

Allocation Of Scarce Goods Under Section 2-615 Of The Uniform Commercial Code: A Comparison Of Some Rival Models, James J. White

Articles

Section 2-615 of the Uniform Commercial Code authorizes a contract seller to allocate goods in short supply when full performance has become commercially impracticable. Most of the cases under and commentary on that section have focused on the issue of commercial impracticability. The allocation aspects of the section have attracted much more modest attention in the cases and in the scholarly journals. The purpose of this article is to examine critically the allocation rule set out in section 2-615(b). That subsection authorizes a seller, upon a finding of commercial impracticability, to allocate "in any manner which is fair and reasonable." …

Uniform Commercial Code And The Concept Of Possession In The Marketing And Financing Of Goods, John F. Dolan

Law Faculty Research Publications

The "buyer in ordinary course" rule of section 9-307(1) of the Uniform Commercial Code shelters good faith purchasers of certain goods from the rival claims of sellers' secured creditors. Professor Dolan argues that the Code's refusal to let title determine disputes over goods in other contexts extends to clashes between creditors and buyers under section 9-307(1). Hefinds the key to the Code's scheme for settling these clashes in the "special property interest" a buyer acquires at the moment goods are identied to a contract of sale. The scheme, he believes, is one ofgeneral respect for reasonable expectations based on possession, …

Constitutional Law - State Action - State's Statutory Delegation Of Governmental Power To Creditor And Expansion Of His Common Law Remedies Held Sufficient State Action To Subject Creditor's Action To Fourteenth Amendment, Peter John Michael Rohall

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.