Bankruptcy Law Commons^™

Delaware Bankruptcy: Failure In The Ascendancy, Lynn M. Lopucki, Joseph W. Doherty

UF Law Faculty Publications

In 1990, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware - then a one-judge backwater - began competing for big bankruptcy cases. In six years, that court achieved a near monopoly. In 2000, LoPucki and Kalin discovered that 42% of the companies filing in Delaware during that six year period of ascendency refiled bankruptcy within five years of their emergence, as compared with only 6% of those filing in courts other than Delaware and New York. In a later study, we found the (1) the failure of the companies reorganized in Delaware during the period of ascendency was …

Courting Failure, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

Courting Failure is the story of a bad venue statute that led to rampant forum shopping by large public companies. This forum shopping induced competition among bankruptcy courts for the cases. That competition in turn caused the unnecessary failure of many of the reorganizing companies and corrupted the United States Bankruptcy Courts. Congress has not acted to fix the statute because of Delaware's parochial interest in preserving the status quo.

Ending The Nonsense: The In Pari Delicto Doctrine Has Nothing To Do With What Is § 541 Property Of The Bankruptcy Estate, Jeffrey Davis

UF Law Faculty Publications

The recent wave of disregard for corporate fiduciary responsibilities has provided numerous opportunities for courts to consider whether the corporations bankrupted by the unlawful acts of their principals should be prohibited by the in pari delicto doctrine from pursuing liability claims against third parties who contributed to the harm. In an array of recent cases, courts have reluctantly and apologetically, yet uniformly, permitted third parties who contributed to the demise of these corporations to escape liability because they felt § 541 of the Bankruptcy Code (the "Code") left them no other choice.

Section 541 provides that the filing of a …

A Team Production Theory Of Bankruptcy Reorganization, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

In the year before United Airlines filed for bankruptcy reorganization, the firm lost $3.2 billion. Fierce competition in the airline industry prevents United from stemming its losses solely through increases in revenues. Costs will have to be cut. The necessary expense reductions could come from reductions in employee pay and benefits, reductions in the amounts owing to creditors (which reduce interest expense), or both. Which should it be? United's situation is complicated by the fact that its employees own 55 percent of its stock and that their wage levels are protected by a collective bargaining agreement. But if we assume …

The Myth Of The Residual Owner: An Empirical Study, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

Most bankruptcy scholars who have considered the residual owner approach have come away with a healthy skepticism. But despite its theoretical difficulties, the residual owner approach persists. I attribute this persistence to an empirical assumption that usually remains implicit. In spite of the theoretical difficulties in identifying the single residual owners of bankrupt firms, the scholars who employ residual owner approaches believe that in reality, residual owners exist and can be easily identified inmost cases. Parties may bluster about the uncertainty of firm value and other parties may be compelled to compromise with them in order to avoid an expensive, …

The Nature Of The Bankrupt Firm: A Response To Baird And Rasmussen's "The End Of Bankruptcy", Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

In an article recently published in the Stanford Law Review Professors Douglas G. Baird and Robert K. Rasmussen assert that big-case bankruptcy reorganizations have "all but disappeared" and give three theoretical explanations. This reply provides empirical evidence that the assertion is wrong; reorganizations not only survive but are booming. It then explains how their theoretical explanations led Baird and Rasmussen to the wrong conclusion. In their first explanation, Baird and Rasmussen note that modern firms have few firm-specific or dedicated assets. From that observation, they argue that the firms have no going concern value. This reply argues that the going …

Fixing Florida's Execution Lien Law Part Two: Florida's New Judgment Lien On Personal Property, Jeffrey Davis

UF Law Faculty Publications

Under both the prior and current laws, a creditor seeking to satisfy a judgment out of property of the judgment debtor obtains a writ of execution from the clerk of the court that issued the judgment and then delivers the writ to a sheriff in one of Florida's sixty-seven counties. The writ commands the sheriff to levy on property of the debtor until the amount stated in the writ is satisfied. Under the prior law, delivery of the writ to the sheriff not only initiated the execution process, but under the seminal case of Love v. Williams, it also …

Why Are Delaware And New York Bankruptcy Reorganizations Failing?, Lynn M. Lopucki, Joseph W. Doherty

UF Law Faculty Publications

Why are Delaware and New York Bankruptcy Reorganizations Failing?

Can The Market Evaluate Legal Regimes? A Response To Professors Rasmussen, Thomas, And Skeel, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

Scholarly projects benefit from thoughtful criticism-particularly by those committed to a contrary view. For that reason, I feel fortunate that the three leading proponents of the efficiency of Delaware bankruptcy reorganization have taken the time to respond to our study.' These three critics recognize that the stakes are enormous. As Professor Rasmussen and Professor Thomas put it, the bankruptcy reorganization of large, public companies was "Delawarized" during the decade of the 1990s. If it can be shown that, during the period of Delawarization, the Delaware court provided a wasteful and inefficient reorganization process, it follows that even a very sophisticated …

The Failure Of Public Company Bankruptcies In Delaware And New York: Empirical Evidence Of A "Race To The Bottom", Lynn M. Lopucki, Sara D. Kalin

UF Law Faculty Publications

In the early 1990s, Delaware replaced New York as the jurisdiction of choice for the bankruptcy reorganization of large, public companies. In an empirical study of 188 companies emerging from bankruptcy reorganization from 1983 through 1996, the authors found that the refiling rates for public companies reorganized in Delaware and New York were about five to seven times the refiling rates for companies reorganized in other courts. Nine of the thirty large, public companies emerging in Delaware from 1991 to 1996 (30%) have already refiled. New York rates were higher during the period of New York's dominance than during the …

The Case For Cooperative Territoriality In International Bankruptcy, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

Universalism - the idea that a multinational debtor's "home country" should have worldwide jurisdiction over its bankruptcy - has long had tremendous appeal to bankruptcy professionals. Yet, the international community repeatedly has refused to adopt conventions that would make universalism a reality. In an article published last year, I proposed an explanation. Universalism can work only in a world with essentially uniform laws governing bankruptcy and priority among creditors - a world that does not yet exist. Because it is impossible to fix the location of a multinational company in a global economy, the introduction of universalism in current world …

Shopping For Judges: An Empirical Analysis Of Venue Choice In Large Chapter 11 Reorganizations, Theodore Eisenberg, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article reports the results of a comprehensive study of big-case bankruptcy forum shopping from 1980 to 1997. A description of what has occurred helps explain both the causes of Delaware's rise as the preferred Chapter 11 forum and why embarrassment forced the system to take extraordinary countermeasures. The temporal coincidence of three major changes in Chapter 11 practice obscures those causes: (1) a nationwide increase in the rate of Chapter 11 forum shopping; (2) a national trend toward faster case-processing times; and (3) the rise of "prepackaged" bankruptcy cases in which the necessary majorities of creditors have accepted the …

Hidden In Plain View: The Pension Shield Against Creditors, Patricia E. Dilley

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article examines the virtually unquestioned protection of retirement assets from creditors, in both state and federal law, with a view to determining whether tax qualification or even retirement itself is a sufficient rationale for preserving debtor assets in the face of creditors' claims, and if so, what the limits of such protection should be. The problems of current law stem in large part from the use of tax qualified status as a convenient shortcut for determining the appropriate bankruptcy treatment of retirement accounts. The result is a wide disparity in the treatment of debtors epitomized by the cases of …

Cooperation In International Bankruptcy: A Post-Universalist Approach, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

This article examines the several competing systems proposed for international cooperation in the bankruptcy cases of multinational companies and concludes that a cooperative form of territoriality would work best. Universalism, the system that currently dominates the scholarship, diplomacy, and jurisprudence of international bankruptcy, holds that the courts of the multinational company's "home country" should have worldwide jurisdiction and apply its own law to the core issues of the case. Universalism is unworkable because it would require that countries permit foreign law and courts to govern wholly domestic relationships and because the of "home countries" of multinational companies are so ephemeral …

The Irrefutable Logic Of Judgment Proofing: A Reply To Professor Schwarcz, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

In The Inherent Irrationality of Judgment Proofing, Professor Steven L. Schwarcz raises interesting new arguments against my death of liability thesis. The sheer number of those arguments makes it impossible for me to respond to all of them. The core of Schwarcz's insight is to divide judgment proofing structures into those negotiated at arm's length and those constructed within a single corporate group. I consider his arguments regarding the first set of structures in Part I and the second set in Part II.

Bankruptcy Contracting Revised: A Reply To Alan Schwartz's New Model, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

In Bankruptcy Contracting Reviewed, Alan Schwartz purports to restate and defend the bankruptcy contracting model he presented in A Contract Theory Approach to Business Bankruptcy. What he in fact does is abandon key assumptions of the original model and substitute new ones. The resulting new model is driven by reputational constraints neither present nor possible in the original model. Yet it works no better than the original. The linchpin of Schwartz's response is his insistence that his original model contained an unstated assumption prohibiting debtor firms from lying. In the context of Schwartz's model, the effect of the new assumption …

The Essential Structure Of Judgment Proofing, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

This article argues that substantially all judgment proofing can be described through a single model: a symbiotic relationship between two or more entities, in which one of the entities generates disproportionately high risks of liability while the other owns a disproportionately high level of assets. The two entities typically are joined by a contract that allocates the profits gained from externalization of the tort liability. Proof that the model is workable even in large businesses is made by demonstrating that a single business can be divided into two such entities without altering its components or its function. The courts cannot …

Virtual Judgment Proofing: A Rejoinder, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

This is a rejoinder by the author of The Death of Liability, 106 Yale L.J. 1 (1996). The rejoinder is to a reply by Professor James J. White to the original article. Corporate Judgment Proofing: A Response to Lynn LoPucki's The Death of Liability, 107 Yale L.J. 1363 (1998). In response to specific points made by White, LoPucki argues that the judgment proofing of large companies would not be visible in Compustat data because it is not accomplished through secured debt or leasing and because Compustat data is aggregated by corporate group. Contracting parties will permit debtors to judgment proof …

Should The Secured Credit Carve Out Apply Only In Bankruptcy? A Systems/Strategic Analysis, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Florida's Troubled Phosphate Companies: Can Bankruptcy Law Be Used To Relieve Their Obligation To Reclaim The Land?, Mary Jane Angelo

UF Law Faculty Publications

The conflict that brings us here arises when the earth is disturbed and the environment in which we live is threatened. . . . On the one hand are the corporations who mine phosphate reserves in Florida—their intentions are based on the argument that an ever-shrinking agrarian base in America must have fertilizer to remain effective and productive. On the other hand are the individuals and groups who oppose that mining and their argument is based upon the contention that such mining is too destructive of a unique and very fragile ecosystem.

By the year 2000, phosphate companies will have …

The Death Of Liability, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

Based on systems/strategic analysis, this paper predicts the complete failure of legal liability system. Liability is the system by which injured persons recover money damages from those who injure them. The system operates through the entry and enforcement of judgments by the courts. The paper argues that the system is vulnerable to defeat by a variety of judgment proofing techniques which can be categorized as secured debt strategies, ownership strategies, exemption strategies, and foreign haven strategies. Computerization has recently brought about dramatic reductions in the costs of pursuing these strategies, making them cost effective for more potential defendants. As use …

Why The Debtor's State Of Incorporation Should Be The Proper Place For Article 9 Filing: A System Analysis, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reorganization Realities, Methodological Realities, And The Paradigm Dominance Game, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

The comments I present here pertain to two subjects. The first is the Warren and Westbrook attack on "arm chair theorists' and the response of the Conferees to this attack. The second is the problem of sample selection and its relationship to regularized data gathering.

Patterns In The Bankruptcy Reorganization Of Large Publicly Held Companies, Lynn M. Lopucki, William C. Whitford

UF Law Faculty Publications

Several recent articles contend that Chapter of the Bankruptcy Code does not provide efficient procedures for redressing the financial distress of large firms. The authors of these articles argue that the creditors of a financially distressed firm would fare better if the corporation's problems were resolved in some other way. The argument has proceeded principally on a theoretical level, since it is virtually impossible to know for certain how firms that have been in Chapter 11 would have fared under a different procedure. We recently completed an extensive empirical study of forty-three Chapter 11 cases involving large, publicly held firms. …

Corporate Governance In The Bankruptcy Reorganization Of Large, Publicly Held Companies, Lynn M. Lopucki, William C. Whitford

UF Law Faculty Publications

Part I of this Article describes the context in which the issues of corporate governance typically arise and the common sources of conflict among management, shareholders, and creditors. We also review other studies which bear on the corporate governance issues we address. Part II describes the sources of management power and the means by which that power is limited or controlled by various constituencies. In Part III, we examine the uses managements made of their power. We attempt to assess how much power managements had and for whose benefit they applied it. In Parts II and III, our discussion is …

The Trouble With Chapter 11, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

The length of time companies remain in bankruptcy reorganization is critically important. During that time, the business is at risk because management incentives are inappropriate, professional fees accrue at a rapid rate, and business uncertainties increase. Creditors may be injured because the reorganizing debtor does not make payments during the case and because some creditors are not entitled to accrue interest during the pendency of the case. In this Article, Professor LoPucki presents data from several studies showing approximately a 150% increase from 1964 to 1987 in the median time companies spend in Chapter 11. Using data from other studies, …

Venue Choice And Forum Shopping In The Bankruptcy Reorganization Of Large, Publicly Held Companies, Lynn M. Lopucki, William C. Whitford

UF Law Faculty Publications

An empirical study of the bankruptcy reorganization of the forty-three largest, publicly held companies to file and complete bankruptcy proceedings from 1979 to 1988 revealed extensive forum shopping. In virtually all cases examined by the authors, the law afforded a choice of venue. In a substantial number, the petitioning company engaged in "forum shopping" by choosing a venue where the company had little or no physical presence. Most often the venue was New York City. In iheir venue choices, petitioners usually sought to avoid venues that appeared hostile to extensions of exclusivity or that aggressively regulated attorneys' fees. The authors …

Bargaining Over Equity's Share In The Bankruptcy Reorganization Of Large, Publicly Held Companies, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article reports some of the results of an empirical study of the bankruptcy reorganization of large, publicly held companies. We present data relevant to what many consider to be the central issue of reorganization theory-how the value of the reorganizing enterprise should be divided among the various claims and interests. We demonstrate that there is indeed systematic deviation from the absolute priority rule in favor of junior interests; but, with respect to large, publicly held corporations, the debate about how to prevent these deviations is, for the most part, a tempest in a teapot-the difference between absolute priority and …

An Uneasy Relationship Between The Bankruptcy Reform Act And The Uniform Commercial Code: Delayed And Continued Perfection Of Security Interests, George L. Dawson

UF Law Faculty Publications

The widespread adoption of article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code in the 1950s and 1960s resulted in an ‘uncertain correlation’ between state personal property security law and the Bankruptcy Act of 1898. Although the Bankruptcy Act of 1898 frequently relied upon existing state law to determine the validity of a secured creditor's interest in the personal property of a bankruptcy debtor, its provisions were more compatible with pre-Code personal property security law. As a result, courts often struggled to reconcile the meanings of the two statutes.

The enactment of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 held out the promise …

General Theory Of The Dynamics Of The State Remedies/Bankruptcy System, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

The term ‘state remedies/bankruptcy system’ will be used in this article to refer to the system provided by law to compel the payment of debt and to protect debtors from the collection efforts of their creditors. The division between these two purposes is reflected in the institutions which comprise the state remedies/bankruptcy system. Generally speaking, it is the state courts acting under state law such as that providing for attachment, garnishment, execution, or discovery in aid of these proceedings, that enforce the creditor's right to payment. The federal bankruptcy courts, on the other hand, seem primarily to provide protection to …