Bankruptcy Law Commons^™

Reader's Digest, Walter Machnicki

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

No abstract provided.

Makalidung's Post: How Stern V. Marshall Is Shaking A Bankruptcy Court Jurisdiction To Its Core, Christopher S. Lockman

Duquesne Law Review

No abstract provided.

Three Approaches To Applying 11 U.S.C § 546(E)’S “Safe Harbor” To Private Lbos, Shlomo Lazar

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

The Bankruptcy Code gives a trustee and a debtor-in-possession the authority to avoid fraudulent transactions. However, 11 U.S.C. § 546(e) limits the trustee’s avoiding powers by providing a safe harbor for “settlement payments.” Generally, a “settlement payment” is a payment of cash or securities made to complete a securities transaction. For example, money that an individual pays to a stockbroker to buy publicly traded shares is a settlement payment. A recent issue that has arisen is whether payments made to former shareholders in connection with a private leveraged buyout (LBO) constitute a “settlement payment.”

Depending on which jurisdiction a …

The Ponzi Scheme Presumption And Fraudulent Conveyances In The 21st Century: It’S Not Just Black And White, Gabriella B. Zahn

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

Section 548(a)(1)(A) of the Bankruptcy Code (the “Code”) allows the trustee of a bankruptcy estate to avoid a transfer made by the debtor “with actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud” an entity to which the debtor was or became indebted, as long as the transfer was made within two years of filing. Because it is difficult to prove that a transfer was made with such actual intent, courts have applied the so-called “Ponzi scheme presumption.” In cases involving conveyances in Ponzi schemes, the “Ponzi scheme presumption” allows the court to assume that a transfer was made with the …

In Re J.J. Re–Bar Corp.: The Application Of The Anti-Injunction Act, Eric Dostal

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

The Anti–Injunction Act is a provision of the U.S Code that prohibits any court from impeding the Internal Revenue Service from collecting an assessed tax. The Circuits have applied the Anti–Injunction Act to bankruptcy proceedings in two different ways. When the IRS seeks to assess a tax against a corporate fiduciary of a bankrupt corporation, as when the IRS tries to collect a penalty associated with unpaid payroll taxes, the Circuits have held that the Anti–Injunction Act allows the IRS to collect the funds it is entitled to without any interference. However, when the IRS attempts to collect unpaid …

Discrimination In Hiring Based On Past Bankruptcy Filing Allowed For Private Employers, Megan Quail

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

Section 525 of the Bankruptcy Code protects employees who currently are or have previously been in bankruptcy from discrimination. It contains two subsections. Subsection (a) states that government employers may not deny employment to, terminate the employment of, or discriminate with respect to employment against a person who has filed bankruptcy solely because of that filing. Subsection (b) provides that no private employer “may terminate the employment of, or discriminate with respect to employment against” individuals for declaring bankruptcy. The salient difference is that the section applying to private employers does not mention denial of employment in its list …

A Casus Omissus In Preventing Bankruptcy Fraud: Ordering A Search Of A Debtor’S Home, 73 Ohio State Law Journal 93 (2012)., Michael D. Sousa

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Most individual debtors file for bankruptcy relief with honest intentions. Nonetheless, there is also an underside to the American bankruptcy law system that often goes unreported and ignored in the scholarly literature, namely, the commission of fraud by debtors who seek protection under the Bankruptcy Code. One of the ways in which fraud upon the bankruptcy system occurs is when debtors intentionally conceal assets from the bankruptcy process. Indeed, reported bankruptcy court decisions are rife with examples of debtors attempting to hide or shield assets from their creditors. Debtors who are discovered concealing assets are subject to certain civil remedies, …

Business Insolvency And The Irish Debt Crisis, 11 Rich. J. Global L. & Bus. 407 (2012), Paul B. Lewis

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

Among the volume of material written about the Irish debt crisis and its impact over the past few years, strikingly little has been written about the ability to save a financially distressed company under Irish law and whether corporate restructuring could have mitigated some of the financial damage to Irish companies, particularly those in the property and construction industries. There is a reason for this. The number of filings under the Examinership law - the rough equivalent of Chapter 11 in the United States - remained small and relatively constant during both the recent boom and the more immediate bust …

Student Loans, Politics, And The Occupy Movement: Financial Aid Rebellion And Reform, 46 J. Marshall L. Rev. 105 (2012), Kamille Wolff Dean

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Business Insolvency And The Irish Debt Crisis, Paul B. Lewis

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

Considerations For Private Equity Firms When Utilizing Chapter 11 New Value Deals, Alexandra Wilde

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

The new value exception to the Chapter 11 absolute priority rule provides a narrow avenue for equity holders to retain an equity interest in a reorganized company over the objections of senior creditors and interest holders. With the increasing number of Chapter 11 reorganization filings by private equity owned companies, private equity firms may be interested in exploring ways to retain their equity ownership in the debtor company. This Note explores the unique implications a private equity firm may encounter when attempting to utilize the new value exception as a last resort to maintain ownership in a debtor company. Part …

William Edwin Lindsey, Lida Griest, Chris Inklebarger, Sydney Koch

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

No abstract provided.

What We “Know” About Chapter 11 Cost Is Wrong, Stephen J. Lubben

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

Among the collective wisdom about large corporate bankruptcy cases, the following points are almost undisputed: Longer chapter 11 cases cost more; prepackaged chapter 11 cases cost less; cases filed in New York or Delaware cost more; and fee examiners control the costs of big chapter 11 cases. But each of these points is wrong, and in most cases entirely backward. This Article provides empirical evidence to show why. Ultimately, I argue that the complexity of the bankruptcy and the compensation structure of the professionals retained (which may itself reflect further aspects of complexity) are the key determinants of cost. The …

The Consumer Bankruptcy Fee Study: Final Report, Lois R. Lupica

Faculty Publications

The Consumer Fee Study’s primary objective is to identify and monetize these costs of bankruptcy access through the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data gathered from court dockets and from professionals working within the bankruptcy system. We began the quantitative section with the hypothesis that following BAPCPA’s enactment, the cost of accessing the consumer bankruptcy system increased. We set out to determine the degree of increased costs, as well as to identify the specific policies and practices affecting these costs. Additionally, we endeavored to evaluate, with specificity, how diverse local procedures and guidelines impact the system’s processes and outcomes. Our …

Still Solvent: The Third Circuit Continues To Support "Deepening Insolvency" As A Viable Tort Claim In In Re Lemington Home For The Aged, Eric Kim

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Consumer Bankruptcy Policy: Ability To Pay And Catholic Social Teaching, Richard E. Flint

Faculty Articles

An essay is presented on consumer bankruptcy policy in the U.S. It informs about the significant changes in the consumer bankruptcy introduced by the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 including incorporation of an ability-to-pay test as a requirement for getting the benefits of the act. It reviews the Catholic social teaching related to the interrelationship between the dignity of man and his rights and duties to promote justice and the common good.

Still Chasing Chimeras But Finally Slaying Some Dragons In The Quest For Consumer Bankruptcy Reform, 25 Loy. Consumer L. Rev. 1 (2012), Jason Kilborn

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

Consumer bankruptcy systems in Europe and the United States have witnessed especially robust and dynamic development during the past decade. The ever-rising volume of seeking entry to these systems now allows for cross-systemic comparisons of substantially differing “markets” for the relief that these systems offer. In particular, the distinct trend toward greater efficiency seen in other financial markets can be increasingly observed in most consumer bankruptcy regimes, with some notable exceptions. In this context, market performance can be gauged in part by the degree to which systems offer efficient and effective relief as a stimulus to deploying available debtor resources …

Misbehavior And Mistake In Bankruptcy Mortgage Claims: Some Caveats Regarding The Porter Study, Gregory S. Crespi

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This Article reviews the comprehensive empirical study of the bankruptcy mortgage foreclosure process conducted by Professor Katherine Porter and subsequently published in 2008 in the Texas Law Review. The results of her study, which analyzed 1,768 proof of claim submissions filed in a sample of 1,733 Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings, strongly suggest that there is a pervasive failure on the part of mortgage creditors to meet all of the formal documentation requirements for filing such bankruptcy claims. This documentation failure arguably impedes many mortgage debtors or bankruptcy trustees from reviewing these claims for their accuracy.

Porter's conclusion that the itemization …

The Bankruptcy Of D & K Aviation, T J. Hatter, Maurice Echols, Michael Mason

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

No abstract provided.

Solyndra, Brandon Brewer, Matthew Kinsey, Anthony Mendenhall

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

No abstract provided.

Chapter 11 Reorganization And The Fair And Equitable Standard: How The Absolute Priority Rule Applies To All Nonprofit Entities, Pamela Foohey

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In recent years, nonprofit entities increasingly have sought bankruptcy protection. Though the Bankruptcy Code does not prevent nonprofits from reorganizing, Chapter 11 was designed for and applies best to for-profit businesses. This creates challenges for courts evaluating a nonprofit’s reorganization plan. This Article focuses on one crucial aspect of a court’s evaluation — the fair and equitable standard, a necessary, but not sufficient condition of which is satisfaction of the absolute priority rule.

The few courts addressing absolute priority claims in nonprofit reorganizations have held that the rule is categorically inapplicable to nonprofit entities except in limited circumstances. These courts …

The New Danger Of Being Fired: Section 525(B)’S Disproportionate Effect On Older Workers And A Call To Amend, Jina Kim Yun

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This Note explores an increasingly perverse effect of an anti-discriminatory provision of the Bankruptcy Code on numerous Americans who have declared personal bankruptcies after the recent economic recession of 2007. Under § 525(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, a private employer is not prohibited from barring a former debtor from prospective employment based on a past insolvency. This provision has had an immense impact on the large number of former debtors seeking the fresh start that bankruptcy law is meant to provide. With the dramatic increase in the number of personal bankruptcies, this Note argues that such an impact is overly …

Improving Bankruptcy Sales By Raising The Bar: Imposing A Preliminary Injunction Standard For Objections To § 363 Sales, Matthew A. Bruckner

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Scorecard So Far: Emerging Issues In Cross-Border Insolvencies Under Chapter 15 Of The U.S. Bankruptcy Code, Megan R. O'Flynn

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code was modeled after the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, drafted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade and Law (UNCITRAL) in 1997. Despite the relatively small number of cases commenced in U.S. Courts under Chapter 15 since its adoption, no other section of the current Bankruptcy Code has broader implications for international business transactions and global foreign business relations than the provisions of Chapter 15. Moreover, since the United States has long been an innovator at the forefront of international insolvency law, interpretation of key provisions of the Chapter and related UNCITRAL …

Sec V. Byers, David M. Brown

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hamilton V. Lanning: The Economic Implications Of Forecasting A Debtor's Disposable Income, Tracy L. Leyba

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

The Case For Value Billing In Chapter 11, Nancy B. Rapoport

Scholarly Works

This article explores the forces contributing to very high professional fees in large Chapter 11 cases and suggests that lawyers might want to consider valuing their services in ways other than the traditional billable hour approach.

On The Edge Of The 'Fiscal Cliff': How The American Middle Class And Gobal Economy Bear Risk, Steven A. Montalto

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Marital Property Annotated Bibliography, Nancy Levit

Faculty Works

This bibliography covers law review articles published, for the most part, after 2007. Articles for which the title is self-explanatory or that concern only a single case, state, or statute are cited, but not annotated.

Economic Integration: An American Solution To The Multinational Enterprize Group Conundrum, Robert W. Miller

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.