Bankruptcy Law Commons^™

Enron Bankruptcy Rouses Debate Over National Energy Deregulation, Patrick Bryan

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Broke Or Exploited: The Real Reason Behind Artist Bankruptcies, Risa C. Letowsky

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Revised Article 9, The Proposed Bankruptcy Code Amendments And Securitizing Debtors And Their Creditors, Lois R. Lupica

Faculty Publications

The new provisions in Revised Article 9 both reflects the drafters’ decision to enhance secured creditors’ rights, but also includes myriad provisions designed to facilitate securitization transactions. Because bankruptcy law looks to state law (specifically Article 9) to determine the rights of creditors and transferees with respect to personal property, changes to Article 9 are in effect, changes to bankruptcy law. The question raised by the changes to Article 9 is whether these changes are consistent with our historical understanding of bankruptcy policy.

Delaware Is Not A State: Are We Witnessing Jurisdictional Competition In Bankruptcy, G. Marcus Cole

Journal Articles

Over the last twelve years, the United States District Court for the District of Delaware has experienced exponential growth in the number of bankruptcy filings for large corporate debtors. This relatively recent rise in Delaware bankruptcy venue cannot, on its face, be explained by Delaware's eighty-five-year preeminence in the race for corporate charters, since the advantages most often postulated for Delaware's dominance in corporate law do not carry over to corporate bankruptcy. The state has limited influence over federal bankruptcy law and virtually no control over the selection of federal bankruptcy judges.

This rise of Delaware bankruptcy venue, or Delawarization …

What Enron Means For The Management And Control Of The Modern Business Corporation: Some Initial Reflections, Jeffrey N. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

The Enron case plays on many different dimensions, but its prominence is not merely part of popular culture's obsession with scandal du jour. Rather, the Enron situation challenges some of the core beliefs and practices that have underpinned the academic analysis of corporate law and governance, including mergers and acquisitions, since the 1980s. These amount to an interlocking set of institutions that constitute "shareholder capitalism," American-style, 2001, that we have been aggressively promoting throughout the world. We have come to rely on a particular set of assumptions about the connection between stock market prices and underlying economic realities; the reliability …

Optimal Bankruptcy In A Non-Optimal World, Richard M. Hynes

Faculty Publications

Consumer bankruptcy insures individuals against misfortune. Like other forms of insurance, bankruptcy reduces an individual's incentive to guard against misfortune and provides her with an incentive to overstate her need for relief. The "first-best," or optimal, bankruptcy system, like the first-best tax or public assistance system, solves these moral hazards without any loss of efficiency. In bankruptcy, this first-best approach would deny relief to debtors responsible for their own distress and reduce the deserving debtors' obligations to an amount commensurate with their ability to pay. While the Bankruptcy Code tries (in part) to follow this first-best approach, such a utopian …

Limiting Liability Through Bankruptcy, G. Marcus Cole

Journal Articles

The purpose of this Article is to expose that function of bankruptcy law that distinguished it from English and Colonial insolvency law, and to determine the scope of and need for bankruptcy law to perform that function in contemporary society. I posit that the distinguishing character of bankruptcy law was, and continues to be, its ability to serve as a temporal asset partitioning device. By asset partition, I mean the ability of a structure to sequester the assets of an owner of an enterprise from the reach of the creditors of that enterprise, or the assets of the enterprise from …

The Historical Development Of American Indian Tribes; Their Recent Dramatic Commercial Advancement; And A Discussion Of The Eligibility Of Indian Tribes Under The Bankruptcy Code And Related Matters, R. Spencer Clift Iii

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Surcharge And Standing: Bankruptcy Code Section 506(C) After Hartford Underwriters, David G. Carlson

Articles

The Supreme Court's decision in Hartford Underwriters Insurance Co. v. Union Planters Bank, N.A., which limited standing under 11 U.S.C. § 506(c) to bankruptcy trustees, fails to conclusively resolve the issue of who can bring such claims. The ruling creates legal complexities, as it does not fully address ownership of the proceeds or provide clear guidance, leading to potential workarounds by secured creditors and trustees. The article argues that the decision may be circumvented, and the current framework for handling § 506(c) claims remains unsatisfactory, necessitating further legislative or judicial clarification.

After Orange County: Reforming California Municipal Bankruptcy Law, Frederick Tung

Faculty Scholarship

Because of federal constitutional concerns, a municipal entity may resort to federal bankruptcy protection only with the authorization of its state. Federal law requires that a municipality be "specifically authorized" under state law to file for bankruptcy protection. Existing California law provides fairly broad authorization for its municipalities, but the statute is in need of both technical and substantive revision. After discussing constitutional concerns and surveying other states' approaches to municipal bankruptcy authorization, Professor Tung recommends a system of discretionary access, in which the governor holds discretionary power to approve, disapprove, or condition a municipality's access to bankruptcy.

Passports, Private Choice, And Private Interests: Regulatory Competition And Cooperation In Corporate, Securities, And Bankruptcy Law, Frederick Tung

Faculty Scholarship

This paper discusses international regulatory competition in the related areas of corporate, securities, and bankruptcy law, contrasting two different forms that regulatory competition may take. The first is private choice, or "direct competition." In this arrangement, firms are free to elect the regulatory regime that will govern their affairs, regardless of the location of a firm's assets, personnel, registered office, or transactions. The paradigmatic example is corporate charter competition among US states. The second form of competition is the "regulatory passport" arrangement, which has also been variously described as "mutual recognition" and "reciprocity." In this scenario, nations agree to recognize …

10th Biennial Judge Joe Lee Bankruptcy, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law

Continuing Legal Education Materials

Materials from the 10th Biennial Judge Joe Lee Bankruptcy Institute held December 2001.

Will Big Tobacco Seek Bankruptcy Protection? A $145 Billion Verdict Poses The Question, Mark Gottlieb, Richard A. Daynard

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Collecting Debts From The Ill And Injured: The Rhetorical Significance, But Practical Irrelevance, Of Culpability And Ability To Pay, Melissa B. Jacoby

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rethinking The Discharge Of Pre-Petition Attorney Fees In Chapter 7 Bankruptcy: A Debtor Oriented Perspective, James L. Neher

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

The courts are split over a provision of the Bankruptcy Code,' in which the majority courts hold that upon the filing of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, 2 unpaid attorney fees, for pre-petition work in connection with preparing and filing bankruptcy, are discharged. In contrast, the minority view holds that attorney fees in connection with preparing and filing a bankruptcy are not dischargeable whether prepaid or not, as long as they are not excessive.4 The problem with the majority view is that indigent debtors may be deprived of access to legal counsel unless they can pay all or most of their …

The Simplification Of Private Law, Andrew Kull

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Bankruptcy, Just For The Rich? An Analysis Of Popular Fee Arrangements For Pre-Petition Legal Fees And A Call To Amend, Kerry H. Ducey

Vanderbilt Law Review

The scenario is typical. An individual sits amid a pile of overdue bills. He calculates and recalculates only to verify what he has already suspected-his debt far exceeds his monthly income. Meanwhile, creditors and collection agencies demand payment while threatening repossession and other legal action. With no ready source of additional income, the debtor ultimately decides to file for bankruptcy. He consults an attorney, and the two agree to file a consumer no-asset Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition.' The lawyer then promises to use her best efforts to secure relief for the debtor. All she needs is a retainer. A retainer? …

Bankruptcy Reform: Does The End Justify The Means?, A. Mechele Dickerson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

21st Annual Conference On Legal Issues For Financial Institutions, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law

Continuing Legal Education Materials

Materials from the 21st Annual Conference on Legal Issues For Financial Institutions held by UK/CLE in April of 2001.

Crumbs For Oliver Twist: Resolving The Conflict Between Tax And Support Claims In Bankruptcy, Michelle A. Cecil

Faculty Publications

This article is premised on the assumption that the congressional goal of preferring support claims over federal income tax claims is indeed a laudable one, based on three interrelated policy justifications. First, support claimants are unable to spread their risk of loss like the government is able to do by raising tax rates or increasing tax revenue from other sources. As three prominent bankruptcy scholars noted in their recent study of consumer bankruptcy entitled The Fragile Middle Class: Americans in Debt:

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

Vanderbilt Law Review

Commentators sometimes recognize Delaware's preeminence in corporate law, but they almost invariably treat Delaware's recent popularity as a bankruptcy venue choice as raising entirely different issues. In fact, the two are integrally related. Specifically, just as the efforts of Delaware and other states to attract corporations--a process often referred to as "charter competition'-has induced Delaware to regulate corporate law in a generally efficient manner, the same forces will have a beneficial effect on Delaware's bankruptcy judges

. -Professor David Skeet'

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

Vanderbilt Law Review

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 …

Whither The Race? A Comment On The Effects Of The Delawarization Of Corporate Reorganizations, Robert K. Rasmussen, Randall S. Thomas

Vanderbilt Law Review

The war is over and Delaware has won. The "Delawarization" of bankruptcy law appears complete. The reorganization of a large, publicly held corporation under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code today will more likely take place in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court than in any other jurisdiction.' The bankruptcy judges and lawyers in Delaware are no doubt pleased with this state of affairs, while many of their counterparts in other jurisdictions look to Delaware with envy. While few question that Delaware is the preferred forum for public corporations seeking to reorganize, it remains hotly contested whether that is a good thing. …

What's So Bad About Delaware?, David A. Skeel, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

There is something a little desperate about the relentless criticism of Delaware's bankruptcy judges. Prior to 1990, nobody thought much about Delaware as a filing location for large corporate debtors. Thereafter, following in the wake (or jet-stream, perhaps) of the Continental Airlines bankruptcy, more and more large debtors began filing their bankruptcy cases in Delaware. Because bankruptcy's venue provision permits debtors to file for bankruptcy in their state of incorporation, and so many large firms are incorporated in Delaware, most large corporate debtors are entitled to choose Delaware for their bankruptcy case if they wish. Since 1990, the critics have …

Whither The Race? A Comment On The Effects Of The Delawarization Of Corporate Reorganizations, Randall Thomas, Robert K. Rasmussen

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Recent empirical work has demonstrated that large, publicly held firms tend to file for bankruptcy in Delaware. In our previous work, we have documented this trend, and argued that it may be efficient for prepackaged bankruptcies, while it unclear if it is efficient for traditional Chapter 11 cases. In this piece, we respond to LoPucki and Kalin's assertion that Delaware bankruptcy court performs worse than others. They base this claim on the observation that firms that file for bankruptcy in Delaware are more likely to file for bankruptcy a second time than are firms that file in another jurisdiction. We …

Avoidance Theory According To Steve Nickles, David Gray Carlson

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Deprizio Dead Yet? Birth, Wounding, And Another Attempt To Kill The Case, Steve H. Nickles

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Revised Article 9 Meets The Bankruptcy Code: Policy And Impact, (With C. Mooney, Jr.)., Steven L. Harris

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Rejection Versus Termination: A Sublessee's Rights In A Lease Rejected In A Bankruptcy Proceeding Under 11 U.S.C. § 365(D)(4), Vivek Sankaran

Michigan Law Review

When a party files for bankruptcy under chapter 11 of the United States Code, the court typically appoints a trustee to handle all of the party's financial obligations. The trustee's responsibilities include investigating the financial condition of the debtor, the operation of the business, the desirability of continuing the business, and any other matter relevant to the disposition of the bankrupt estate. If a bankrupt party holds a commercial lease, the trustee possesses two options for dealing with the lease. One option is to reject the lease, which ends the bankrupt party's obligation to adhere to the provisions of the …

Bankruptcy Empiricism: Lighthouse Still No Good (Reviewing Teresa A. Sullivan, Elizabeth Warren & Jay Lawrence Westbook, The Fragile Middle Class: Americans In Debt (2000)), Margaret Howard

Scholarly Articles

Not available.