Bankruptcy 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.

Bankruptcy, W. Homer Drake Jr., Michael M. Duclos

Mercer Law Review

Unlike past years when the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a tremendous number of bankruptcy decisions each term, 1997 turned out to be a very quiet year because the Eleventh Circuit issued only eight opinions addressing matters arising under the Bankruptcy Code. This Article is a survey of those 1997 bankruptcy decisions.

Bankruptcy Appeals And Equitable Mootness, Ross E. Elgart

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

How Should Property Be Valued In A Cram Down?, Mark E. Beatty

Mercer Law Review

One of the most intriguing topics in bankruptcy law is the valuation of property in cram down cases, specifically Chapter 13 cases. This article will first present and discuss the different methods of valuation employed by the circuit courts before Associates Commercial Corp. v. Rash (Rash III) was decided by the Supreme Court and the reasoning behind these methods. The next section will discuss the opinion in Rash and the chosen method of valuation in Chapter 13 cram down cases. The third section will discuss the implications of the decision in Rash. The Article will conclude with …

In Re Young: A Correct But Unnecessary Constitutional Decision, David Lynn Mortensen

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Secured Lending As A Zero-Sum Game, David Gray Carlson

Cardozo Law Review

This Article claims that law and economics literature made a profound mistake when it tried to adapt the Modigliani-Miller irrelevance hypothesis-famous in corporate finance theory-to the question of why it pays a debtor to issue secured debt as well as unsecured debt. The literature that is criticized claims that lending is a zero-sum game. If the debtor saves money from the secured loan, the debtor simply pays more later to an unsecured claim. Some "disturbing cause" must exist to disrupt the zero-sum game and render security interests rational for the debtor. The author rigorously shows, however, that the zero-sum quality …

The Boiling Pot Of Lawyer Conflicts In Bankruptcy, Charles W. Wolfram

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

I take up here only two modest pieces of the current puzzle of lawyer conflicts of interest in bankruptcy practice. One involves the decision of the American Law Institute (hereinafter "ALI") to sidestep the entire field in the course of drafting its Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers (hereinafter "Restatement"). The other involves the decision of the National Bankruptcy Review Commission (hereinafter "NBRC") to refuse to recommend that Congress do anything at all major to disturb existing law in the same realm. Either the law of lawyer conflicts in bankruptcy has been blessed in its present state by two prestigious …

The Rotten Foundations Of Securitization, David Gray Carlson

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Wisconsin Exemption Clause Debate Of 1846: An Historical Perspective On The Regulation Of Debt, Bernard R. Trujillo

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Foreword, Bankruptcy Law Symposium, Scott F. Norberg, Todd J. Zywicki

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Integrating Alternative Dispute Resolution Into The Bankruptcy Curriculum, Peter C. Alexander, Peter N. Kutulakis, Robert M. Ackerman

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Brandeis, Progressivism, And Commercial Law: Rethinking Benedict V. Ratner, Edward J. Janger

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

In Re Reading Co.: Cutting Off Environmental Claims That Never Existed During Bankruptcy, David W. Marston Jr.

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Fairness, Responsibility, And Efficiency In The Bankruptcy Discharge: Are The Commission’S Recommendations Enough?, Veryl Victoria Miles

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Bankruptcy In The Czech Republic, Hungary, And Poland And Section 304 Of The United States Bankruptcy Code, Proceedings Ancillary To Foreign Bankruptcy Proceedings, Helmut Gerlach

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Bankruptcy Thermodynamics, 50 Fla. L. Rev. 329 (1998), Paul B. Lewis

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

In This Corner, We Have The Bankruptcy Code's Discharge Provisions And In This Corner, Cercla, A Strict Liability Statue: In Re Reading Company, Jennifer A. Pasquarella

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

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 …

National Bankruptcy Review Commission Tax Recommendations: Notice, Jurisdiction, And Corporate Debtors, Jack F. Williams

Faculty Publications By Year

Pursuant to congressional mandate, the National Bankruptcy Review Commission (NBRC) reported its recommendations for modification of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, as amended (the Bankruptcy Code), to the President, Congress, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on October 20, 1997. This Article, the second and final installment analyzing the tax recommendations of the NBRC, focuses on the proposed revisions relating to, among other things, taxation of corporate and partnership debtor estates. In particular, this Article discusses the requirement of reasonable notice to the government, bankruptcy court jurisdiction over tax controversies, bankruptcy administration affecting tax matters, chapter 11 plan …

Don't Go And Do Something Rash About Cram Down Interest Rates, David G. Epstein

Law Faculty Publications

This Article considers the second and different question of how to value the proposed payments under the plan. While the question of how to value the proposed payments under the plan is different from the question of how to value the creditor's security interest in property, there is a connection between the answers to the questions. The value of the payments must at least equal the value of the security interest.

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 …

The Past And Future Of Kentucky's Fraudulent Transfer And Preference Laws, Douglas C. Michael

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

An important part of the law of creditors' remedies is the ability of creditors to recover property formerly held by the debtor, but transferred to others under circumstances that are considered to be unfair or inequitable. There are two principal ways a creditor can seek to have a debtor's transfer characterized as unfair in order to recover it. First, a transfer to another creditor or a third party can be fraudulent as to one or all of the remaining creditors, or may be deemed to be fraudulent because of the circumstances surrounding the transfer, such as a transfer made by …

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.

National Bankruptcy Review Commission's Section 365 Recommendations And The Larger Conceptual Issues, David G. Epstein

Law Faculty Publications

In the chapter of the Report of the National Bankruptcy Commission ("Report") entitled "Business Bankruptcy," the National Bankruptcy Review Commission ("Review Commission") makes four recommendations regarding section 365 of the Bankruptcy Code: 2.4.1 Clarifying the Meaning of "Rejection" The concept of "rejection" in section 365 should be replaced with "election to breach." Section 365 should provide that a trustee's ability to elect to breach a contract of the debtor is not an avoiding power. Section 502(g) should be amended to provide that a claim arising from the election to breach shall be allowed or disallowed the same as if such …

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.

Bright Lines Or Blurry Labels, Walter Effross

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Introduction:The emerging mathematical discipline of "fuzzy logic" has recently sparked dramatic efficiencies in modern industrial processes while inviting comparisons to the age-old philosophies of Taoism and Zen. As concepts of "fuzziness" have filtered from technical journals to popular science magazines to trade paperbacks, they have begun to appear in legal commentaries as well.

To Love, Honor, And (Oh) Pay: Should Spouses Be Forced To Pay Each Other's Debts?, A. Mechele Dickerson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Bankruptcy Puzzle, Margaret F. Brinig, F. H. Buckley

Journal Articles

This article offers new evidence on the determinants of U.S. consumer bankruptcy filing rates, which tripled from 1984 to 1991. The run-up in filing rates does not appear to be a consequence of legal changes since the increase coincided with Bankruptcy Code amendments designed to reduce filing rates by rejecting opportunistic petitions. The run-up also coincided with a major economic boom and crested with the 1991 recession. However, much of the variation in district filing rates is attributable to differences in social variables, and we suggest that changes in social norms might account for the increased bankruptcy filings. This article …

Hard Numbers Vs. House Rules: Uniformity In The Bankruptcy Code And Its Application, Walter Effross

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

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 …