Bankruptcy Law Commons^™

Drilling When The Well Goes Dry: The Oklahoma Corporation Commission & The Police Power Exception To The Automatic Stay, Connor R. Bourland

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Corporate Bankruptcy Hybridity, Melissa B. Jacoby

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Tracing Equity, Melissa B. Jacoby, Edward J. Janger

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Beyond Bankruptcy: Resolution As A Macroprudential Regulatory Tool, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

To try to protect the stability of the financial system, regulators and policymakers have been extending bankruptcy-resolution techniques beyond their normal boundaries. To date, however, their efforts have been insufficient, in part because bankruptcy law traditionally has microprudential goals (to protect individual firms) whereas protecting financial stability is a “macroprudential” goal.

This Article seeks to derive a logical and consistent theory of how and why resolution-based regulation can help to stabilize the financial system. To that end, the Article identifies three possible regulatory approaches: reactive resolution-based regulation, which comprises variations on traditional bankruptcy; proactive resolution-based regulation, which consists of pre-planned …

The Bearish Bankruptcy, Diane L. Dick

Georgia Law Review

Modern bankruptcy practice under Chapter 11
presumptively excludes the large and publicly-traded
corporate debtor's shareholders from the negotiation
table based on a longstanding assumption that they
have no economic interest to protect because most
bankrupt companies are insolvent. But bankruptcy
practice overlooks a shareholder's most important
economic interest: the right to enjoy the reorganized
firm's unlimited upside potential after all creditor
claims are satisfied. This interest, which is essentially
an option right, is totally ignored in the debtor's
hypothetical liquidation analysis. In a similar way,
the debtor's upside potential is not fully captured by
prevailing enterprise valuation techniques.
Of course, …

Sovereign Debt Restructuring And English Governing Law, Steven L. Schwarcz

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

The problem of sovereign indebtedness is becoming a worldwide crisis because nations, unlike individuals and corporations, lack access to bankruptcy laws to restructure unsustainable debt. Decades of international efforts to solve this problem through contracting and attempted treaty-making have failed to provide an adequate debt-restructuring framework. A significant amount of outstanding sovereign debt is governed, however, by English law. This Article argues that the U.K. Parliament has the extraordinary power to help solve the problem of unsustainable country debt by changing English law to facilitate fair and consensual debt restructuring. This Article also proposes modifications to English law that Parliament …

Promesa And The Bankruptcy Clause: A Reminder About Uniformity, Stephen J. Lubben

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

The Bankruptcy Clause—Article I, Section 8, Clause 4—provides that “The Congress shall have power . . . [t]o establish . . . uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States . . . .”[1] But Congress has just enacted a bankruptcy law that applies to a single American territory. In early May 2017, Puerto Rico and one affiliated entity filed a petition under this new law. In late May, the Employees Retirement System commenced a case, along with the Puerto Rico Highway and Transportation Authority. Other Puerto Rican sub-entities are expected to follow. I use this short …

Decision-Making And The Shaky Property Foundations Of Municipal Bankruptcy Law, Juliet M. Moringiello

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Municipal bankruptcies are unpredictable. There are several reasons for this statement— municipal bankruptcies are rare, involvement of the state itself in the process varies according to the governing state law, and chapter 9, the Bankruptcy Code chapter governing the municipal bankruptcy process, has many gaps. Congress constructed the modern chapter 9 on a foundation of corporate bankruptcy law, a foundation whose roots—corporate finance—are significantly different from the rules governing municipal finance. In this Article, Professor Moringiello aims a spotlight on the property roots of private bankruptcy law and compares them to the promissory and statutory roots of municipal finance law …

Towards A Jurisprudence Of Public Law Bankruptcy Judging, Edward J. Janger

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

In this essay Professor Janger considers the role of bankruptcy judges in Chapter 9 cases in light of the scholarly literature on public law judging. He explores the extent to which bankruptcy judges engaged in the fiscal restructuring of a municipality use tools, and face constraints, similar to those utilized by federal district court judges in structural reform cases, where constitutional norms are at issue.

Caring For Humanity: Non-Profit Elderly Law, Sierra Samp

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This Capstone was an internship that focused on care in Humanity at Legal Services for Seniors. There is a journal that includes the observations of care in the law office. I focus on how attorneys care for each clients humanness while they are working on their cases. Attorneys may be doing work that can be quite intimidating, but the care they give is quite extraordinary.

Beyond Gifting: Harmonizing The Devolution Of Reorganization Plan Gifts And The Evolution Of Sale Gifts, Reuben E. Dizengoff

Cardozo Law Review

The ntoe critiques the rigidity of the Absolute Priority Rule (APR) under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, arguing that its strict application hinders effective restructuring. It proposes Section 363 sales as a viable alternative to achieve Chapter 11 goals, particularly when plan confirmation is unattainable due to senior creditor objections. The analysis highlights how Section 363 sales can legally redirect assets to junior stakeholders, offering a workaround to APR limitations. The note concludes that harmonizing gifting in reorganization plans with Section 363 sales could provide a balanced approach to bankruptcy restructuring.

Successor Liability In The Bankruptcy Context: The Problem Or The Solution?, Chelsea Donenfeld

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cybergenics Ii: Precedent And Policy Vs. Plain Meaning, Nancy A. Haller

Maine Law Review

On September 20, 2002, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a panel opinion concluding that a court may not authorize a creditors' committee to commence an avoidance action in the trustee's name, on behalf of a bankruptcy estate. The decision shocked the bankruptcy bar and raised such a stir that many commentators raised it to the status of one of the “top cases of the year.” Furthermore, within two months, the Second Circuit came down with a squarely contrary decision, reaffirming the validity of the practice within the Second Circuit and failing to even acknowledge recent …

Justice Scalia’S Bankruptcy Jurisprudence: The Right Judicial Philosophy For The Modern Bankruptcy Code?, Megan Mcdermott

Utah Law Review

This Article surveys an area of Justice Scalia’s legacy that is often overlooked by scholars who write broadly about the Supreme Court: his many contributions to the field of bankruptcy law. The Bankruptcy Code is rife with statutory interpretation questions that demand clear and predictable answers, due to the efficiency interests at stake and the absence of any intermediate interpretive forces, such as administrative agencies. Justice Scalia arrived on the high court at the outset of the modern bankruptcy era and this Article argues that his brand of rulebased textualism is a particularly good fit for bankruptcy law.

Specifically, four …

Bankruptcy On The Side, Kenneth Ayotte, Anthony J. Casey, David A. Skeel Jr.

Northwestern University Law Review

This Article provides a framework for analyzing side agreements among stakeholders in corporate bankruptcy, such as intercreditor and “bad boy” agreements. These agreements are controversial because they commonly include a promise by a stakeholder to remain silent—to waive some procedural right they would otherwise have under the Bankruptcy Code—at potentially crucial points in the reorganization process.

Using simplified examples, we show that side agreements create benefits in some instances. But, in other cases, parties to a side agreement may attempt to extract value from nonparties to the agreement by contracting for specific performance or excessive stipulated damages that impose negative …

Bankruptcy - The Last Resort: Protecting The Diocesan Client From Potential Liability Judgments, John B. Jarboe

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Credit Cards, Attorney's Fees, And The Putative Debtor: A Pyrrhic Victory? Putative Debtors May Win The Battle But Nevertheless Lose The War, Jennifer M. Smith

Maine Law Review

For decades, scholars have written about credit cards and attorney’s fees, but rarely together. This Article addresses the current financial crises of Americans, the credit card industry (including the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act) and attorney’s fees—perhaps a unique combination. It is based upon an actual case that left the putative debtor in a worse financial crisis than before the lawsuit was filed. This Article addresses the current credit card industry and its detrimental impact on society, and it discusses the history and purpose of attorney’s fees, as well as the pitfalls in attorney’s fee legislation. It analyzes …

Tipping The Scales: Balancing The Weight Of Equity With Loan Rescissions In Bankruptcy, Corey Scott Hadley

Maine Law Review

Prior to the passage of the Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA) in 1968, consumers were vulnerable to many deceptive practices employed by creditors when participating in loan transactions. Following the passage of TILA, it was the hope of Congress that consumers would now have the tools necessary to fend off predatory or deceptive credit terms buried within the fine print of a loan agreement. One of the options afforded to consumers facing a suspect loan agreement is the right to rescission. When lenders, creditors, and other parties in the credit transaction “fail to provide the consumer with proper disclosures about the loan …

Cross-Border Insolvencies: To “Universalize” Or To Arbitrate?, Young Hye (Martina) Chun

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This note makes a cost-benefit analysis of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code Chapter 15 and International Commercial Arbitration in the context of cross-border bankruptcy proceedings. Part I sets the stage by providing two opposing theoretical approaches to cross-border insolvencies: territorialism and universalism. Part II introduces the UNCITRAL’s Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, which is incorporated into the U.S. Bankruptcy Code Chapter 15. It presents how the Model Law has attempted to compensate for the lack of a global court by incorporating universalism. Part III demonstrates that while Chapter 15 sounds good in theory, it fails to address the very issue it …

The Bankruptcy Of Refusing To Hire Persons Who Have Filed Bankruptcy, Terrence Cain

Law Faculty Scholarship

In 1978, Congress made it illegal for government employers to deny employment to, terminate the employment of, or discriminate with respect to employment against a person who has filed bankruptcy. In 1984, Congress extended this prohibition to private employers by making it illegal for such employers to terminate the employment of, or discriminate with respect to employment against a person who has filed bankruptcy. Under the law as it currently exists, private employers can refuse to hire a person who has filed bankruptcy solely because that person has filed for bankruptcy. Meanwhile, employers have substantially increased their use of credit …