Bankruptcy Law Commons^™

Effects Of The New Bankruptcy Code On Creditors With Secured Claims In Residential Real Property, Richard Mednick

Pepperdine Law Review

The sweeping changes brought about by the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 may have a profound effect on the secured interests of lenders. The rights of a creditor against a debtor, and the procedure that he must follow vary with the chapter of the new Bankruptcy Code under which the debtor files his claim. Richard Mednick, a Judge on the Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, explains the procedures required and the interest affected by the most commonly invoked chapters of the new code. Judge Mednick strongly urges that creditors become familiar with these changes, as some new …

Securities Class Actions And Bankrupt Companies, James J. Park

Michigan Law Review

Securities class actions are often criticized as wasteful strike suits that target temporary fluctuations in the stock prices of otherwise healthy companies. The securities class actions brought by investors of Enron and WorldCom, companies that fell into bankruptcy in the wake of fraud, resulted in the recovery of billions of dollars in permanent shareholder losses and provide a powerful counterexample to this critique. An issuer's bankruptcy may affect how judges and parties perceive securities class actions and their merits, yet little is known about the subset of cases where the company is bankrupt. This is the first extensive empirical study …

Series Llcs: What Happens When One Series Fails? Key Considerations And Issues, Michelle M. Harner, Jennifer Ivey-Crickenberger, Tae Kim

Faculty Scholarship

Entity choice law is constantly evolving and innovating. The series LLC form is one such example. Although the form provides governance and operational flexibility and efficiencies, the law governing the form is still developing. As such, uncertainties linger, particularly in the context of a financially distressed or insolvent series. This article explores many of the issues that arise when a master LLC or one of its series experiences financial distress and contemplates a bankruptcy filing. It also identifies strategies for parties to potentially mitigate certain of these issues in the planning stage. The article concludes by suggesting parties using the …

The Manville Corporation Bankruptcy: An Abuse Of The Judicial Process?, Mark Kunkler

Pepperdine Law Review

Federal bankruptcy law offers a refuge to the honest debtor who is unable to pay his creditor's when his debts are due. Here, the twin aims of bankruptcy law, to give the debtor a fresh start and to provide roughly equal treatment for his! Creditors, are laudably accomplished. But what policies support the use of federal bankruptcy law when the "debtor" is in fact solvent and apparently seeks refuge only to escape liability for the products it manufactures? This comment examines the recent filing of the Manville Corporation for Chapter 11 protection under bankruptcy law with this question in mind.

The Dischargeability In Bankruptcy Of Debts For Alimony And Property Settlements Arising From Divorce, John Francis Murphy

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Code And The Constitution: Fifth Amendment Limits On The Debtor's Discharge In Bankruptcy, Nicholas A. Franke

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Saving Homes? Bankruptcies And Loan Modifications In The Foreclosure Crisis, Alan White

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Pension Plan Loans And Means Testing – The Pernicious Endurance Of Villarie, Laura B. Bartell

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Pitfalls In Brazilian Bankruptcy Law For International Bond Investors, Jeffrey M. Anapolsky, Jessica F. Woods

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Just Punch My Bankruptcy Ticket: A Qualitative Study Of Mandatory Debtor Financial Education, 97 Marquette Law Review 391 (2014), Michael D. Sousa

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

When Congress amended the Bankruptcy Code in 2005 through the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA), it mandated that individual consumer debtors undergo two debtor education courses, one as a condition precedent to filing for bankruptcy relief, and a second for later receiving a discharge of indebtedness. As for the pre-filing credit counseling course, Congressional aim was to have prospective debtors understand the potential alternatives to filing for bankruptcy relief with the goal of having some percentage of debtors settle their debt obligations outside of the bankruptcy system. Regarding the post-filing financial management course, Congress wanted debtors who …

Revisiting The Leveraged Buyout: Is Constructive Fraud Going Too Far?, 46 J. Marshall L. Rev. 429 (2013), Angelo Guisado

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Just Punch My Bankruptcy Ticket: A Qualitative Study Of Mandatory Debtor Financial Education, Michael Sousa

Marquette Law Review

When Congress amended the Bankruptcy Code in 2005 through the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA), it mandated that individual consumer debtors undergo two debtor education courses, one as a condition precedent to filing for bankruptcy relief, and a second for later receiving a discharge of indebtedness. As for the pre-filing credit counseling course, Congressional aim was to have prospective debtors understand the potential alternatives to filing for bankruptcy relief with the goal of having some percentage of debtors settle their debt obligations outside of the bankruptcy system. Regarding the post-filing financial management course, Congress wanted debtors who …

Walking Back From Cyprus, Lee C. Buchheit, Mitu Gulati

Faculty Scholarship

Last Friday, the European leaders trespassed on consecrated ground by putting insured depositors in Cypriot banks in harm’s way. They had other options, none of them pleasant but some less ominous than the one they settled on.

Bankrupting The Faith, Pamela Foohey

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This Article presents the results of a comprehensive empirical study of religious organizations that filed bankruptcy under Chapter 11 from the beginning of 2006 to the end of 2011. It examines the institutions’ characteristics, reasons for filing, and case outcomes to investigate whether Chapter 11 is an effective solution to their financial problems. In investigating the religious organizations’ cases, the Article also assesses the role of bankruptcy courts in adjudicating Chapter 11 cases and places the cases within theories about the larger purposes of Chapter 11.

The study finds that the vast majority of debtors are small organizations that operate …

Lien-Stripping In The Absence Of A Discharge: Bankruptcy's Answer To The Destruction Caused By Excessive Home Equity Extraction, 46 J. Marshall L. Rev. 915 (2013), Gregory Guest

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Turnover Actions And The “Floating Check” Controversy, David R. Hague

Faculty Articles

When a debtor files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a Chapter 7 trustee is appointed and is charged with collecting and reducing to money the property of the bankruptcy estate. One of the most basic collection methods a trustee possesses is its turnover power under § 542(a) of the Bankruptcy Code. Pursuant to § 542(a), an entity in possession, custody, or control, during the bankruptcy case, of property that the trustee may use, sell, or lease, must deliver to the trustee, and account for, such property or the value of such property.

An interesting issue has arisen that is placing debtors …

Teaching Business Law In The New Economy; Strategies For Success, Kamille Wolff Dean

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

The Virtue In Bankruptcy, Matthew Bruckner

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

In response to a gap in the corporate bankruptcy literature, this Article offers a new positive theory of corporate bankruptcy law based on virtue ethics. The dominant theory of corporate bankruptcy law—-the creditors’ bargain model-—is necessarily incomplete because it does not account for bankruptcy courts’ equitable and discretionary powers, or for bankruptcy courts’ need to consider decision-making criteria other than economic efficiency. By contrast, virtue ethics offers insights about these features of corporate bankruptcy law for at least three reasons. First, bankruptcy courts appear to give content to bankruptcy laws by using virtue ethical principles. Second, virtue ethics’ decision-making process—-practical …

Not "Special" Enough For Chapter 7: An Analysis Of The Special Circumstances Provision Of The Bankruptcy Code, Roma Perez

Cleveland State Law Review

The “special circumstances” provision of the Bankruptcy Code, Section 707(b)(2)(B), allows a consumer debtor to rebut the presumption of abuse that is triggered when debtor fails the means test. Congress enacted the statute as a procedural safeguard fully aware that means testing, as set-out in the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, could lead to arbitrary results for some debtors. For consumer debtors, the provision functions as a type of escape-hatch. It allows a debtor to avoid dismissal of his Chapter 7 bankruptcy case by introducing documentary evidence that the means test calculation, and its attendant income …

Statutory Foreclosures In Arkansas: The Law And Recent Developments, Lynn C. Foster

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.