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The Chapter 11 “Shell Game”

From Florida's Northern District comes a cautionary tale of what can go wrong when distressed real...

02 May, 2011 / 0 Comments

Finding New Ways to Sell Troubled Assets “Free and Clear” of Liens

One of the most effective vehicles for the rescue and revitalization of troubled business and...

24 April, 2011 / 0 Comments

Nobody Does It Better . . . Than Government Regulators

Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act provides “the necessary authority to liquidate failing financial companies...

19 April, 2011 / 0 Comments

Political Will and Fiscal Federalism in Municipal Bankruptcy

When a municipality faces municipal distress, who ultimately picks up the tab?  More importantly, who...

12 April, 2011 / 0 Comments

Regulatory Bankruptcy: How Bank Regulation Causes [Real Estate] Firesales

It is axiomatic in American business bankruptcy practice that though they may disagree strenuously on...

05 April, 2011 / 0 Comments

Hope May Spring Eternal . . . But the Automatic Stay Does Not.

A South Carolina bankruptcy court decision issued earlier this month highlights and illustrates the perils...

26 March, 2011 / 0 Comments

When a Plane Isn’t Really a Plane

Last month, the Delaware Bankruptcy Court offered an interesting look at the preemptive effect of...

22 March, 2011 / 0 Comments

Chapter 15 and US Bankruptcy Courts: How Universal is “Universalism”?

Chapter 15 of the US Bankruptcy Code, enacted in 2005, was Congress' effort to make...

12 March, 2011 / 0 Comments

Section 363 and the Limits of Buyer Protection

Asset sales through bankruptcy are all the rage - they're presumably [relatively] quick.  And just...

07 March, 2011 / 0 Comments

Shari’a Law and Bankruptcy

During recent years, the global economy has seen significant growth in transactions which purport to...

21 February, 2011 / 0 Comments

The Year in Bankruptcy: 2010

  Jones Day's Charles Oellerman and Mark Douglas have just issued The Year in Bankruptcy: 2010.  It...

12 February, 2011 / 0 Comments

It’s Not the Gift That Matters – It’s the Way You Give It.

Ever since the first corporate reorganizations in the US, business owners have been looking for...

08 February, 2011 / 0 Comments

. . . But Will It Work?

The 2008 financial crisis sparked a vigorous debate over how the financial problems of troubled...

31 January, 2011 / 0 Comments

It’s Different In Hong Kong

Readers of this blog will know that a number of jurisdictions around the world have...

24 January, 2011 / 0 Comments

Now Coming to a Bankruptcy Court Near You: The Section 363 Discharge(?!)

Norton’s recently-published 2010 Annual Survey of Bankruptcy Law offers an intriguing article focusing on an...

18 January, 2011 / 0 Comments

Federal Bankruptcy Rules Revisions – Analysis and Comment

  Image via Wikipedia The Insolvency Law Committee for the California State Bar's Business Law Section has...

02 January, 2011 / 0 Comments

Happy Holidays

South Bay Law Firm will be back posting in 2011.  In the meantime, have a safe...

28 December, 2010 / 0 Comments

“Equality is Equity”

The distribution scheme embodied in federal bankruptcy law serves several important functions.  In Chapter 7,...

19 December, 2010 / 0 Comments

Section 363 Sales and the FTC – Caveat Emptor

One of the historical attractions of the Bankruptcy Code as a vehicle for restructuring is...

14 December, 2010 / 0 Comments

Ahcom v. Smeding – Altered Egos Redux

Last month, this blog featured a preliminary post on Ahcom Ltd. v. Smeding (9th Cir. Oct....

05 December, 2010 / 0 Comments

Altered Egos – Part 2: Trust Busters

About a month ago, the Ninth Circuit clarified and restated the ability of individual creditors...

29 November, 2010 / 0 Comments

Fraudulent Transfers By The Numbers – Revisited

Back in May, this blog featured a post on some preliminary research addressing the idea of...

16 November, 2010 / 0 Comments

Clear as Mud

Late last month, the 9th Circuit Bankrpuptcy Appellate Panel clarified earlier precedent and held that...

08 November, 2010 / 0 Comments

Proposed Technical Amendments to BAPCPA

The American Bar Association Section of Business Law provided comments last week to the Senate...

01 November, 2010 / 0 Comments

Altered Egos – The Ninth Circuit Weighs in (Again) On Whether Individual Creditors Can Pursue Their Own “Alter Ego” Claims Against a Bankrupt Entity’s Principals

Whenever a troubled business seeks bankruptcy protection, unsecured creditors are often left scrambling to find...

25 October, 2010 / 0 Comments

First-Day Motions as Literature

In a well-known quote, Depression-era author Thurmond Arnold once described the inside of a corporate...

18 October, 2010 / 0 Comments

Preference Defense and the “Ordinary Course of Business” – It’s All In the Numbers

Most readers of this blog are aware that, under the Bankruptcy Code, a Chapter 11...

11 October, 2010 / 0 Comments

Sales or Plans: A Comparative Account of the ‘New’ Corporate Reorganization – Version 2.0

Image via Wikipedia In April, this blog highlighted research done by Seton Hall's Stephen Lubben and...

04 October, 2010 / 0 Comments

The Automatic Stay Gives Way to Universalism in Chapter 15 Proceedings . . . Sort Of

JSC BTA Bank (BTA), one of Khazakstan’s largest banks, sought restructuring under the guidance of...

28 September, 2010 / 0 Comments

Solvency Analysis in Preference Litigation

Last week's post discussed public-market data as the benchmark for solvency in assessing fraudulent transfers.  This...

13 September, 2010 / 0 Comments

Fraudulent Transfer Litigation – A New Use for Credit Default Swaps?

Credit Default Swaps - those largely unregulated "side bets" over the likelihood of specific companies defaulting...

07 September, 2010 / 0 Comments

The Edge of Discretion

The advent of the information age has given rise to economies built not on steel,...

30 August, 2010 / 0 Comments

Chapter 15 Round-Up

Continued global economic uncertainty and an impending 3d quarter slow-down in the US have translated...

24 August, 2010 / 0 Comments

A New Type of Government Refund: Criminal Restitution Payments Recoverable as Preferential Transfers

From the 9th Circuit last week, a decision providing creditors and their representatives with a potentially...

15 August, 2010 / 0 Comments

DIP Lending in Transition

As the economy lurches forward into an uncertain back half of 2010, the DIP lending...

09 August, 2010 / 0 Comments

Southern California – America’s Small Business Bankruptcy Leader

In a globalized business environment, it should be no surprise that some of the more...

02 August, 2010 / 0 Comments

The Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act: A Reader’s Digest Version

A couple of prior posts on this blog (here and here) have explored the economic...

26 July, 2010 / 0 Comments

The Shadow of Shadow Banking

A recent post over the July 4 holiday weekend offered a "30,000 foot view" of...

18 July, 2010 / 0 Comments

Reflections for a Holiday Weekend: The Great Recession of 2008

Last weekend’s July 4 holiday afforded members of the US business and restructuring community an...

05 July, 2010 / 0 Comments

Examining Examiners

What's it worth to learn from prior mistakes or misdeeds? For interested parties in most large Chapter...

29 June, 2010 / 0 Comments