Hot Topics and Industry Trends

If you have not yet read Part 1 of this series, you’ll want to go back and do so before tackling this Part 2. And if you’ve read Part 1, you’ll recall that we took an in-depth look at why conventional oil production follows a bell curve (known as “Hubbert’s Curve”), and where on that curve we find ourselves today—which happens to be, either at or very near the peak. Continuing with our A. Whitney Brown-style “The Big Picture” approach, we need to now talk about unconventional oil sources, which […]

Back in the mid-to-late ‘80s, when Dennis Miller had a massive mullet (and his stand-up performances were much more likely to be attended by you and your friends than your distant aunt and uncle who worked on the ’72 Nixon campaign), his “Weekend Update” features on Saturday Night Live were often enriched by little segments featuring writer and comedian A. Whitney Brown, who, with just the right amounts of sarcasm, compassion, wit, and insight, would give us “The Big Picture.” In these editorials, Brown shared his perceptions about the topics of […]

The bankruptcy case of the Spokane Country Club (“SCC” the “Club” or the “Debtor”) is a very interesting study of how the bankruptcy process has not only been used to disrupt the collection efforts of plaintiff creditors who have already been awarded a judgment, but also to essentially negate significant policy changes for a club that had been stipulated to in a state court proceeding. The Club was founded in Spokane, Washington in 1898. Spokane is located on the far eastern side of Washington State, closer to Missoula, MT than to Seattle. The city […]

In part one of our series on recharacterization, we discussed the elements of judicial recharacterization of loans as equity interests.[i]  In part two of the series, we considered how debtors can “claw back” putative “loans” that they may have repaid years earlier because the “loans” were in fact equity investments and their repayment was invalid.[ii]  In this finale of the series, we contrast recharacterization with equitable subordination, which is another means by which some creditors can seek to push ahead of others. Equitable subordination resembles recharacterization in that it permits […]

In our last article[i], we discussed the judicial recharacterization of loans as equity interests.  As we described, a court will recharacterize a lender’s debt claim as equity if it determines the “loan” actually was intended to be, and was treated by the parties as, an equity investment.  Recharacterization is a powerful tool for creditors and trustees because, under the Bankruptcy Code’s priority scheme, debt claims (and all general unsecured claims) must be repaid in full before equityholders can receive any distribution on account of their (equity) interests.  Because many, if […]