A Series on the ABCs of ABCs, Business Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring/Insolvency Since a judge presides over a chapter 11 proceeding, one might assume that a chapter 11 case is like any other commercial litigation matter, with one party on each side of the case: a plaintiff and a defendant. One would be wrong (Felix Unger taught us what happens when we “ass-u-me”). In this installment of our series on business bankruptcy, restructuring and insolvency, we look at debtors, chapter 11 trustees, types of creditors and other parties involved in […]

A Series on the ABCs of ABCs, Business Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring/Insolvency Greetings, Dear Reader: It seems you’re interested in learning how to deal with corporate distress, and we’re glad you’re here. But let’s first make sure you got on the right plane. Maybe you… Are a C-suite executive of a business that’s considering buying a failing competitor on the cheap Manage a private equity or hedge fund Are a junior associate in the restructuring or special situations group of a law, investment banking, or accounting firm Are a credit […]

An Unfortunate Case for Unsecured Creditors A settlement agreement in the Mega RV Corp. bankruptcy highlighted the interplay between an overzealous lender and a repentant business owner who came together to cooperate and provide a windfall recovery to unsecured creditors. Ultimately, through the machinations of the bankruptcy case, the settlement proved to be insufficient to provide the windfall that was optimistically expected only a short time earlier. Who is Mega RV? Mega RV was founded in 2000 by Mike McMahon as McMahon’s RV. They were in the business of selling […]

A written tour of business bankruptcy and its alternatives. This is the latest in the series, Dealing with Distress for Fun & Profit, which you can read from the beginning if you like. Our last two installments focused on the basics of confirming a plan, followed by specific plan confirmation issues to address with individual classes of creditors. In this installment, our fearless authors take on a discussion of a less frequently used, yet highly effective means of confirming plans–plan support agreements and restructuring support agreements. Overview of Restructuring Support […]

A written tour of business bankruptcy and its alternatives. This is the latest in the series, Dealing with Distress for Fun & Profit, which you can read from the beginning if you like1. Our last installment focused on the basics of confirming a plan. In this installment, our fearless authors drill down into the various ways of confirming a plan with respect to individual classes of creditors.

A written tour of business bankruptcy and its alternatives. This is the latest in the series, Dealing with Distress for Fun & Profit, which you can read from the beginning if you like.  In this bat-installment, we turn to what is, theoretically, one of the most important parts of any chapter 11 case: confirming a chapter 11 plan. Chapter 11 Plans Are Not Always in the Cards Notice our use of the word “theoretically” above?  That is because in many chapter 11 cases there never is a plan. Some cases […]

This series was started with a broad overview of business bankruptcy, but our last few installments have focused on: unsecured creditors the priority scheme in bankruptcy protecting/collecting your claim In this installment, we draw on our discussion of the priority scheme, with a special focus on super and residual priorities. As previously discussed, not all claims are treated the same.  At its foundation, claims can be divided into two general buckets—secured and unsecured.  If there is collateral securing the claim, it is secured.  If not, it’s unsecured.  However, Congress decided […]

This series was started (click here to read from the beginning) with a broad overview of business bankruptcy but our last few installments have focused on unsecured creditors (click here to read about unsecured creditors) and the priority scheme in bankruptcy (click here for the 30,000-foot view or you can find more specific treatment here). In this installment, we move on to the nuts and bolts of filing, preserving and protecting your claim in bankruptcy. A. File Proof of Claims and Adhere to Bar Dates to Protect Your Claim Of all bankruptcy case deadlines, the […]

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded:  reclamation rights are illusory in bankruptcy cases.  Where a supplier ships goods to a company that later files for bankruptcy, section 546(c) of the Bankruptcy Code provides reclamation remedies (i.e., supplier getting the goods back) under certain circumstances (there are time limits, etc.) if the supplier has such rights under state law (e.g., Uniform Commercial Code section 2-702). But most corporate debtors have a secured creditor in place with liens on all property of the debtor, including inventory and proceeds thereof.  And most […]

A written tour of business bankruptcy and its alternatives We started this series (click here to start reading from the beginning) with a broad overview of business bankruptcy but our last several installments have focused on one small, albeit important, aspect- the automatic stay.  We’ve heard from a number of readers that they would like to read more about the proverbial forest, rather than just the automatic stay tree.  And, so, with this installment we pan the camera back to explain a concept that is at play throughout a bankruptcy […]