The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) can be the largest unsecured creditor in chapter 11 cases and is usually a very influential member of creditors’ committees, which can lead to feuds with other creditors.
Sites Committee
Committees
While there are several important differences between the pending proposals to revise the system to resolve failing large financial institutions, they all have at least one thing in common: the belief that chapter 11 isn’t up to the task.
There has been a significant wave of health care provider consolidation driven by the desire to achieve scale in response to declining patient volumes and reimbursement, increasing costs, health care reform and the need for capital to implement improvements in the delivery of care, development/expansion of their physician networks and to make needed upgrades in IT, especially electronic medical
At times, it is necessary to hire special or co-counsel in a bankruptcy case when the case involves matters that are beyond the expertise of debtor’s counsel, such as tax law or personal-injury litigation. These employments can run afoul of the Bankruptcy Code if the applications to hire and payment of attorney fees are not handled in an appropriate manner.
Rule 1.1 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct requires that all lawyers provide “competent representation to a client.” In August 2012, the ABA added new language to Model Rule 1.1, comment 8:
To maintain the requisite knowledge and skill, a lawyer should keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology, engage in continuing study and education and comply with all continuing legal education requirements to which the lawyer is subject. (new language in italics).
Privacy issues are not new to corporate reorganizations; §§ 322 and 363(b)(1) were enacted as part of BAPCPA precisely to address such concerns.[1] In an increasingly digital age, reorganizing debtors may possess a slew of personally identifiable information (PII), itself a term defined at § 101(41A).
One of the fundamental rights afforded to a debtor is the right to reject burdensome contracts and unexpired leases. However, where the debtor is the lessor of real property or the assignor of intellectual property, rejection of the underlying agreement could be catastrophic to the nondebtor counterparty.
It will come as no surprise to anyone in the bankruptcy and corporate restructuring world over the last few years that the overall number of bankruptcy filings has steadily declined since 2010. Statistics maintained by the Administrative Office of the U.S.
Editor's Note: David Morris is the senior deputy prosecuting attorney for the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office Child Support Division and an adjunct professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.
Hon. Sheri Bluebond sits as chief judge on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California. She is a dynamic figure at most bar events and is revered by colleagues, attorneys and trustees. For example, she recently presented an award at the home of James T. King, a beloved leader of the bankruptcy community, who became bedridden while battling cancer.
