As we wrap up another successful year for the ABI Real Estate Committee, we want to thank each of our members and our executive committee for making it all possible. Here are a few highlights from the committee’s activities in 2015.
The 2015 Annual Spring Meeting
Lawyers focusing on corporate bankruptcy matters, especially those who work at firms with a large national presence, often represent clients throughout the country and are commonly admitted to practice in more than one jurisdiction. Further, bankruptcy attorneys often blend their practice with bankruptcy court litigation and out-of-court restructuring and transactional matters.
After a significant amount of litigation including an appeal, remand and trial over a two-year period, the bankruptcy court overseeing In re River Road Hotel Partners LLC[1] ultimately determined that FBR Capital Markets & Co., located in Arlington, Va.
During 2015, the Ethics & Professional Compensation Committee offered three opportunities for ABI members to learn about timely and interesting ethical and compensation issues facing professionals in the bankruptcy arena. At the Annual Spring Meeting, we paired with the Bankruptcy Litigation Committee to explore the inner-workings of “Trustee Selection in Commercial Bankruptcy Cases: Who
Benjamin Franklin once famously said, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.” The U.S. federal income tax rules certainly apply to both profitable companies and troubled companies to ensure that no party is left out of the fun. These tax consequences can have a material impact on both the current and future health of a debtor corporation, as well as on the type and amount of assets of the debtor corporation available to both creditors and purchasers of assets of the debtor corporation.
The recent decision in Sabatini Frozen LLC v. Weinberg, Gross, & Pergament LLP[1] is a tale of a failure of corporate governance of a closely-held corporation, coupled with the failure of debtor’s counsel to adequately address that matter.
Under 11 U.S.C. § 330(a)(3)(F), professionals seeking payment from a bankruptcy estate must be compensated using reasonable rates and fees charged by comparably skilled professionals in nonbankruptcy cases. Prompted by the size of the professional fees in large chapter 11 filings, the General Accounting Office (GAO) was asked by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to evaluate whether bankruptcy professionals billed higher fees for large chapter 11 cases, and if
In Pham v. Golden,[1] the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (BAP) reversed an award of sanctions against the debtors and their counsel for discovery abuses in an adversary in which the debtors were not parties. In doing so, the court limited or invalidated several local rules that provided the basis for the bankruptcy court’s award of sanctions.
A recent decision from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California confirms what many bankruptcy attorneys have long suspected: A debtor’s bad conduct in bankruptcy may serve to defeat a fee waiver for a debtor who otherwise qualifies under the income guidelines. In In re Gjerde, the debtor, Sean Patrick Gjerde, was a disbarred
While the flood of residential foreclosures that characterized the Great Recession has dried up, appeals challenging the rights of lenders to recover their post-foreclosure loan balances are still finding their way through the appellate process. Anti-deficiency laws — which either
