Large Cap
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March 17, 2025
US Trustee Leader Ousted, Eletson's Ex-Owners Face Fines
The reported removal of the director of the U.S. Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog program has thrown the historically apolitical office into broader waves of upheaval, a bankruptcy judge has said he would impose a daily fine on the former owners of Eletson, and another bankruptcy judge detailed why he overruled objections in Spirit Airlines' Chapter 11 plan. This is the week in bankruptcy.
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March 17, 2025
Yellow Corp. Creditors Threaten To File Competing Ch. 11 Plan
The official committee of unsecured creditors for troubled trucking company Yellow Corp. told a Delaware bankruptcy judge Monday the group would push its own version of a Chapter 11 proposal if the debtor cannot reach a global settlement with its creditors.
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March 17, 2025
Forever 21 Hits Ch. 11 Again With $1.6B Of Debt, Sale Plan
Fashion retailer Forever 21's U.S. operator has filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware bankruptcy court with $1.58 billion of funded debt and plans to wind down operations at its 354 U.S. stores if it fails to find a last-minute buyer for the business.
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March 14, 2025
Reed Smith To Fight Removal In $102M Shipping Award Suit
A New York federal judge has paused his order removing Reed Smith LLP as counsel for the former owners of reorganized international shipping group Eletson Holdings in litigation over a $102 million arbitral award while the BigLaw firm appeals the decision to the Second Circuit.
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March 14, 2025
Under The Radar: Bankruptcy News You May Have Missed
Avon's international unit asked a bankruptcy judge to extend the window during which only it can propose a Chapter 11 plan, consulting firm Azzur Group Holdings asked the Delaware bankruptcy court to approve its Chapter 11 plan disclosures and allow it to hold a vote, and Philadelphia's University of the Arts proposed selling a property for nearly $7 million. These are some of the bankruptcy stories you may have missed in the last week.
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March 14, 2025
Three Arrows Beats FTX To Get $1.5B Bankruptcy Claim
The liquidators of failed cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital have prevailed in a dispute with FTX Trading Ltd. over the allowance of a $1.53 billion bankruptcy claim, with a Delaware judge deciding to grant Three Arrows' bid to change its original claim despite FTX asserting that the move was made in bad faith.
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March 14, 2025
Mitel Networks' 5-Year Journey Into Bankruptcy
Business telecommunications company Mitel Networks hit bankruptcy earlier this month after a societal shift in working conditions began five years prior with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to its court filings.
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March 14, 2025
Wellpath Gets OK For Vote On Ch. 11 Reorganization Plan
A Texas bankruptcy judge on Friday gave prison healthcare business Wellpath permission to go ahead with a vote on its Chapter 11 plan after a claimants' committee said it would reserve objections for the plan confirmation hearing.
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March 14, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Davis Polk, Paul Weiss
In this week's Taxation With Representation, Mallinckrodt PLC and Endo Inc. combine, Rocket Cos. buys Redfin, and Endo divests its international pharmaceuticals business to Knight Therapeutics Inc.
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March 13, 2025
Judge To Weigh Doc Release In San Francisco Diocese Ch. 11
A California bankruptcy judge on Thursday said he wouldn't immediately decide whether to make public two documents the creditors committee in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco's Chapter 11 case wants to allow the public to see.
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March 13, 2025
Judge Won't Toss $35M Ch. 11 Bank Fee Clawback Lawsuit
A Delaware bankruptcy judge has denied a summary judgment bid to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that an $1.8 billion loan set medical testing company Millennium Laboratories on course for its 2015 Chapter 11.
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March 13, 2025
Bankruptcy Watchdog Ouster Crosses Into Uncharted Waters
The recent removal of the head of the U.S. Trustee's Office may be sending the previously nonpolitical bankruptcy watchdog into unknown territory, causing concerns in the legal space.
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March 13, 2025
Sandy Hook Families Oppose Revived Infowars Sale Bid
Families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have urged a Texas bankruptcy judge to block an Alex Jones-affiliated company's revived bid to buy his Infowars platform, saying it will cause delays in the more than three-year-old related bankruptcy cases.
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March 13, 2025
6 Firms Steer $6.7B Mallinckrodt, Endo Pharma Merger
Six law firms are guiding a $6.7 billion merger between Ireland's Mallinckrodt PLC and Pennsylvania-based Endo Inc. on a deal announced Thursday that the companies said will create a global pharmaceutical industry leader with projected 2025 revenues of $3.6 billion.
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March 13, 2025
Senate Stablecoin Bill Advances With Democrats Divided
The Republican-led U.S. Senate Banking Committee advanced its stablecoin framework Thursday with the help of Democrats who broke from ranking member Sen. Elizabeth Warren's opposition, while a separate bill on what is being called debanking passed along party lines.
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March 13, 2025
Alex Jones' Sandy Hook Atty Suspended Over Info Release
Former Alex Jones attorney Norm Pattis will be suspended from practicing law for two weeks, a Connecticut judge has ruled, capping a three-year ethics saga that started when Pattis asked an associate to send Sandy Hook families' medical records to the Infowars host's Texas bankruptcy lawyer.
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March 12, 2025
Spirit Airlines Release Ruling Is Another Boost For Opt-Outs
A New York bankruptcy judge's decision last week to approve a contentious form of third-party release in Spirit Airlines' Chapter 11 case signals that courts are increasingly comfortable finding that a creditor's silence can be used to establish their consent, an issue hotly debated in the months since the U.S. Supreme Court's Purdue Pharma ruling.
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March 12, 2025
Mo. Court Finds Exclusion Bars Mallinckrodt Opioid Coverage
A group of insurers have no coverage obligations under certain policies issued to drugmaker Mallinckrodt as a trust created from the company's first bankruptcy seeks to resolve underlying opioid claims with the help of insurance benefits, a Missouri state court ruled, finding a "your products" exclusion applicable.
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March 12, 2025
Willkie Beats Malpractice Suit Over ERISA Ch. 11 Advice
An Ohio federal judge affirmed Tuesday a bankruptcy court's decision tossing legal malpractice claims filed by a coal company executive's estate against Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, rejecting the estate's arguments it sufficiently alleged Willkie was grossly negligent in failing to warn the estate about a potential $6.5 billion ERISA liability.
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March 12, 2025
Northvolt's Ch. 11 Dismissal Possible After Swedish Filing
Bankrupt electric vehicle battery maker Northvolt AB told a Texas bankruptcy judge that its Chapter 11 case is possibly headed for dismissal after its parent company filed an insolvency case in Swedish court early Wednesday.
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March 12, 2025
HSBC Says Madoff Trustee Claims Were Filed Years Too Late
Units of the London-based bank HSBC say that more than $324 million of claims brought by the trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernie Madoff's bankruptcy estate should be thrown out because they were filed more than a decade late.
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March 12, 2025
US Trustee Seeks Sanctions Against NY Lawyer
The federal bankruptcy watchdog asked a New York judge Wednesday to sanction a lawyer who allegedly concealed her conflicts of interest while representing a debtor and a buyer in two separate Chapter 11 cases.
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March 12, 2025
Ex-Eletson Owners Face $5K Daily Fine For Ch. 11 Challenge
A New York bankruptcy judge on Wednesday ordered the prebankruptcy shareholders of Greek shipping group Eletson Holdings to end their opposition to overseas recognition of the company's Chapter 11 plan or pay $5,000 a day in fines.
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March 12, 2025
2nd Circ. Upholds Sanctions In Chinese Billionaire's Ch. 11
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday torpedoed an appeal from the daughter of bankrupt Chinese exile Miles Guo — also known as Ho Won Kwok — and her attorney seeking to overturn a nearly $83,400 discovery sanction, saying the contempt ruling was merited.
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March 12, 2025
Fox Rothschild Hires Lewis Brisbois Litigator In DC
A trial attorney who spent the past four years at Lewis Brisbois, has moved his practice to Fox Rothschild LLP and told Law360 Pulse in an interview Wednesday that his new role continued a family tradition of Fox Rothschild attorneys stretching back 100 years.
Expert Analysis
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Expect More Restaurant Ch. 11s As COVID Debt Comes Due
The wave of restaurant bankruptcies is likely to continue in the coming months as companies face the looming repayment of COVID-19 pandemic-era government loans, an uncertain economy and increased interest rates, says Isaac Marcushamer at DGIM Law.
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Mitigating Risk In Net Asset Value Facility Bankruptcies
In times of economic turbulence, parties to bankruptcy proceedings that involve net asset value facilities can mitigate risk by understanding the purpose of the automatic stay, complications it can create for NAV facility lenders and options for relief, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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Tax Traps In Acquisitions Of Financially Distressed Targets
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Parties to the acquisition of an insolvent or bankrupt company face myriad tax considerations, including limitations on using the distressed company's tax benefits, cancellation of indebtedness income, tax lien issues and potential tax reorganizations.
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7 Steps To Take Before Responding To Claim Objections
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
When counsel is notified of an objection to the proof of claim in a bankruptcy case, they should contact the client and begin discussing the cost and benefit of responding.
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Tips For Handling Single Asset Real Estate Bankruptcy Cases
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Bankruptcy counsel should consider several strategies when representing either a debtor or lender in single asset real estate debtor Chapter 11 cases, which generally arise when a debtor is forced to file for relief to stop an impending foreclosure sale.
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How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations
Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.
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Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles
Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.
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Ch. 11 Ruling Shows Early Attempt To Tackle Purdue Fallout
A Delaware bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in Parlement Technologies’ Chapter 11 case, which denied a bid by Parler’s former owner to extend its bankruptcy stay to nondebtors, illustrates early efforts to grapple with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Purdue Pharma for a recurring bankruptcy issue, say Daniel Lowenthal and Jonah Wacholder at Patterson Belknap.
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9 Liability Management Tips As Debt Maturity Cliff Looms
As the debt maturity cliff swiftly approaches in this challenging environment, attorneys at Winston & Strawn highlight the top considerations for boards of directors and finance professionals to think about when structuring and executing liability management transactions, including reviewing capital structure, evaluating debt covenants, and more.
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Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.
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How Cos. Can Leverage IP In Corporate Bankruptcy
In light of an increase in year-to-date Chapter 11 filings, businesses must understand the importance and value of intellectual property in corporate bankruptcy and restructuring, from contributing to enterprise value, to providing leverage in negotiations and facilitating recovery, says Gregory Campanella at Ocean Tomo.
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Avoiding Retail Bankruptcy As Economic Uncertainty Persists
Amid record retail bankruptcies and continued economic uncertainty in 2024, retailers can take specific steps like building stronger cash-flow models, managing inventory wisely and reassessing cost structures to avoid financial distress, say consultants at BRG.
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Banking Compliance Takeaways From Joint Agency Statement
Federal bank regulatory agencies’ recent joint statement warning of risks associated with third-party fintech deposit services spotlights a fundamental problem that may arise with bank deposit products that are made through increasingly complex customer relationships, says Tom Witherspoon at Stinson.