Mid Cap
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July 26, 2024
Judge Requires 'Opt In' Releases For Red Lobster Ch. 11
A Florida bankruptcy judge said on Friday that she will conditionally approve disclosures for Red Lobster's reorganization plan after the seafood chain agreed to add "opt in" procedures that some creditors can use to release third parties from liability under its Chapter 11 plan.
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July 26, 2024
US Trustee Raises Jevic Concerns In Coach USA Ch. 11 Sale
The U.S. Trustee's Office on Friday objected to the bidding procedures proposed by bus line operator Coach USA, arguing that a requirement in the company's debtor-in-possession loan agreement to set aside $3.5 million to pay unsecured creditors may be improper because it flouts bankruptcy rules regarding creditor priority.
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July 26, 2024
Apparel Biz Delta Can Auction Assets In August
A Delaware bankruptcy judge cleared the way Friday for clothing manufacturer Delta Apparel to put its assets on the auction block next month with a $28 million starting bid for one of its lifestyle and fashion brands, as the company continues to search for a stalking horse to bid on its remaining clothing lines.
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July 26, 2024
'Terrible Decisions': Ex-McElroy Deutsch CFO Gets 5 Years
McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP's former chief financial officer was sentenced Friday in a New Jersey state court to five years in prison and ordered to pay restitution for embezzling more than $1.5 million from the firm and failing to pay income tax.
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July 26, 2024
New Bill Would Sink 'Texas Two-Step' Ch. 11s Over 'Bad Faith'
U.S. lawmakers are taking aim at a controversial bankruptcy tactic used by Johnson & Johnson and others designed to insulate corporations from mass tort liability, introducing a bipartisan bill that would order courts to label "Texas two-step" Chapter 11 cases "bad-faith filings."
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July 25, 2024
Girardi Can't Block Firm's Chapter 7 Evidence In Fraud Trial
Tom Girardi can't exclude evidence from his upcoming trial that he claims prosecutors illegally obtained from his firm's bankruptcy trustee, after a California federal judge said Thursday no constitutional rights were violated since the evidence was the bankruptcy estate's property and in the trustee's possession.
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July 25, 2024
Embattled Texas Law Firm Wants More Time For Ch. 11 Plan
Troubled Houston law firm MMA Law asked a Texas bankruptcy court to extend the exclusivity period to file a Chapter 11 plan for 120 more days, with a current filing exclusivity period set to end in early August.
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July 25, 2024
Judge Says Gateway Pundit Parent Filed Ch. 11 In Bad Faith
A Florida bankruptcy judge Thursday dismissed the Chapter 11 case of far-right media outlet The Gateway Pundit's parent company as a bad-faith attempt to shield its founder from liability in a defamation suit over articles alleging vote fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
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July 25, 2024
Pioneer Health Seeking More Ch. 11 Financing To Fund Sale
Orthopedic clinic operator Pioneer Health Systems LLC is hoping to cobble together additional debtor-in-possession financing to fund a Chapter 11 sale process, its attorney told a Delaware bankruptcy judge Thursday.
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July 25, 2024
Vintage Wine Estates Can Tap Into $60.5M DIP Financing
Bankrupt wine producer and processor Vintage Wine Estates received permission Thursday from a Delaware bankruptcy judge to begin borrowing under a $60.5 million debtor-in-possession financing package being provided by its prepetition lenders.
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July 24, 2024
Allievex To Liquidate In Chancery's Bankruptcy Alternative
A subsidiary of Rock Creek Advisors LLC created to administer the liquidation of Allievex Corp.'s assets to pay creditors notified Delaware's chancery court on Wednesday that the therapeutics company was insolvent and had signed over control of the assets.
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July 24, 2024
Ex-McElroy Deutsch Exec Says Ch. 11 Doesn't Pause Claims
A former McElroy Deutsch executive told a New Jersey state court that just because her husband — former McElroy Deutsch chief financial officer John Dunlea — has filed for bankruptcy does not mean she needs to pause her claims against the firm for discrimination and retaliation.
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July 24, 2024
Vintage Wine Estates Hits Ch. 11 With Intent To Sell Assets
Vintage Wine Estates, which owns 30 wine brands in California, Oregon and Washington, filed for Chapter 11 protection Wednesday with a plan to sell its assets after post-pandemic wine demand dropped.
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July 24, 2024
UK Bans 830 Directors For COVID Loan Abuse In 12 Months
Hundreds of company directors have been banned in the last year as a result of COVID loan abuse, the Insolvency Service said Wednesday, adding that it has recovered almost £3 million ($3.8 million) of taxpayers' money.
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July 23, 2024
Rudy Giuliani Says MyPillow CEO Covered His RNC Travel
Rudy Giuliani clarified Tuesday that his travel to and from the Republican National Convention was covered by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's conservative media outlet FrankSpeech, according to a filing in New York federal bankruptcy court.
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July 23, 2024
Cannabis Industry Stakeholders Weigh In On Rescheduling
As the period for public comment on the Biden administration's proposal to reclassify marijuana came to a close Monday, anti-legalization activists, marijuana industry advocates and state cannabis regulators each submitted their thoughts on the potential policy shift.
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July 23, 2024
No New Bids For Red Lobster Ahead Of Disclosure Hearing
There may be plenty of other fish in the sea, but Red Lobster did not hook any of them, so the bankrupt restaurant brand is heading toward a hearing on Friday with its private equity stalking-horse bidder as its presumptive buyer.
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July 23, 2024
Judge Won't Force Meta To Run Bankrupt Rubio's Ads
A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Tuesday denied a temporary restraining order requested by fast-casual seafood chain Rubio's Coastal Grill against Meta Platforms Inc., which alleged Meta violated an automatic stay in the Chapter 11 case by not running Rubio's ads after the company didn't pay fees it had incurred prepetition.
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July 23, 2024
Sports Retailer Wins Final OK To Tap Cash Collateral In Ch. 11
A Delaware bankruptcy judge agreed Tuesday to allow the parent of two sports retail chains to continue using cash collateral in its Chapter 11 reorganization, after the company filed a final draft of a proposed order that satisfied concerns laid out by PNC Bank, its largest creditor.
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July 23, 2024
Bittrex Raises 'Red Flags' On $20M Customer Crypto Claim
Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex on Tuesday asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge to reject an account holder's $20 million claim, saying there are too many "red flags" of possible illegal activity around the account for it to release the assets.
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July 23, 2024
Airspan Gets OK On $5M DIP Add Amid Regulator Delay
A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved telecommunications company Airspan Networks' request for $5 million in supplemental debtor-in-possession financing, enabling the company to fund operations as it awaits regulatory approval of its Chapter 11 plan.
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July 23, 2024
Malpractice Insurer Escapes Conn. Firm's Suit For Coverage
A Connecticut law firm and its principal will not have their legal bills reimbursed by their malpractice insurer after a state judge granted an early win to the insurance company, noting the firm admitted it was already facing a misconduct claim when its policy went into effect.
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July 23, 2024
18 Whiteford Attys Launch Raines Feldman's Pittsburgh Office
More than a dozen attorneys specializing in bankruptcy, and securities and commercial litigation, have left Whiteford Taylor & Preston to help Raines Feldman Littrell launch its new office in Pittsburgh this week.
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July 23, 2024
Ex-Parler Owner Proposes Ch. 11 Sale Plan, Creditor Deal
The former owner of conservative social media platform Parler filed proposed Chapter 11 bidding procedures in Delaware court late Monday along with a settlement with its senior secured creditor that will return $300,000 to the estate.
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July 23, 2024
Former Doctor To Be Released From Jail In FBAR Fight
A former doctor will be released from U.S. custody after a Michigan federal court lifted Tuesday an order of civil contempt against him for failure to pay about $1 million in foreign account reporting penalties.
Meet The Attorneys In Vintage Wine Estates' Ch. 11
A team of lawyers from Richards Layton & Finger PA and Jones Day is guiding Vintage Wine Estates, an owner of more than 30 wine brands, through its Chapter 11 case in Delaware.
'Textbook Failure' Enabled CFO's Theft From McElroy Deutsch
As the criminal case against McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLC's former chief financial officer reaches sentencing, fraud experts and legal leaders tell Law360 Pulse that his misconduct signals a lack of internal controls at the firm.
Texas Bankruptcy Court Gets New Judge For Biggest Cases
A former Weil Gotshal & Manges partner has started work as the newest judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas at a critical time for the popular Chapter 11 venue, taking the place of former Judge David R. Jones whose ethics scandal last year rocked the court.
Expert Analysis
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Ambiguity Ruling Highlights Deference To Arbitral Process
A New York federal court’s recent ruling in Eletson v. Levona, which remanded an arbitral award for clarification, reflects that the ambiguity exception’s analysis is not static and may be applied even in cases where the award, when issued, was unambiguous, says arbitrator Myrna Barakat Friedman.
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Justices' Ch. 11 Ruling Is A Big Moment For Debtors' Insurers
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Truck Insurance v. Kaiser Gypsum ruling upends decades of Chapter 11 bankruptcy jurisprudence that relegated a debtor’s insurer to the sidelines, giving insurers a new footing to try and avoid significant liability, say Stuart Gordon and Benjamin Wisher at Rivkin Radler.
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What FTX Case Taught Us About Digital Asset Recoverability
FTX's Chapter 11 plan has drawn lots of attention, but the focus should be on the anticipated outcome for investors, which counters several myths about digital currencies, innovation and recoverability, says Kyla Curley at StoneTurn.
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A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates
Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.
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Synapse Bankruptcy Has Ripple Effects For Fintech Industry
Synapse Financial Technologies’ recent bankruptcy filing marks a significant moment in the fintech industry's evolution, highlighting that stringent compliance and risk management in fintech partnerships are essential to mitigate risk and protect consumers, say Joann Needleman and Ryan Blumberg at Clark Hill.
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Discount Window Reform Needed To Curb Modern Bank Runs
We learned during the spring 2023 failures that bank runs can happen extraordinarily fast in light of modern technology, especially when banks have a greater concentration of large deposits, demonstrating that the antiquated but effective discount window needs to be overhauled before the next crisis, says Cris Cicala at Stinson.
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2 Options For Sackler Family After High Court Purdue Ruling
After the U.S. Supreme Court recently blocked Purdue Pharma's plan to shield the family that owns the company from bankruptcy lawsuits, the Sacklers face the choice to either continue litigation, or return to the bargaining table for a settlement that doesn't eliminate creditor claims, says Gregory Germain at Syracuse University.
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Revisiting Scalia's 'What's It To You?' After Kaiser Ruling
While the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser allows insurers to be considered "parties in interest" in Chapter 11 cases, they still need to show they would face an injury in fact, answering the late Justice Antonin Scalia's "what's it to you?" question, say Brent Weisenberg and Jeff Prol at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Florida Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2
The second quarter of 2024 brought two notable bills that will affect Florida's banking and finance community across many issues, including virtual currency abandonment, cancellation of financial services on the basis of political opinions, and the exemption amount of motor vehicles, say Joshua Prever and Andrew Balthazor at Holland & Knight.
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How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts
As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.
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Purdue Ch. 11 Ruling Reinforces Importance Of D&O Coverage
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma, holding that a Chapter 11 reorganization cannot discharge claims against a nondebtor without affected claimants' consent, will open new litigation pathways surrounding corporate insolvency and increase the importance of robust directors and officers insurance, says Evan Bolla at Harris St. Laurent.
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Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem
The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.
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Parsing Justices' Toss Of Purdue's Controversial Ch. 11 Plan
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent nixing of OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma's Chapter 11 proposal prevents the Sackler family from settling thousands of civil opioid lawsuits without the consent of all of the plaintiffs, and holds profound implications for bankruptcy cases, say attorneys at MoloLamken.