ABIs CanadianAmerican Cross-Border Insolvency Symposium to Be Held on Nov. 7 in Toronto
Contact: John Hartgen
703-894-5935
[email protected]
ABI’S CANADIAN/AMERICAN CROSS-BORDER INSOLVENCY SYMPOSIUM TO BE HELD ON NOV. 7 IN TORONTO
September 1, 2011, Alexandria, Va. —
Bankruptcy practitioners handling international cases will not want to
miss the American Bankruptcy Institute’s (ABI) Canadian/American
Cross-Border Insolvency Symposium on Nov. 7 at the Fairmont Royal York
in Toronto. Experts from Canada and the U.S. will be discussing the
hottest topics in cross-border proceedings at the Symposium, and
attendees will have the opportunity to earn 6 hours of CLE/CPD credit,
as well as 7 hours of CPE credit.This year’s program will also be
co-hosted by the Annual Review of Insolvency Law, the Canadian
Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals, the
Insolvency Institute of Canada and TMA Toronto. The co-chairs for the
Symposium are Steven G. Golick of Osler, Hoskin &
Harcourt LLP (Toronto) and Marcia L. Goldstein of Weil,
Gotshal & Manges LLP (New York).
Concurrent sessions include:
•
Too Big to Fail. Or Is It?
•
Labour-Relations Issues on Restructuring: The New Deal?
•
Ancillary Proceedings: Chapter 15/Section 18.6—What Really
Happens?
•
Cross-Border Workouts: A Roundtable. The Bear Pit Session!
•
North American Idol: Insights from Leading Turnaround Specialists
•
Where’s the Dough? What’s New in Financing Debtors?
•
Hot Topics
•
So, You Want to Be a Court Officer?
•
Who’s in Control?
•
To Infinity and Beyond: Where Have We Come From? Where Are We Now? Where
Are We Going?
The program also includes a special luncheon keynote by Paul Ingrassia,
a Pulitzer Prize-winning financial journalist and former president of
Dow Jones Newswires. For more information on the program schedule,
please click the following link:
http://www.abiworld.org/CANAM11/schedule.html
For more information on ABI’s Canadian/American Cross-Border
Insolvency Symposium, please visit http://www.abiworld.org/CANAM11. If
you have a Twitter account and would like to follow the conference or
contribute a post about the conference, please utilize #CanAmIS11.
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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes more than 13,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.
ABI Quick Poll Responses Mixed as to Whether Municipalities Should Be Required to Go Through Mediation Before Filing for Chapter 9
Contact: John Hartgen
703-894-5935
[email protected]
ABI QUICK POLL RESPONSES MIXED AS TO WHETHER MUNICIPALITIES SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO GO THROUGH MEDIATION BEFORE FILING FOR CHAPTER 9
September 15, 2011, Alexandria, Va.— Though
not achieving a majority, more respondents in a closely divided ABI
Quick Poll thought that local governments should be required to first go
through mediation before filing for chapter 9. Forty-nine percent agreed
(30 percent “strongly agreed” and 19 percent “somewhat
agreed”) and 44 percent disagreed (33 percent “strongly
disagreed” and 11 percent “somewhat disagreed”) that
mediation should be required prior to a municipal government filing for
chapter 9. Five percent “did not know or had no opinion” on
the question.
Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code provides for the reorganization of
municipalities (including cities and towns, as well as villages,
counties, taxing districts, municipal utilities and school districts).
Financially struggling towns and local governments looking to recover
from the recent recession are finding it harder to restructure debts
accrued for infrastructure costs, as well as employee-related costs for
health care, pensions and wages. Alabama’s Jefferson County is
trying to avert a chapter 9 filing by continuing to work on an agreement
with creditors of a failed sewer-bond refinancing. Harrisburg, the
capital of Pennsylvania, is still negotiating debt payments on an
incinerator system that has had the city’s council discussing a
chapter 9 filing since 2009.
In California, legislation designed to limit the discretion of cities,
counties, special districts and other public agencies from filing for
bankruptcy is headed to Gov. Jerry Brown (D) after passing the state
legislature earlier this month. Assembly Bill 506 would bar local
government agencies from filing for bankruptcy until they undergo
mediation or hold a public hearing and declare a fiscal emergency
threatening the health, safety or well-being of residents. The bill is a
priority for public employee unions whose contracts might be disturbed
by a chapter 9 filing.
ABI’s Quick Poll is posted on ABI’s home page, www.abiworld.org. ABI members and
the public are invited to respond to a question on a timely bankruptcy
or insolvency issue. Visit http://www.abiworld.net/quickpoll/
to access the results of previous ABI Quick Polls.
###
ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes over 13,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.
ABIs Growing Social Media Presence Provides Members and the Public with a New Forum for Bankruptcy News and Events
Contact: John Hartgen
703-894-5935
[email protected]
ABI’S GROWING SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE PROVIDES MEMBERS AND THE PUBLIC WITH A NEW FORUM FOR BANKRUPTCY NEWS AND EVENTS
September 30, 2011, Alexandria, Va. — With
nearly 2,700 LinkedIn members, over 1,000 Twitter followers and more
than 500 Facebook fans, the American Bankruptcy Institute’s (ABI)
social presence continues to expand to provide the most up-to-date
bankruptcy information to practitioners and the public. In conjunction
with an award-winning website, publications and educational materials,
ABI’s social media channels provide members and the public an
expedient way of delivering bankruptcy information on familiar networks
for users to efficiently share.
ABI’s growth in social media supplements the organization’s
mission to act as a forum for its members and the public to find out
about and discuss important bankruptcy topics. Posts to ABI’s
Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn networks deliver information on hot
bankruptcy topics and news, updates on ABI events and programming, and
the latest membership resources that ABI has to offer. ABI also utilizes
social media to provide a social media forum for discussion at
conferences and events by assigning and promoting a unique Twitter
hashtag to each of its conferences. Additionally, ABI provides discounts
and exclusive offers over all of its networks for its members and the
public to save on ABI events and products.
If you are looking to expand your social networking presence or engage
in discussions on topics related to bankruptcy, ABI invites you to join
its social networks:
Twitter: http://twitter.abi.org
Facebook: http://facebook.abi.org
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.abi.org
(Note: ABI’s LinkedIn page is currently restricted to ABI members
only.)
###
ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes nearly 13,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.
Professor Jason Kilborn to Serve as Fall 2011 ABI Resident Scholar
Contact: John Hartgen
703-894-5935
[email protected]
PROFESSOR JASON KILBORN TO SERVE AS FALL 2011 ABI RESIDENT SCHOLAR
September 9, 2011, Alexandria, Va. — Prof.
Jason Kilborn will serve as the Robert M. Zinman ABI
Resident Scholar for the fall 2011 semester. Prof. Kilborn teaches
bankruptcy, secured transactions and corporations at The John Marshall
Law School (Chicago) and is one of the nation’s leading scholars
on comparative law in consumer bankruptcy. He will be based in ABI's
Alexandria, Va., office, assisting ABI with its educational programming
and in its role as the authoritative source of bankruptcy information
for Congress, the media and the public. While at ABI, Prof. Kilborn will
serve as co-editor for upcoming books and monographs, including the
forthcoming ABI Year in Review in Consumer Bankruptcy. He will also host
podcasts at ABI World and serve as a speaker at ABI’s 7th Annual
Detroit Consumer Bankruptcy Conference and the 23rd Annual Winter
Leadership Conference.
Prof. Kilborn has written several pioneering articles and a book
examining developing consumer insolvency systems throughout
Europe. He also co-authored a book on international cooperation in
cross-border business reorganization, published by Oxford University
Press in 2009. Prof. Kilborn is the lead scholar assisting The World
Bank in an ongoing examination of legal regimes for the treatment of
insolvency of natural persons, with a global presentation coming this
November in Washington, D.C.
After graduating magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law
School, Prof. Kilborn clerked for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Third Circuit before becoming an associate at Cleary, Gottlieb,
Steen & Hamilton in New York, and later joined the Washington, D.C.,
office of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering. He previously taught at
Louisiana State University Law School and as a visiting professor at the
University of Texas.
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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes more than 13,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.
Supreme Courts Ruling in Stern v. Marshall Complicates Bankruptcy Process According to ABI Journal Article
Contact: John Hartgen
703-894-5935
[email protected]
SUPREME COURT’S RULING IN STERN V. MARSHALL COMPLICATES BANKRUPTCY PROCESS, ACCORDING TO ABI JOURNAL ARTICLE
October 3, 2011, Alexandria, Va. — An article
in the October edition of the ABI Journal finds that the
Supreme Court’s ruling in Stern v. Marshall could cause
considerable consternation in the administration of bankruptcies going
forward. Author David P. Leibowitz of Lakeland Law
(Chicago) provides potential implications of the Court’s ruling in
Stern as well as the historical precedent used by the Court in
determining that a state law counterclaim to a proof of claim is not
within the constitutional jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court, and that
such a counterclaim must rather be heard by an Article III judge or a
state court judge. “The Court will not tolerate anything that in
any way tends to limit or usurp the judicial power of Article III
courts,” Leibowitz writes.
The constitutional foundation centers primarily on the jurisdiction of
Article I courts, including bankruptcy courts, and Article III courts,
including federal district courts. While both were authorized by
Constitution, Article III, or judicial courts are the only courts with
judicial power whose judges serve a lifetime tenure. Bankruptcy courts,
or legislative courts, created by Congress under Article I function as
units of the district courts and have subject-matter jurisdiction over
bankruptcy cases. While Leibowitz explores previous Supreme Court cases
that have dealt with jurisdictional issues in bankruptcy cases, he
highlights the Supreme Court’s 1982 ruling in Northern
Pipeline Constr. Co. v. Marathon Pipeline Co. In that case, the
Court focused on the importance of separation of powers, especially the
importance of lifetime tenure of Article III judges, which bankruptcy
judges do not have. The Court in Marathon ruled that matters
that are “inherently judicial” were to be decided
exclusively by Article III courts in the federal system.
In Stern v. Marshall, “the Supreme Court asserted its
zealous protection of Article III courts’ prerogatives even more
emphatically than it did in Marathon,” according to
Leibowitz. Though Justice Roberts minimized the practical consequences
of Stern in speaking for the Court, Leibowtiz wrote that a
number of subsequent adversary proceedings involving proofs of claim,
which were formerly heard by the bankruptcy courts prior to the
Stern decision, must now be heard in district court.
“Matters that had been heard in bankruptcy court will now be
subject to forum-shopping in the district and state courts,”
Leibowtiz wrote. “Stern will cause considerable
consternation in bankruptcy circles for some time,” according to
Leibowitz, and bankruptcy judges might “feel a lot more like
erstwhile bankruptcy referees.”
To obtain a copy of “Stern v. Marshall: A Constitutional
Conundrum,” published in the October edition of the ABI
Journal, please contact John Hartgen at 703-894-5935 or via email
at [email protected].
###
ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes nearly 13,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.
ABI Journal Article Details How Terminated Employees Scored a Key Ruling on Priority Treatment of Severance Claims
Contact: John Hartgen
703-894-5935
[email protected]
ABI JOURNAL ARTICLE DETAILS HOW TERMINATED EMPLOYEES SCORED A KEY RULING ON PRIORITY TREATMENT OF SEVERANCE CLAIMS
September 6, 2011, Alexandria, Va. — An
article in the September edition of the ABI Journal looks at a
recent district court ruling that provided laid-off employees with a key
victory on the priority treatment of severance claims. Author
Gregory Fox of Friedman Kaplan Seller & Adelman LLP
(New York) explains how the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
addressed the issue in the chapter 11 case of Land America Financial
Group, Inc. The Fourth Circuit upheld a bankruptcy court ruling to grant
full priority treatment to severance claims of laid-off employees of
LandAmerica. “This case represents a bittersweet victory for the
workers who are often the casualties of bankruptcy, and should be
considered carefully by corporations seeking to address severance
obligations through a chapter 11 plan,” Fox writes.
Employee layoffs are frequently part of a failing company’s
cost-cutting strategy. During the 180-day period prior to filing for
chapter 11 in 2008, LandAmerica terminated 125 employees who, as of the
bankruptcy filing, had not received their severance payments owed to
them under the company’s severance plan. The former employees then
filed proofs of claim against the company’s bankruptcy estate,
seeking priority treatment for their claims up to the statutory cap set
by § 507(a)(4) of the Bankruptcy Code. The liquidating trustee
appointed under LandAmerica’s confirmed reorganization plan
objected to these proofs of claim in 2010. The bankruptcy court
overruled the trustee’s objections and held that the severance pay
was earned on the date of the worker’s termination and the
severance claims brought by the former employees were entitled to
priority treatment. On July 6, 2011, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the
bankruptcy court’s ruling that LandAmerica’s former
employees should receive priority treatment to recoup their severance
claims.
“The Fourth Circuit bolstered a significant employee-protection statute and went against the grain of case law that had been upholding debtors’ and trustees’ efforts to limit the amount of severance obligations that actually reaches the pockets of terminated employees,” Fox wrote. “In the future, debtors seeking to take advantage of the chapter 11 process will need to consider the result in LandAmerica if they have significant unpaid severance obligations incurred six months in advance of the bankruptcy filing.”
To obtain a copy of “Laid-Off Employees Score Key Victory on
Priority Treatment of Severance Claims,” published in the
September edition of the ABI Journal, please contact John
Hartgen at 703-894-5935 or via email at [email protected].
###
ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes nearly 13,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.
ABIs Powerful New Search Engine Blazes Across Archives to Find the Information That Bankruptcy Professionals Need
Contact: John Hartgen
703-894-5935
[email protected]
ABI’S POWERFUL NEW SEARCH ENGINE BLAZES ACROSS ARCHIVES TO FIND THE INFORMATION THAT BANKRUPTCY PROFESSIONALS NEED
September 29, 2011, Alexandria, Va. — The
American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) has developed a new, more powerful
online search engine (http://search.abi.org) that allows ABI
members to search content across ABI websites to quickly find
much-needed information. As another valuable service provided to ABI
members, users of the site simply enter keywords and gain immediate
access to content from ABI’s entire online archive of articles and
analysis, including the ABI Journal, Law Review, conference
educational materials, Volo, Interactive Code and Rules, Asset Sales
Databank, ABI blogs and more.
Developed by ABI’s Interactive Media and Technology Department,
this new member resource searches more than 2 million keywords across
all the ABI information platforms, which include more than 100,000
documents. The search covers every issue of the ABI Journal
since 1997 and every ABI Law Review since 1995, in addition to
all books, CLE conference materials and other exclusive ABI content.
Results are instantaneous and categorized by source. One search enables
users to gain access to expert analysis, relevant Bankruptcy Code
sections and circuit court opinions on any insolvency topic.
Practitioners will be amazed at how much time and money they will save.
Start your research on bankruptcy topics at http://search.abi.org.
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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes nearly 13,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.
Consumer Bankruptcy Filings Down 10 Percent Through Nine Months of 2011
Contact: John Hartgen
703-894-5935
[email protected]
CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY FILINGS DOWN 10 PERCENT THROUGH NINE MONTHS OF 2011
October 4, 2011, Alexandria, Va. — U.S.
consumer bankruptcy filings totaled 1,044,722 nationwide during the
first nine months of 2011 (Jan. 1-Sept. 30), a 10 percent decrease from
the 1,165,172 total consumer filings during the same period a year ago,
according to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), relying on data
from the National Bankruptcy Research Center (NBKRC). September consumer
bankruptcies decreased 17 percent nationwide from September 2010 as the
data showed that the overall consumer filing total for September reached
108,517 down from the 130,329 consumer filings recorded in September
2010.
“The trend of declining filings has been consistent with consumers
continuing to reign in their spending, household debt, and an overall
pull back in consumer credit,” said ABI Executive Director
Samuel J. Gerdano. “Total consumer filings for
2011 will be less than 2010.”
The September 2011 filings also represented a 4 percent decrease from
the August 2011 consumer bankruptcy total of 113,432 filings, a slight
change that could be the result of one less day in the month. The
percentage of chapter 13 filings for September was 30 percent, a one
percent increase from August.
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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization
dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency.
ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased
analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes more than
13,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders,
turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a
forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional
information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional
conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.
NBKRC is an online research center that offers subscribers access to
up-to-date research and statistics on bankruptcy filings. The database
contains complete information dating back to 1995. For more information
on NBKRC, please visit http://www.nbkrc.com.
*Definitions from Bankruptcy Overview: Issues, Law and Policy, by the
American Bankruptcy Institute.
Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code is available to both individual and
business debtors. Its purpose is to achieve a fair distribution to
creditors of the debtor’s available non-exempt property.
Unsecured debts not reaffirmed are discharged, providing a fresh
financial start.
Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code is available for both business and
consumer debtors. Its purpose is to rehabilitate a business as a going
concern or reorganize an individual’s finances through a
court-approved reorganization plan.
Chapter 12 of the Bankruptcy Code is designed to give special debt
relief to a family farmer with regular income from farming.
Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code is available for an individual with
regular income whose debts do not exceed specific amounts; it is
typically used to budget some of the debtor’s future earnings
under a plan through which unsecured creditors are paid in whole or in
part.
Termination of Pension Plans by Bankrupt Companies Is Too Easy Under the Current Law According to Latest ABI Poll
Contact: John Hartgen
703-894-5935
[email protected]
TERMINATION OF PENSION PLANS BY BANKRUPT COMPANIES IS TOO EASY UNDER THE CURRENT LAW, ACCORDING TO LATEST ABI POLL
October 12, 2011, Alexandria, Va.— A majority
of respondents in a recent ABI
Quick Poll believe that it is too easy under current law for
bankrupt companies to terminate pension plans. Fifty-four percent agreed
(37 percent “strongly agreed” and 17 percent “somewhat
agreed”) that it is too easy under the Bankruptcy Code for
companies to terminate pension plans.
In 1984 the Supreme Court in NLRB v. Bildisco, 465 U.S. 513 (1984),
confirmed that collective bargaining agreements, which include pension
plans, can be rejected under §365 of the Bankruptcy Code. The Court
determined that the debtor in possession must satisfy something more
than the often-used “business judgment” test, but did not
require the stricter standard that the labor unions were seeking. In
response to Bildisco, Congress enacted §1113 of the Bankruptcy
Code. Section 1113 removes collective bargaining agreements from
§365 and instead provides specific requirements a debtor must
fulfill in order to reject a collective bargaining agreement in
bankruptcy. The recent ABI poll suggests that Congress may not have gone
far enough to protect collective bargaining agreements from rejection in
bankruptcy. In a related 2006
Quick Poll, 63 percent of respondents agreed that the practice of
corporate debtors shedding their defined benefit pension plans onto the
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) is an abuse of the bankruptcy
system.
Thirty-eight respondents to the current poll disagreed (30 percent
“strongly disagreed” and 8 percent “somewhat
disagreed”) that it is too easy under the current law for bankrupt
companies to terminate pension plans. Five percent “did not know
or had no opinion” on the question.
ABI’s Quick Poll is posted on ABI’s home page, www.abiworld.org. ABI members and
the public are invited to respond to a question on a timely bankruptcy
or insolvency issue. Visit http://www.abiworld.net/quickpoll/
to access the results of previous ABI Quick Polls.
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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes over 13,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.