In This Issue:
The Year In Bankruptcy: 2021
A brief chronicle of the year's notable developments in corporate bankruptcy and restructuring, including business bankruptcy filings, significant court rulings, and bankruptcy legislation. [read more ...]
Delaware District Court Holds Rejection Eliminates Non-Debtor's Exclusive Right to Provide Services to the Debtor
In Caliber North Dakota, LLC v. Nine Point Energy Holdings, Inc. (In re Nine Point Energy Holdings, Inc.), 2021 WL 3269210 (D. Del. July 30, 2021), the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware held that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC, 139 S. Ct. 1652 (2019), did not apply to preserve a non-debtor contract party's exclusive right to provide midstream services to the debtor after the debtor rejected the contract in bankruptcy. The case is an important clarification on the implications of Mission Product as it confirms that creative contracting cannot prevent a debtor from exercising, and receiving the benefits of, its rejection rights under the Bankruptcy Code. [read more ...]
The Eleventh Circuit Revisits the Doctrine of Statutory Mootness in Bankruptcy Sales
In Reynolds v. ServisFirst Bank (In re Stanford), 17 F.4th 116 (11th Cir. 2021), two of the three judges on a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that an unstayed order approving a sale to a good-faith purchaser is moot on appeal, even if the sale was not properly authorized under the Bankruptcy Code. A concurring judge reached the same result, but for a different reason, because he determined that the debtors were precluded from challenging a sale that they had requested. [read more ...]
Florida Bankruptcy Court Rules that Foreign Debtor Need Not Have U.S. Residence, Assets, or Place of Business to Be Eligible for Chapter 15 Recognition
In In re Talal Qais Abdulmunem al Zawawi, 2021 WL 3890597 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. Aug. 31, 2021), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida distanced itself from a 2013 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, concluding that, like debtors in cases under other chapters of the Bankruptcy Code, a chapter 15 debtor must reside or have assets or a place of business in the United States to be eligible for chapter 15 relief. According to the bankruptcy court, chapter 15 has its own eligibility requirements, and the eligibility requirements for debtors in cases under other chapters of the...
