ATexasBankruptcyLawyersBlog

NCBJ 2022: Post-Pandemic Ethics

10/27/22

Besides sweeping away the competition in ballroom dancing competitions and having been a law school dean at a young age, Prof. Nancy Rapoport is known as the teacher who can make ethics interesting.  She gave the keynote address for the Commercial Law League luncheon titled Brave New World--Ethics Issues That We Never Knew We Had. 

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NCBJ 2022: Five Secrets to a Magical Sub-V

10/24/22

Judge Catherine McEwen (Bankr. M.D. Fla.) and panelists David Mawhinney (Bowditch, Framingham, Mass.), Amy Denton Mayer (Stichter Riedel Blain Postler, PA, Tampa, Fl) and Kirk Burkley (Bernstein-Burkley, P.C., Pittsburgh, PA) donned their wizard's hats to present 5 Secrets to a Magical Sub-V. Both David and Amy serve as Subchapter V trustees and represent SubV debtors, while Kirk offered the creditors' viewpoint. Their program covered five areas of Subchapter V law and practice.

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NCBJ 2022: What's Hot

10/22/22

When the nation's bankruptcy judges, academics and practitioners get together for the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, there are certain topics that tend to dominate. This year mass torts were a through line in many of the presentations.  A presentation on pushing the boundaries of chapter 11 suggested that mass tort cases did not have the same urgency as melting ice cube operating businesses.

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Fifth Circuit Opinion on Solvent Debtor Illustrates Tension Between Text and Tradition

10/16/22

Bankruptcy opinions tend to rely on two major tools for interpreting the Bankruptcy Code: the statutory text and pre-Bankruptcy Code practice. These two methods came into conflict in the Fifth Circuit's recent opinion in Ultra Petroleum Corp. v. Ad Hoc Committee (In re Ultra Petroleum), No. 21-20008 (5th Cir.

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Fifth Circuit Holds Line on Exculpation Clauses But Offers Some Help

10/02/22

The Fifth Circuit is largely resistant to third party release provisions. The Circuit will enforce a clearly defined third-party release that is not objected to, Republic Supply Co. v. Shoaf, 815 F.2d 1046 (5th Cir. 1987), but will not sustain such a provision if a timely objection is filed, Ad Hoc Group of Vitro Noteholders v. Vitro SAB De CV (In re Vitro SAB De CV), 701 F.3d 1031 (5th Cir. 2012). It is also resistant to bar orders, Feld v.

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Chapter 11 Trustee Recovers Enhanced Lodestar for Superior Result

08/11/22

 Bankruptcy trustees often perform a thankless job, scrubbing through thousands of no-asset files looking for that one case that will earn them a sizeable commission. While Chapter 7 trustees are paid a commission on funds distributed to creditors, compensation for Chapter 11 trustees more closely resembles an hourly fee engagement. A recent case from Judge Tony Davis of the Western District of Texas illustrates how the two forms of compensation may dramatically differ. In re WC Met Center, LLC, Case No. 21-10698 (Bankr. W.D. Tex. 7/15/22).

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Another Alex Jones Entity Seeks Bankruptcy Protection

07/31/22

 Faced with pending trials to establish liability for defamation, another Alex Jones entity has decided to test the waters of bankruptcy. On Friday July 29, 2022, Free Speech Systems, LLC, the company which actually produces the Alex Jones Show and his other programming, filed a petition under Subchapter V of Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Victoria Division. Case No.

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Nevertheless, FERC Persisted

07/22/22

When U.S. Sen Elizabeth Warren continued to speak at the confirmation hearing for AG Jeff Sessions after being cautioned by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, it gave rise to the feminist slogan, "Nevertheless, she persisted." A new opinion from the Fifth Circuit adapts that slogan to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's attempts to prevent debtors from rejecting regulatory energy contracts. Judge Jerry Smith's opinion in Case No.

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What Is the Difference Between Clerical and Compensable?

06/08/22

 A short order crossed my desk the other day in In re Preferred Ready-Mix, Case No. 21-33369 (Bankr. S.D. Tex. 6/6/22), Dkt. #207. A creditor filed an application for administrative expense. No one objected. However, the Court reduced the fees requested by $73.50 to reflect time spent electronically filing documents. While this little case involves much smaller dollars than the Supreme Court opinion in Siegel v. Fitzgerald, No. 21-411 (U.S. 6/6/22), which came out the same day, it will affect many more cases.

A Little Background

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