Business Bankruptcy Issues

It hasn't gotten much publicity yet, but certain dollar amounts in the Bankruptcy Code will be increased for cases filed on or after April 1, 2010. You can find a chart listing all of the changes on this Federal Register page, which printed last month's official notice from the Judicial Conference of the United States.

Among the most meaningful increases for Chapter 11 and other business bankruptcy cases:

Given the state of commercial real estate, the prospect for defaults by commercial borrowers has greatly increased. The last time there was a significant downturn in the commercial real estate sector in the early 1990s, owners of buildings and other real estate often turned to Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a method of buying time and, in some cases, lowering or at least restructuring the amount of secured debt against the real property through a plan of reorganization. This raises the question -- will the same story play out again in this downturn?

The First Two Delaware Decisions. In the past two months, I have reported on decisions by two Delaware bankruptcy judges in the In re Washington Mutual, Inc. case and in In re Premier International Holdings, Inc.

Last month, I reported on a decision from Delaware Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath in the In re Washington Mutual, Inc. case ("WaMu") holding that informal creditor groups must disclose details of their trades under

Section 365(n) And Licensee Rights. I have discussed in the past how Section 365(n) was added to the Bankruptcy Code to protect licensees of intellectual property in the event the licensor files bankruptcy.