Judge Mary Walrath

Driving While Unimpaired – Delaware Judge Issues Important Ruling in Hertz Chapter 11 Case on Allowance of Make-Whole Premiums, Treatment of Unimpaired Creditors, and Postpetition Interest (Part 2)

02/09/22

The allowance of postpetition interest in solvent debtor chapter 11 cases has become an important issue in recent years for corporate issuers, bondholders and other creditors.  This post will examine a recent decision in the Hertz case by Judge Mary Walrath of the U.S.

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Driving While Unimpaired – Delaware Judge Issues Important Ruling in Hertz Chapter 11 Case on Allowance of Make-Whole Premiums, Treatment of Unimpaired Creditors, and Postpetition Interest (Part 1)

01/28/22

The treatment of make-whole premiums in chapter 11 cases in solvent debtor cases has become an important issue in recent years for corporate issuers and bondholders.  This post will examine a recent decision in the Hertz case by Judge Mary Walrath of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on the allowance of such claims.  (Judge Walrath also addressed other topics in her decision pertaining to the treatment of unimpaired creditors and postpetition interest, which will be examined in a separate post.)

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Delaware Judge Rejects Challenge to Payment of Fees for Indenture Trustee in Southeastern Grocers Chapter 11 Case

06/12/18

Southeastern Grocers (operator of the Winn-Dixie, Bi Lo and Harvey’s supermarket chains) recently completed a successful restructuring of its balance sheet through a “prepackaged” chapter 11 case in the District of Delaware.

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Fees for Defending Fees – Recent Rulings Permit Contractual Circumvention of Supreme Court’s Baker Botts v. Asarco Decision

10/05/17

The Supreme Court two years ago ruled in Baker Botts v. Asarco that bankruptcy professionals entitled to compensation from a debtor’s bankruptcy estate had no statutory right to be compensated for time spent defending against objections to their fee applications.  Since then, “estate professionals,” i.e., those retained in a bankruptcy case by a trustee, debtor in possession or an official committee of creditors, have sought ways to limit the potentially harsh impact of that decision.

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Delaware Bankruptcy Judge Rejects Effort to Circumvent Supreme Court’s Asarco Decision

02/09/16

The Supreme Court’s decision last term in Baker Botts v. Asarco, in which the Court ruled that professionals that are paid from a debtor’s bankruptcy estate cannot be compensated for time spent defending their fee applications, continues to rankle bankruptcy practitioners.  Moreover, a recent decision in a Delaware bankruptcy case shows that the impact of Asarco will not be easily circumvented.

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