Recent Developments

Earlier this year, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Tennessee issued a decision holding that creditors sued for preferences can assert a new value defense based on the goods provided to a debtor in the 20 days before the bankruptcy case was filed.

The Winter 2010 edition of the Absolute Priority newsletter, published by the Cooley Godward Kronish LLP Bankruptcy & Restructuring group, of which I am a member, has just been released. The newsletter gives updates on current developments and trends in the bankruptcy and workout area.

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:

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