Committee to Hold Joint Meeting with Young & New Members Committee at 2004 Winter Leadership Conference
The Business Reorganization and Young & New Members Committees will present a joint educational program at ABI’s Winter Leadership Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., Dec. 3, 2004, from 9:30–11:00 a.m. The program will explore common methodologies for determining the value of reorganizing businesses and, more critically, the use of valuation as a tactical tool by various key constituencies in the chapter 11 case at various points on the chapter 11 timeline, including confirmation proceedings. The panel will discuss when valuations are used, why they may be needed, what they may be used for, and what parties can and should do with valuation information when they have it. The panel will also explore how changes to certain key assumptions can affect valuation conclusions, and how such changes might be used (or opposed) by the competing parties. This last point will be illustrated with a case study of the plan-confirmation process from the viewpoint of various key players: senior secured debt, junior or unsecured debt and equity. Scheduled speakers include Scott H. Lang, Brown Gibbons Lang & Co.; Stephen S. Gray, TRG; and Mark S. Jones, Mesirow Financial Consulting LLC. The moderator of the panel will be Melissa Kibler Knoll (Mesirow Financial Consulting, LLC), co-chair of the Young and New Members Committee.
Chapter 22s and the Good-Faith Filing Doctrine
by Robert J. Keach
The “good-faith filing” doctrine has generated recent precedent and more than a little controversy. A recently published decision from the Georgia bankruptcy court shows that the doctrine has also become a weapon used by courts, that are so inclined, to battle the filing of “chapter 22” (serial chapter 11) cases. The rationale of the court suggests that most chapter 22 cases—other than liquidations—may be susceptible to dismissal for an absence of good faith.
More on the Good-Faith Filing Doctrine…
Members interested in more discussion on recent decisions involving the application of the “good-faith filing” doctrine, and its application to cases filed by allegedly solvent debtors, should stay tuned for an upcoming “News at 11” column in the December/January issue of the ABI Journal. The column, entitled “Solvent Debtors, Good-Faith and Fiduciary Duty,” will explore and critique recent cases dismissing, on bad faith grounds, liquidating chapter 11 cases filed by allegedly solvent entities. The article will appear in the issue of the Journal distributed at the WLC and mailed to members shortly thereafter.