ABI’s 19th Annual Winter Leadership Conference: Committee Educational Session Agenda
ABI’s 19th Annual Winter Leadership Conference - The Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa • Rancho Mirage, Calif.
The committee will meet jointly with the Employee Benefits in Bankruptcy committee on Friday, Dec. 7, from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. on "Section 1114 Issues in Large and Middle-Market Cases."
Speakers include: Charles M. Dyke (Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP; San Francisco), Trent Cornell (Stahl Cowen Crowley LLC; Chicago), David Jury (United Steelworkers of America; Pittsburgh), Stuart Wohl (Segal Co.; Washington, D.C.) and Andrew Yearley (Lazard; New York).
Views From the Bench, 2007
More than 200 insolvency professionals from 25 states attended “Views from the Bench, 2007” at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 5. The annual program is co-sponsored by ABI and GULC. The advanced corporate reorganization program was one of the strongest “Views” ever, featuring a faculty of 18 bankruptcy judges from seven different circuits. The program chair is David R. Kuney (Sidley Austin LLP; Washington, D.C.). Below are links to the materials from two of the excellent panel discussions.
Inter-Debtor and Inter-Creditor Issues
Presented by: Honorable Judith K. Fitzgerald
U.S. Bankruptcy Court; Western District of Pennsylvania
Honorable Arthur J. Gonzalez
U.S. Bankruptcy Court; Southern District of New York
Honorable Kevin R. Huennekens
U.S. Bankruptcy Court; Eastern District of Virginia
Marc Abrams, Moderator
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP; New York
Kristin K. Going, Facilitator
Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP; Washington, D.C.
The materials include a great summary in outline format of the hot issues and the related rulings.
Read the full materials from this panel.
Sales and Executory Contracts: Bidding procedures; use of findings (a.k.a. “how the ‘whereas’ clauses define the deal”); carveouts; sales free and clear of successor liability claims
Presented by: Melanie L. Cyganowski, Esq.-Moderator
Greenberg Traurig, LLP; New York
Mary Joanne Dowd, Esq.-Faciliator
Arent Fox LLP; Washington, D.C.
Hon. Carla E. Craig
U.S. Bankruptcy Court (E.D.N.Y.); Brooklyn, N.Y.
Hon. Mary F. Walrath
U.S. Bankruptcy Court (D. Del.); Wilmington, Del.
Hon. Judith H. Wizmur
U.S. Bankruptcy Court (D. N.J.); Camden, N.J.
Bankruptcy courts have long wrestled with the corporate doctrine of successor liability. Courts are generally divided as to whether Bankruptcy Code Section 363(f) precludes successor liability claims. The debate is centered around the competing policies underlying the Bankruptcy Code and successor liability law. On one hand, bankruptcy law strives to give debtors a “fresh start” by creating a mechanism through which a debtor may dispose of existing claims. Successor liability doctrine, on the other hand, imposes liability on those who buy failing businesses. Attempting to reconcile these competing interests, courts struggle to define the instances when a Bankruptcy Code Section 363(f) sale of a business will carry with it successor liability, or, alternatively, when the business may be sold “free and clear of any interest in such property,” including successor liability. Decisions regarding Bankruptcy Code Section 363(f) sales have diverged into two schools of thought, based largely upon varying interpretations of the phrase “any interest” within the meaning of Section 363(f). The term “interest” remains undefined in the Bankruptcy Code and therefore has become the source of much debate surrounding the scope of “free and clear” sales within Section 363(f).
Read the full materials from the panel.