Business

This panel will analyze several recent and potentially controversial issues, including current views of the courts, arising in connection with avoidance actions in business bankruptcies, including the extent of due diligence required prior to bringing such actions, the sale of rights in proceeds of avoidance actions and the actions themselves; current views on replacement liens and adequate-protection liens attaching to avoidance actions granted to secured creditors in connection with debtor-in-possession financing and adequate-protection liens; provisions of DIP-financing orders extinguishing the rights of unsecured creditors to pursue avoidance actions against secured creditors; the application of strong-arm statutes and extended reach-back provisions; and issues related to proving insolvency at trial.

Large cryptocurrency filings have been making headlines, but the implications and complexities of these filings are even broader. This panel will discuss what you need to consider when navigating a cryptocurrency filing, such as valuation issues, custodial arrangements, pending white collar investigations, and the challenges such complexities pose.

This panel will discuss the various tools and strategies available to insolvency professionals when small businesses attempt to restructure and avoid closure. The panelists will explore nonbankruptcy options available to these businesses, particularly in the current economic climate, including forbearance agreements, longer-term workouts and refinancing, as well as recent case law developments affecting out-of-court workouts for both debtors and creditors. The discussion also will include some of the bankruptcy options available to these businesses, how these businesses can analyze if and when chapter 11 (or chapter 7) provides the best (or only) path forward, and what creditors can do to prepare for an inevitable filing. Finally, the panelists will review bankruptcy eligibility requirements for small businesses in subchapter V and single-asset real estate cases, recent case law developments in subchapter V that practitioners must know about when evaluating bankruptcy options, and other important hurdles and considerations that these types of businesses can expect to encounter today.

This session will provide a general overview of the involuntary bankruptcy process, and will drill down into what it means for a claim “not to be subject to a bona fide dispute," what happens or does not happen during the “gap period,” soliciting and adding creditors to the petition, and the ramifications of when an involuntary filing is dismissed for bad faith.

Hosted by IWIRC New England Companies are not the only ones fighting with creditors these days; creditors are fighting amongst themselves, relying on increasingly nuanced interpretations of debt-issuance documents and intercreditor agreements. What has changed in the debt-finance landscape that is bringing these disputes to a head? What are the document provisions and transaction structures that have been in dispute? What are the litigation strategies and considerations at play, and how have courts reacted to these kinds of disputes? This session will address these questions and more.

New developments occur regularly in bankruptcy law, and this past year was no different. This session will provide you with an overview of important U.S. Supreme Court decisions that came down in the 2022-23 session that relate to bankruptcy, as well as the recent Purdue Pharma decision from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The panelists will review the facts and key holdings of each case, and how they may affect pending and future cases. Discussions will include the nondischargeability of debt due to fraud committed by a partner, the treatment of certain statutes as “jurisdictional” versus preconditions to relief, violations of the Fifth Amendment’s takings clause, whether Indian tribes have sovereign immunity from damages claims for violations of the automatic stay, the allowance of nonconsensual releases of creditors’ direct claims against non-debtors in the Purdue Pharma L.P. chapter 11 plan, and recent developments on the “solvent debtor” exception in chapter 11 cases.

Join ABI Editor-at-Large Bill Rochelle for this fun and informative session as he and several bankruptcy judges discuss circuit splits and hot topics on important bankruptcy issues. An attendee favorite!

This panel will present a mock trial focusing on valuation, with the panelists serving as counsel arguing each side, and as a witness and a judge. The session will cover direct and cross-examination topics that come into play with valuations, including expert witness issues, applicable evidentiary rules and procedural aspects.

This panel will address recent case developments in fraudulent transfer and preference law, and their practical implications for practitioners. The discussion will include whether and how to advise clients preparing for bankruptcy with an eye toward fraudulent transfer and preference issues, and whether and how to recover on and monetize these actions during bankruptcy.