South Carolina State Approved Sessions

This panel of leading Supreme Court practitioners will discuss leading cases and different ways of viewing specific problems in bankruptcy vs. appellate courts.

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.

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.

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.

In this session, financial professionals will discuss understanding the client's current financial situation, tax implications of attorney decisions, and how to build projections and budgets.

This session will discuss the recent changes with the Department of Justice’s new Student Loan Discharge program. The panelists will explore the scope and limitations of the program, as well as best practices, including the importance of a client's present financial circumstances, expenses and repayment ability.

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.

Who is your client? This panel will discuss navigating thorny engagement issues that can arise from representing affiliated debtors, conflicts that can occur when representing closely held businesses, the importance of disclosing connections, and how these issues affect attorneys, financial advisors and other professionals.

This session will cover several confirmation hot topics, including the allowance of mass tort issues, equity-linked DIP facilities, Purdue and third-party releases, exclusivity, mootness, good faith and other confirmation issues.