International Insolvency

This panel will explore a review of Health City Cayman Islands and its potential insights for U.S. soaring medical costs, the health care impact of the Zika virus throughout the Caribbean nations, and an update on Puerto Rico’s health care industry and other hot health care insolvency issues.

This panel will discuss issues that have arisen in recent chapter 15 cases, including the several issues presented in the Hanjin Shipping Co. case. The panel will also address how Cayman courts approach applications for assistance by foreign representatives, as well as the factors considered by Cayman courts when Cayman liquidators request authority to seek chapter 11 or chapter 15 relief in the U.S. courts.

A panel of eminent U.S. professionals will discuss current trends in U.S. insolvencies and restructurings, explore current legislation, comment on developments in the financial sector for distressed lending and highlight any emerging trends.

This panel will discuss strategies for negotiating and confirming chapter 11 plans, from support agreements and competing plans to the proper use of releases and injunctions.

This panel will explore the breadth and limitations of U.S. Bankruptcy Code and U.S. bankruptcy court reach in the international community. There will be no discussion of chapter 15; rather, the panel will cover such issues as whether it is possible for a debtor to create jurisdiction in the U.S., and if so, whether it can and should maintain that jurisdiction. The panel will use recent cases in the maritime industry, such as Excel Maritime, General Maritime and TMT Procurement, as well as in the hospitality industry, such as Baha Mar and Scrub Island, to explore the reach of U.S. jurisdiction and the practical limitations imposed on a debtor and a court when a subset of the creditors do not care, and have little reason to be concerned about, what the Bankruptcy Code or a U.S. bankruptcy court order says. The panel will also consider the practical limitations imposed by cross-border issues in cases where there is undeniably U.S. jurisdiction, including what “critical foreign vendor” relief might be available even in U.S. courts that reject the critical-vendor doctrine, whether it is possible for a chapter 7 trustee to realize value from offshore assets, and whether the automatic stay, avoidance powers and free-and-clear orders have any practical impact in the international arena.