Business

Director and officer (D&O) insurance policies typically cover certain claims against the D&Os by third parties (often shareholders) and claims by a trustee in bankruptcy. The policies also cover certain claims against the debtor company. This panel will discuss the different coverages, the types of claims that may be pursued against officers and directors by shareholders, creditors and a bankruptcy trustee, defenses often asserted to the claims, and potential policy exclusions that may affect coverage. The panel will also focus on the tension, and often litigation, over D&O insurance proceeds when there are competing claims by a trustee and by shareholders or creditors, including the circumstances that may justify entry of a bar order precluding third-party claims as part of a settlement of claims by the trustee.

In light of the recent downturn in the energy markets, this panel will provide an update on recent developments in coal and oil & gas chapter 11 cases, including contract issues, § 1113/1114 litigation, treatment of environmental obligations, KERPs and KEIPs, surety bonds, perfection and credit bidding issues, and “cherry-picking” of good assets in § 363 sales.

This panel will explore current chapter 11 issues from case inception to exit and will discuss current case law and trends, including nonconventional financing obstacles, the ability of a lender to obtain default interest post-petition, plan-support agreements, structured dismissals, cramdown interest rates, third-party releases and the erosion of the equitable mootness doctrine on appeal.

This panel will discuss the recent changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as they pertain to e-discovery, as well as recent case law interpreting the new rules in the bankruptcy context. Our e-discovery expert and our bankruptcy practitioners will discuss the rules from the perspective of debtors, creditors and litigation targets in commercial bankruptcy cases.

This session is a nonlegal overview of the current state of the coal and oil & gas industries and will provide a primer on terminology, extraction methods and related industries. It will also address how energy workouts and restructurings are different from traditional restructurings, and why (with a particular focus on how these companies are financed and their operations are structured — i.e., lease rights, management/servicing agreements, etc.).

This year’s mountainside chat will address recent developments in the requirements for employment of disinterestedness, disclosure and disqualification. It will focus on two recent decisions relating to the extent to which a lack of disinterestedness or the presence of an ethical conflict of one firm member is, or is not, imputed on others within the same firm, and whether there is a difference between the two. The discussion will also address different views expressed by courts on the impact of receipt of a retainer, outstanding obligations for pre-petition services, and the potential for avoidance of pre-petition payments.

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.

This program will explore current hot-button topics relating to the drafting and confirmation of chapter 11 plans. The issues discussed will including drafting to accommodate, as well as to either encourage or discourage § 1111(b) elections, and the strategy of holders of secured claims in either making or not making that election. It will also include a discussion of third-party releases and injunctions, using recent cases in the First Circuit to illustrate when such releases are, and are not, appropriate. Finally, the panel will explore the tension between class-skipping carve-outs or “gifts” and the requirements of confirmation, how to deal with corporate debt defined by § 1141(d)(6) as being not dischargeable, compensation of committee members and the role of existing equity.