Business Law

In Milestone Financial, LLC v. Moon, (In re Moon), 648 B.R. 73 (B.A.P. 9th Cir. 2023), the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit (“BAP”) recently affirmed a bankruptcy court decision which had concluded that: (1) a forbearance agreement was usurious and not exempted from usury just because the orginal loan might have been exempt and (2) the creditor was entitled to post-maturity interest on the loan under California law.  Read more

Nursing facility’s arbitration agreement is unenforceable against cognitively impaired patient. Read more

The LLC, or Limited Liability Company, is a unique business entity that has many financial and social benefits. Falling somewhere between a general partnership and a more formal corporation, the LLC creates a layer of protection for individual members and offers great tax incentives. Read more

   The 2016 Cybersecurity Law (“CSL”) is the first top-level legislation imposing a data localization requirement on the operators of critical information infrastructure (“CII”) in China. Read more

Colorado Bankruptcy Court grants motion to convert case from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7, concluding that debtor’s bad faith filing did not justify dismissal of the case despite debtor's possible ownership interests in cannabis-related entities, as conversion to Chapter 7 was in the best interest of creditors.  See In re Roberts, 644 B.R. 220 (Bankr. D. Colorado 2022).  Read more

In a recent opinion, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas (the Court) ruled that when the contingency on a chapter 13 debtor’s interest in trust property was removed post petition, the value of that interest became property of the bankruptcy estate, was subject to the best interest of creditors’ test, and therefore must be distributed to unsecured creditors by way of a modified chapter 13 plan.  In re Wright, 2022 WL 17661135 (Bankr. D. Kan. Dec. 13, 2022). Read more

On February 22, 2023, the United States Supreme Court held that 11 U.S.C. §523(a)(2)(A) bars a debtor from discharging a debt “obtained by … fraud,” regardless of her mental culpability with respect to incurring the debt. Bartenwerfer v. Buckley, No. 21-908, slip opinion, 506 U.S. ___ (2023). Read more

On the heels of the highly successful California Lawyers Association (“CLA”) Leadership Meeting last January in Monterey, I am very pleased to report that our Section is busier than ever, engaging its members on multiple fronts. Read more

Courtesy of CEB, we are bringing you selected legal developments in areas of California business law that are covered by CEB’s publications. This month’s feature is from the February 2023 update to Financing and Protecting California Businesses. References are to the book’s section numbers. The most significant legal developments since the last update include developments in such important topic areas as arbitration, federal and state securities law, loan financing, cybersecurity, tax matters, and board diversity requirements. Read more

The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York held in In re Wansdown Properties Corp. N.V., 647 B.R. 23 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2022), that genuine issues of material fact precluded summary judgment on the defendant’s summary judgment motion on constructive fraudulent transfer claims but granted the debtor’s motion for partial summary judgment because the defendant’s affirmative defenses of unclean hands and fraud were inapplicable to avoidance action claims as a matter of law.  Read more