Business Law

Medical malpractice plaintiffs lack standing to seek declaratory relief challenging MICRA’s constitutionality. Read more

In a matter of first impression, a California appellate court held that a party was entitled to a jury trial for a claim based on a board member’s alleged breach of fiduciary duty. Read more

In April 2022, the Supreme Court submitted to Congress proposed revisions to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure (“FRBP”) and other federal rules.  Because Congress did not reject or defer the proposed amendments, the proposed revisions went into effect on December 1, 2022. Read more

In Fin. of Am. LLC v Mrtg, Windown LLC (In re Ditech Holdings Corp.), ___ F.4th ___, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 172793, 2022 WL 4448867 (S.D.N.Y. 2022) (“Ditech”), the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “District Court”) overruled the decision of the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Bankruptcy Court”) that a creditor’s claim for postpetition performance on a later-rejected prepetition executory contract generates only a general unsecured claim rather than an administrative expense claim.  Read more

Consistent with prior similar rulings, the United State Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey (the Court) extended the automatic stay in a chapter 11 case dealing with talc-related claims to state court litigation against the debtor’s nondebtor affiliates brought by the States of New Mexico and Mississippi for alleged consumer protection violations arising from the sale of talc-containing products.  LTL Management, LLC v State of New Mexico, 2022 Bankr. Read more

In a case of first impression for the Circuit, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (the Circuit Court) ruled in a 2-1 published opinion that a chapter 7 trustee could not use the provisions of Bankruptcy Code section 724(a) to avoid and recover for the benefit of the estate a lien against a debtor’s homestead based on tax penalties. Because the debtor had a valid homestead exemption on the property, the Circuit Court deemed it was no longer property of the estate and a trustee may not avoid a tax lien attached to exempt property. Read more

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals (the Second Circuit) recently held that a bankruptcy court was permitted to deviate from replacement value in deciding whether there had been any diminution in value of second-lien creditors’ collateral such that they would be entitled to an administrative priority claim for diminished value.  Read more

Distinguishing this case from recent California appellate cases which declined to enforce liquidated damages clauses in settlement agreements as being in violation of California Civil Code § 1671, the California Court of Appeal (the Court) upheld the liquidated damages provision in a negotiated settlement agreement because the appellants failed to present affirmative evidence that the “provision was unreasonable under the circumstances.”  Read more

On November 14, 2022, in a published decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that the bankruptcy court correctly applied the $600,000 homestead exemption in effect on the filing date of the bankruptcy petition, rather than the significantly lower homestead exemption available when the judgment lien was recorded seven years prior. Read more

The Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (the “Court”) recently denied a debtor’s motion to modify a confirmed subchapter V plan of reorganization under section 1193(c) seeking to pause payments for three months and cure a default over the plan’s term.  Read more