Business Law

The Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina (the Court) recently ruled that a chapter 7 trustee could use Bankruptcy Code §§ 548 and 550 to recover from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) taxes which had been paid on behalf of the Debtor’s principal with property of the estate.  Read more

Affirming the bankruptcy court and the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (the BAP), the Ninth Circuit (the Circuit Court) recently decided two significant issues: (1) that the long-standing holding of In re Scovis, 249 F. 3d 975, 983 (9th Cir. 2001) - that normally the eligibility of a chapter 13 debtor is determined by the original schedules if filed in good faith - remains the prevailing standard; and (2) that under 11 U.S.C.§ 1322(c)(2), if the last payment on debt secured solely by the principal residence is due before the end of the plan term, the plan may modify the secured portion based on the property value and pay that portion through the plan. In other words, that undersecured debt may be crammed down in the chapter 13 plan. Read more

A United States Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana (the Court) recently held that temporary injunctive relief was  appropriate during the term of a Sub V Chapter 11 plan to protect insiders and guarantors whose support and credit were essential to performance of the plan terms.  It found that such injunctive relief to protect non-debtors was not contrary to the Supreme Court ruling in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P. (In re Purdue Pharma), 603 U.S. 204 (2024) and the issuance of such injunctive relief remained consistent with Fifth Circuit Read more

On July 11, 2025, the CDI issued a Notice extending the declaration of emergency in connection with the January fires in Los Angeles for 180 days.  The extension of the declaration of emergency allows insurers to utilize unlicensed adjusters under certain circumstances to facilitate the timely processing of claims. Read more

The following is a case update written by Hale Andrew Antico, Chief Counsel of Antico Law Firm, analyzing In re De Guzman, 670 B.R. 567  (Bankr. E.D. Cal. June 9, 2025), a recent case of interest. Read more

By Paul J. Pascuzzi* The Business Law Section is proud to announce that Susan H. Mac Cormac has been selected to receive the Business Law Section’s 2025 Roland E. Brandel Lifetime Achievement Award. This prestigious award is given annually to a California lawyer who “over an extended period has made significant contributions to the Business Law Section or to business law generally in the State of California and who has achieved high status in the legal community.” The Roland E… 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 a preview of the September 2025 update of Sales and Mergers of California Businesses. Read more

When I was first recruited to be an active member of a CLA subcommittee, I had no clue how the system was structured. I was recruited to join the Insolvency Law Committee, a committee of the BLS. (The BLS is one of eighteen sections of the CLA; that is a story for a different day.) Read more

James A. (“Jim”) Hayes, Jr. is currently the chair of the CLA Insolvency Law Committee’s Education Subcommittee and a member of the Legislation Subcommittee. Throughout his nearly 30 years as a member of the legal profession, Jim Hayes has blended representing clients as a practicing lawyer with an academic career as a law professor, both full-time and part-time. In his law practice, Jim is a founder of Zinser | Hayes with attorney Kelly Zinser.  Jim concentrates on corporate and business… Read more

July 2025 Recently, I had someone ask me, why do you bother being civil with that person?  You know they’ll never treat you with respect, let alone civility, and in any case, they appear to favor cruelty above all else, so why bother?  Ultimately, that is one of the main reasons our clients come to us.  They have an irreconcilable disagreement with another party or parties, and they would like us to advise them on how to navigate those challenges… Read more