EDITOR’S NOTE: In this piece reprinted from the American Bankruptcy Institute’s September 2024 Real Estate Committee Newsletter, Timothy W. Brink examines one of the Bankruptcy Code’s most important, yet underutilized protections for landlords when their tenants file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Section 365(l) of the Bankruptcy Code (“section 365(l)”), which entitles a landlord to…
When an investor in a litigation finance company was sued by the trustee appointed in the company’s former owners’ chapter 7 bankruptcy case to recover repayment of the investor’s loan to the company as a “preferential transfer,” she was referred to MPS bankruptcy and restructuring partner Tim Brink by another firm client. Having represented numerous…
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A commercial tenant may expect that its security deposit will be segregated or held in trust by its landlord and therefore be available to be returned to it when the lease is terminated. As explained in a recent New York federal court decision,1 however, if a commercial lease does not require the landlord to segregate…
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is the second in a three-part series about how small and mid-sized businesses should deal with customers experiencing financial difficulties. The first installment in this series focused on identifying customers that are in financial distress and taking steps to mitigate potential losses in the event a customer files bankruptcy. In this…
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is the first in a series about how small and mid-sized businesses should deal with customers experiencing financial difficulties. Whether due to the impacts of pre-pandemic economic trends such as the shift in consumer spending toward e-commerce outlets, the effects of the federal and state governments’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic,…
EDITOR’S NOTE: In this article from the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Unsecured Trade Creditors Committee Newsletter, Tim Brink discusses the Third Circuit’s decision holding that “triangular” setoffs are not permissible in bankruptcy and rejecting the argument that parties can contract around the requirement of strict bilateral neutrality. In its recent decision in In re Orexigen Therapeutics…
It is a quirk of the Bankruptcy Code that while it expressly allows oversecured creditors’ claims for post-petition contractual attorneys’ fees, it is silent as to the treatment of claims for post-petition contractual attorneys’ fees on unsecured claims. In part because the Supreme Court in Travelers Casualty & Surety Co. of America v. Pacific Gas…
Our creditors’ rights and restructuring practice group is comprised of attorneys with extensive experience in all aspects of bankruptcy, restructuring, insolvency, and creditors’ rights matters. Our clients range from large public companies to closely-held businesses and individuals and include entities from throughout the Chicago area and across the country. While our firm is small, our…
