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The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic will leave in its wake a significant increase in commercial chapter 11 filings. Many of these cases will feature extensive litigation involving breach of contract claims, business interruption insurance disputes, and common law…
Continue Reading Third Circuit Ruling on Constitutional Authority of Bankruptcy Courts Can Provide Guidance for the Looming Wave of COVID-19 Cases

The judicial power of the United States is vested in courts created under Article III of the Constitution. However, Congress created the current bankruptcy court system over 40 years ago pursuant to Article I of the Constitution rather than under…
Continue Reading Square Peg / Round Hole – The Supreme Court and the Constitutional Authority of U.S. Bankruptcy Courts

The Supreme Court recently heard arguments in a patent dispute case, Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC.  Although the case has nothing to do with bankruptcy law, its outcome could have a substantial impact on…
Continue Reading A Patent Law Dispute Before the Supreme Court This Term Could Have a Major Impact on U.S. Bankruptcy Courts

In December 2015, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Laurie Silverstein of the District of Delaware confirmed a plan of reorganization in the Millennium Lab Holdings chapter 11 case that included the non-consensual release of certain claims against various non-debtor third parties. …
Continue Reading Judge Silverstein’s Opinion in Millennium Lab Holdings Threatens to Bring Clarity and Common Sense to Debate Regarding Constitutional Power of Bankruptcy Courts

The Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in PEM Entities LLC v. Levin, in which it will decide whether federal or a state law should apply when a debt claim held by a debtor’s insider is sought to be recharacterized…
Continue Reading Could Supreme Court Case on Debt Recharacterization Provide a Pathway Out of the Stern v. Marshall Maze?

In Millennium Lab Holdings, Delaware District Court Judge Leonard Stark, on an appeal from a bankruptcy court order confirming a plan of reorganization, recently upheld a challenge to the bankruptcy court’s constitutional authority to release claims against non-debtor third…
Continue Reading Millennium Lab Holdings – Ruling on Third Party Releases Highlights Continuing Constitutional Questions Regarding Power of Bankruptcy Courts

Four years ago, in Stern v. Marshall, the Supreme Court stunned many observers by re-visiting separation of powers issues regarding the jurisdiction of the United States bankruptcy courts that most legal scholars had viewed as long settled. Stern significantly…
Continue Reading Supreme Court Decides to Maintain the Viability of the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, But a Key Question Remains Unresolved

There were nearly a million bankruptcy cases filed by individuals and businesses in 2014.  It is safe to say that only the tiniest fraction of such debtors have any familiarity with the Supreme Court’s decision in Stern v. Marshall nearly …
Continue Reading Wellness International Oral Argument: Supreme Court Justices Grapple With Implications of Narrowing Bankruptcy Court Powers

Three years ago, in Stern v. Marshall, a case that arose out of the endless litigation between Anna Nicole Smith and the son of her late husband, the Supreme Court stunned the commercial legal community by reopening what many …
Continue Reading Still Trying to Close the Stern v. Marshall Can of Worms – The Supreme Court To Grapple Again With Thorny Questions of Bankruptcy Court Jurisdiction