Are There No Exceptions?
Committees
Being a displaced Brit from north of the U.S. border, I frankly don’t have a whole lot to contribute to the Commercial Fraud newsletter on U.S. statutory issues.
A widely held assumption in bankruptcy cases and other litigation is that fraudulent intent cannot be established on a summary judgment motion but may only be found after a full trial on the merits.
Why is it so hard to get straight answers or simple assistance from professionals in the commercial insurance industry during a period of corporate reorganization? A partial answer requires us to start with a broad understanding of how companies buy insurance.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York recently decided in In re R.F. Cunningham & Co. Inc., 355 B.R. 408 (Bankr. E.D.N.Y. 2006), in the context of a motion to lift the automatic stay, that a statutory lien under Ohio law was susceptible to being avoided as a secret lien under §544(a)(1) of the Bankruptcy Code.
The 2005 amendments to the Bankruptcy Code have been the source of much controversy. The “patient care ombudsman,” a new position created in health care bankruptcies, however, is one addition that has received little attention in the press.
Among the listed “Bankruptcy Crimes” in chapter 9 of title 18 of the U.S.
Secured creditors routinely foreclose upon and sell personal property under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), mindful of the requirement that they mu