Last night we blogged about the $2 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill that proposes to increase the SBRA small business debt limit in Subchapter V Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases from approximately $2.7 million to $7.5 million, at least for the next year. The Senate approved the legislation late last night, 96-0, and it’s now headed to
COVID-19 Stimulus Package May Temporarily Increase SBRA Chapter 11 Debt Limit to $7,500,000
We spent the last part of February blogging about the first series of substantive opinions under the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA), which became effective on February 19, 2020. That news seems rather quaint a month later, as the world, and now the U.S., is in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yesterday, those worlds collided for me when my client in the Northern District of Georgia, a Subchapter V debtor, let me know that he had to shut down both of his business locations in response to Gov. Kemp’s COVID-19 order. And this morning, we all woke-up to news that Congress was close to passing a $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill, potentially the largest emergency aid package in U.S. history.
California Bankruptcy Judge Clarkson Suggests that Pre-SBRA Debtors May Opt-Into Subchapter V
It’s the Wild West of “firsts” in these opening days of the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA), which went live on February 19, 2020. We blogged about the first ever small business Subchapter V case here and provided some opening filing stats here. On Friday, Stone & Baxter even filed the first Sub V case in Georgia. More importantly, it appears that Judge Scott C. Clarkson, a bankruptcy judge in Central District of California, is the first judge to issue a substantive opinion about Sub V, and about one of its most talked-about issues no less:
The First Subchapter V Small Business Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case (Updated)
I blogged late yesterday evening about what appeared, at first glance, to have been a slow debut for the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA). Although the Turney case still gets the trophy for the first ever Subchapter V small business Chapter 11 case, there were still a few other Sub V filings on Wednesday. At 11 p.m. EST, the Turney case was the only Sub V case being reported. As of 8:30 a.m. EST this morning, PACER caught-up, with some rough, updated filing statistics as follows:
Continue Reading The First Subchapter V Small Business Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case (Updated)
The First Subchapter V Small Business Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case
Effective today, the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA) is live and taking cases. Thus, we figured that PACER would have much to report about such a potentially big day for small business debtors. In fact, we assumed that dozens of debtors, if not more, have been holding their breath since August 2019, hoping that they can bridge the gap to February 19, 2020. However, as of 11 p.m. EST, it appears to have been a big day for just one debtor: Michael and Gwatholyn Turney, the husband and wife owners of Papa Turney’s Old Fashioned BBQ in the Nashville, Tennessee area.
Continue Reading The First Subchapter V Small Business Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case
Exploring the Limits of Third-Party Releases
The use of third-party releases in Chapter 11 has become more permissible in recent years, and, because it is such a potent tool, the exact contours and limits of these releases have been hotly debated. We first blogged about third-party releases last year in our series on the confirmation-related recommendations in the ABI Commission Report
“Traps for the Unwary”: § 1129(e) and “Small Business Debtors”
In today’s post, we’ll shift away from the big Delaware cases and focus on a critical “small business debtor” Chapter 11 provision. Over the past 6 years, our firm hasn’t filed many small business cases, mostly because many of our debtors were real estate debtors and, thus, definitionally excluded from the small business category. However,