Alexandria, Va. — The American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) Winter 2017 Law Review (Volume 25, No. 1) features the results of an empirical study to examine how and why individuals decide between chapter 11 and chapter 13 when filing for bankruptcy. The study found that individuals account for more than a quarter of chapter 11 bankruptcy filings, and this share has grown over time. “Some debtors may be forced into chapter 11 by chapter 13's debt limits, but many debtors who are eligible for chapter 13 choose chapter 11,” writes Profs. Richard M. Hynes, principal investigator, Anne Lawton, associate investigator and Margaret Howard, reporter for the “National Study of Individual Chapter 11 Bankruptcies.” “Perhaps the hybrid nature of individual chapter 11 cases is justified because the individuals who use chapter 11 look like a blend of the typical chapter 13 debtor and a small business: they have much greater assets, debts, income and expenses, and the overwhelming majority are operating some type of business,” they write.
Other articles in the Winter 2017 Law Review include:
· “Debt Restructurings and the Trust Indenture Act” features Harald Halbhuber of Shearman & Sterling LLP (New York) examining the Trust Indenture Act, a Depression-era statute governing publicly traded corporate bonds, its application in the recent federal district court decision in the Marblegate case, and how it might affect debt restructurings and transactions going forward. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit cited the article in its January 17, 2017 opinion.
· “Vets and Debts” is a transcribed and annotated address by Prof. Jack F. Williams of the Georgia State University and the Center for Middle East Studies (Atlanta) from his keynote at the “Veterans in Bankruptcy” Symposium that was held in October 2015 by the ABI Law Review, the St. John's Center for Bankruptcy Studies, and the Armed Forces Society at St. John's University School of Law, which were joined by the New York State Division of Veterans' Affairs.
ABI’s Law Review, published in conjunction with St. Johns University School of Law in Jamaica, N.Y., is among the most cited and respected scholarly publications in the bankruptcy community. It has the largest circulation of any bankruptcy law review. Past issues of the Law Review have focused on a variety of timely insolvency issues, including chapter 11 reform, distressed sectors, single-asset cases, consumer bankruptcy, the revised Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code and other topics.
Members of the press looking to obtain any of the articles from the Winter 2017 issue should contact John Hartgen at 703-894-5935 orjhartgen@abiworld.org.
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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes more than 12,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abi.org/calendar-of-events