A bipartisan bill co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) earlier this year to require companies to file for bankruptcy in their main place of business has garnered no support among fellow lawmakers, Warren is continuing to push for the legislation, WSJ Bankruptcy Pro reported. Troubled by the overwhelming number of debt-burdened companies seeking protection from creditors in Delaware or New York courts regardless of where they are headquartered, Sen. Warren and Sen. Cornyn last January introduced the Bankruptcy Venue Reform Act. If passed, the bill would require corporations to file for bankruptcy in the district where their principal place of business is located, not simply where they are incorporated or where they operate much-smaller affiliates. No other lawmakers have signed on to the bill, according to Congress.gov, but Sen. Warren raised the topic last month in a speech to the New England Council, a regional business group, in Boston. “Why did the Boston Herald file bankruptcy in Delaware?” she asked her audience, noting that the newspaper’s retirees, suppliers and current employees are in Boston. “Last time I looked, we have a bankruptcy court in Boston — a court whose judges are excellent,” she said. The Boston Herald filed for chapter 11 last December. Citing a recent study, Sen. Warren said that, of the 159 biggest bankruptcies between 2007 and 2013, about 80 percent filed in either Delaware, where many businesses are incorporated, or Manhattan, the epicenter of the bankruptcy bar.
