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[1]Fee applications are an inescapable aspect of bankruptcy practice. As “estate professionals,”[2] attorneys and other professionals employed by debtors in possession, must file fee applications and obtain court approval of their fees.[3]

The Seventh Circuit’s recent decision in Secure Leverage put to bed nearly five years of litigation on the question of what contracts are sufficiently “similar to” futures contracts under § 761(4) of the Bankruptcy Code to receive the highest priority of repayment in a commodity broker liquidation.[1] The court held that in order for a contract to be considered a commodity contract within the meaning of § 761(4), it must bear certain fungible features.[2]

Part I of this article identified several important issues that arise when crowdfunded companies file for bankruptcy. Among the most foreseeable dilemmas is that only a handful of crowdfunding backers would file a proof of claim, allowing equity-holders to recover an unduly high share of the debtor’s assets. As previously discussed, the relatively low contribution by any one backer makes this situation especially likely.

In April of 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sued Ocwen Financial Corporation (Ocwen) and its affiliates for supposed systematic deficiencies in their mortgage servicing business.

Editor's note: Part I of this article was published in the July 2017 edition of the Young and New Members Committee newsletter, and can be found on the committee's website.

First-day orders in U.S. chapter 11 proceedings deal with a wide range of pressing issues within a limited timeframe. Moreover, foreign recognition of first-day orders in cross-border insolvencies, particularly in Canada-U.S. ones, have been dealt with in a context of a high degree of mutual deference and collaboration between jurisdictions.

On May 3, 2017, the Financial Oversight and Management Board of Puerto Rico launched an unprecedented restructuring proceeding under Title III of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (“PROMESA” or the “Act”). This article provides a very high-level summary[1] of some of the unique provisions in PROMESA, the bankruptcy analogue crafted specially by Congress for the debt crisis in Puerto Rico, and highlights some of the main players and key developments thus far.[2]

The U.S. Supreme Court recently weighed in on whether the filing of a proof of claim could give rise to a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) if the statute of limitations on the underlying claim had expired.