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ABI Journal

Texas Southern District

The Fate of Jackson Walker Is Now in the Hands of a District Judge from Another District

The district judge who excoriated Jackson Walker in a decision last year will now decide whether the firm must disgorge what it was paid in dozens of large chapter 11 cases.

Texas Courts Are Split on Ignoring Nonvoting Classes in Confirming a Sub V Plan

A bankruptcy judge in San Antonio disagreed with two bankruptcy judges in Houston by holding that a nonvoting class is equivalent to rejecting a plan in Subchapter V of chapter 11.

Third J&J Filing Dismissed on Grounds Different from the First Two Dismissals

Houston’s Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez decided that the newest plan by a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary didn’t qualify for nondebtor releases permissible in asbestos cases.

Priority Wage Claims Paid After Filing Are Counted Toward the Sub V Debt Cap

Wage claims and claims of critical vendors paid under ‘first day orders’ are counted toward the Subchapter V debt cap that’s rising on April 1 to about $3.4 million.

In Lender-on-Lender Violence, an ‘Uptier’ Financing Bites the Dust, this Time in Houston

Fancy drafting by ‘brilliant financiers and lawyers,’ the judge said, didn’t validate an uptier transaction when the ‘effect’ was to release collateral without a two-thirds vote.

A Business that Never Generated Income Is Eligible for Subchapter V, Judge Norman Says

The definition of ‘small business’ uses the word ‘activities,’ not ‘operations,’ making nonoperating small business eligible for Subchapter V.

Jackson Walker May Depose the U.S. Trustee in the Fee Dispute over Nondisclosure

The bankruptcy judge in Houston denied the U.S. Trustee’s motion to quash deposition subpoenas in the fight over disgorgement of fees for failure to disclose an allegedly close relationship between the judge and a firm lawyer.

A Plan Appeal Wasn’t Equitably Moot, Even Though Reversal Might Rejigger New Equity

A district court in Houston denied a motion to dismiss a confirmation appeal as equitably moot, although reversal might alter ownership of the reorganized debtor.

The ‘Insured vs. Insured’ Exclusion in a D&O Policy Doesn’t Apply to a DIP

When a DIP sues a former officer, the bankruptcy ‘exception’ in a D&O policy provides coverage when the ‘insured vs. insured’ exclusion would otherwise deny coverage.

Houston Judge Confirms an ‘Opt-Out’ Plan with Nondebtor Releases

In the first opinion on the issue after Purdue, Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez holds that Purdue did not change Fifth Circuit law where ‘hundreds’ of ‘opt-out’ plans have been confirmed with nondebtor releases.