The Wall Street Journal reports on the surprise Thursday announcement from the U.S. Commerce Department that the U.S. gross domestic product unexpectedly shrank at a 1.4% annualized rate during the first quarter of 2022. The WSJ does not expect the GDP report to alter the Federal Reserve’s plan to raise interest rates this year, including
The Wall Street Journal reports that Russia has taken another step closer to defaulting on its sovereign debts after an industry watchdog overseeing the credit-default swaps market ruled Wednesday that Russia failed to meet its obligations to foreign bondholders when it paid them in rubles earlier this month. While Russia has continued to deny reports
Recently, the Second Circuit became the first federal circuit court to rule that the federal government could deny a Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loan to a debtor in bankruptcy solely because of an applicant’s bankruptcy status.[1] Prior to the Second Circuit’s decision in Springfield Hospital, Inc. v. Guzman, multiple lower federal courts were divided on the issue, although the majority of those courts reached the same conclusion as the Second Circuit.
Continue Reading Opinion of Interest – Springfield Hospital, Inc. v. Guzman: Second Circuit Upholds Federal Government’s Ability to Deny PPP Loans to Bankrupt Companies
Talc claimants should have their appeal of a decision permitting J&J-subsidiary LTL Management to continue its Chapter 11 proceedings heard as soon as possible, according to the same bankruptcy judge that issued the decision. In February, Judge Michael Kaplan of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of New Jersey permitted the company to stay in Chapter 11,
Per Law360, a Delaware bankruptcy judge ruled that Art Van Furniture did not violate the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (“WARN”) Act, which requires large employers to provide least 60 days’ notice to workers before mass layoffs, when Art Van laid off 700 workers when COVID-19 shutdown orders were in effect. The
Bloomberg reports that Puerto Rico ended its five-year bankruptcy this week by restructuring $22 billion of debt. This was accomplished through a bond transaction in which certain investors exchanged their prepetition debt securities for new general obligations. The exchange reduced Puerto Rico’s funded debt to approximately $7 billion and dedicated $1.4 billion for public employees’
Reuters reports that Mahwah Bergen Retail Group – the former owner of the Ann Taylor retail clothing brand – obtained bankruptcy court approval of its revised reorganization plan, from which certain non-debtor releases were removed. The revised plan comes after the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia held that the non-debtor releases
As reported by Bloomberg, hearings began on Monday to decide whether to dismiss Johnson & Johnson’s District of New Jersey bankruptcy case. Employing the so-called “Texas Two-Step” strategy, J&J used Texas law to create the subsidiary LTL Management to hold its talc-related liabilities. LTL then filed for bankruptcy, with a pledge from J&J to
Mayer Brown partners Adam C. Paul, Sean T. Scott, Louis S. Chiappetta, Aaron Gavant, and Tyler R. Ferguson recently published an article for Mayer Brown’s Perspectives & Events portal on the December 16, 2021, decision in which Judge Colleen McMahon of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York reversed the bankruptcy
Reuters reports that a district court judge has deferred to the bankruptcy court on whether Johnson & Johnson is entitled to the continuing protection of the Bankruptcy Code’s automatic stay from mass tort lawsuits that it would otherwise face relating to its talc products while its subsidiary, LTL Management, proceeds through bankruptcy. A committee of