Loan Forgiveness as Basis for Fraudulent Transfer Claims
by | posted in: Chapter 11, fraudulent transfer | 0

By Jeffrey Cohen, Michael A. Kaplan, and Colleen M. Maker (Lowenstein Sandler)

Jeffrey Cohen
Michael A. Kaplan
Colleen M. Maker

In Loan Forgiveness as Basis for Fraudulent Transfer Claims, authors Jeffrey Cohen, Michael A. Kaplan, and Colleen M. Maker address fraudulent transfer litigation as a valuable weapon in the bankruptcy code arsenal, to target assets transferred or disposed of prior to bankruptcy with the potential to provide at least some recovery to creditors of the debtor’s estate. The article examines debt cancellation as an overlooked, but still potentially viable and valuable, basis for a fraudulent transfer cause of action.

Avoidance actions may include not only transfers with fraudulent intent, but also constructive fraud through loan forgiveness or debt cancellation. For example, if a company makes loans to subsidiaries and then formally or informally either writes off, forgives and cancels the loan prior to bankruptcy, that action has the same impact as a fraudulent transfer: creditors are left holding the bag while the beneficiary is unaffected and may even receive a windfall at the expense of the creditors.

Intercompany transfers are often considered within the ordinary course of business in a complex corporate structure, and loans to directors and officers are not rare. However, avoidance actions regarding forgiveness of debt are seldom brought due of issues of standing, resources, discovery, and cost weighed against the viability of the claim. Parties must assess whether the possibility of recovery outweighs the risks or if limited resources are better used elsewhere, perhaps through direct distribution to creditors. 

SDNY Issues Novel Opinion Holding that Out-of-Court Restructurings May Violate Noteholder Rights Under the Trust Indenture Act
by | posted in: Workouts and Pre-Packs | 0

By Alan F. Denenberg, Joseph A. Hall, Michael Kaplan, Jeffrey M. Oakes, Richard D. Truesdell, Jr., and Sarah Ashfaq of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

Companies have long relied upon out-of-court restructurings to keep them afloat during times of financial distress. In Marblegate Asset Management v. Education Management Corp. (S.D.N.Y. 2014), the Southern District of New York found that a proposed out-of-court restructuring, objected to byminority creditors, likely violated provisions of the Trust Indenture Act of 1939 (TIA), a Depression-era federal statute intended to protect rights to payment under a TIA-qualified indenture, which governs debt securities offered in any U.S. public offering. Unlike earlier TIA cases, a critical element of the proposed restructuring in Marblegate was explicitly permitted by the governing indenture, and no consent of the objecting creditors was required by the indenture. Nonetheless, the Court read the TIA to give creditors a substantive right to protection against out-of-court restructurings that they did not consent to on an individual basis, although it ultimately did not grant the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. But the potential for a minority creditor to obstruct a company’s ability to restructure, especially in light of indenture provisions the creditor knowingly accepted at the time it purchased its securities, could have serious consequences. While the debtor company’s actions in Marblegate were certainly aggressive, the Court’s view, if adopted by other courts, could have the potential to create an overriding ability for any creditor to block a restructuring — even when permitted by the indenture — directly leading to more court-administered bankruptcies. If followed to that conclusion, the opinion would be a potentially material and unwelcome change to the legal landscape.

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