In Burtch v. Masiz, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware granted the plaintiff-trustee’s motion for contempt as against a judgment-debtor who did not comply with the terms of a discovery-related order earlier entered by the court.

The suggestion in In re Revlon Shareholders Litigation, that forum-selection bylaws may be enforceable and the subsequent enforcement of such bylaws in Boilermakers Local 154 Retirement Fund v. Chevron, has resulted in the strategic adoption of forum-selection bylaws in connection with major transactions, such as mergers. 

In Comerica Bank v. Global Payments Direct, the Delaware Court ofChancery appointed a liquidating trustee to assist with and oversee the winding up of Global Payments ComericaAlliance LLC pursuant to Section 18-803(a) of the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act.

In In re Complaint of Judicial Misconduct, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected a complaint for judicial misconduct filed by the principal owner of a financial group against a sitting bankruptcy judge who refused to approve the appointment of the financial group based on the judge’s view that the financial group had disregarded the terms of retention orders entered by the judge in other cases.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the order of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California that required the defendants-appellants to return their beneficial interest in Mexican realty to debtor’s estate.

In In re Martinez, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Puerto Rico held that a creditor was responsible for its own failure to accurately identify the secured and unsecured portions of its claim and the Chapter 13 trustee did not have to verify the accuracy of the claim as filed by the creditor.

In Stanziale v. Heico Hldgs., Inc., et al., the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware granted a motion to dismiss deepening insolvency and Texas statutory fiduciary duty claims with prejudice but granted the chapter 7 trustee 30 days to file an amended complaint sufficient to state a common law breach of fiduciary duty claim under Texas law.

On August 12, 2014, Governor Markell signed into law House Bill No. 308, as amended, which creates the Office of the Common Interest Community Ombudsman and the Common Interest Community Advisory Council.

A quick review of Bankruptcy Rule 9019 makes clear that the settlement requires court approval. But does this mean that no settlement is binding until approved by the court, such that a party can unilaterally walk away before that point?

In the 2013 legislative session, Delaware adopted environmental lien legislation authorizing the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to impose environmental liens on real property to recover its cleanup costs.