Category Archives: Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure
Bankruptcy Preference Amendment(s) Effective February 19, 2020
On August 23, 2019, the Small Business Reorganization Act (H.R. 3311; S. 1091) (the “SBRA”) was signed into law. The law is effective 180-days following enactment, that is on February 19, 2020. Congress incorporated two important changes into the SBRA that may have broader implications beyond small business reorganizations as applicable to the recovery of “preferential transfers” under Section 547 of the Bankruptcy Code. First, a debtor or trustee is required to consider a party’s statutory defenses “based on reasonable due diligence in the circumstances of the case and taking into account a party’s known or reasonably knowable affirmative defenses” […]
Recent Amendments to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, Effective December 1, 2016
Recent bankruptcy rule amendments, effective December 1, 2016, address the continuing impact of the Stern v. Marshall case on bankruptcy proceedings. In Stern v. Marshall, 564 U.S. 462 (2011), the United States Supreme Court held that a bankruptcy court, as a non-Article III court (i.e. courts without full judicial independence) lacked constitutional authority under Article III of the United States Constitution to enter a final judgment on a state law counterclaim that is not resolved in the process of ruling on a creditor’s proof of claim, even though Congress purported to grant such statutory authority under 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)2(C).