Interrelationships? (Photo by Marilyn Swanson) By: Donald L Swanson The interrelationship between an assignment for benefit of creditors (“ABC”) proceeding and an involuntary bankruptcy filing, for the same debtor, is governed by various portions of the Bankruptcy Code.  But that relationship remains ill-defined, nonetheless. What follows is an attempt to summarize a bankruptcy court opinion dealing... Continue Reading →

Supervision? (Photo by Marilyn Swanson) By: Donald L Swanson Congress must be allowed “to fashion a modern bankruptcy system which places the basic rudiments of the bankruptcy process in the hands of an expert equitable tribunal.” --from Granfinanciera, S.A. v. Nordberg, 492 U.S. 33, 94 (1989) (Blackmun dissent, emphasis added). Justice Blackmun had a point—back in 1989—that... Continue Reading →

An Illinois city (Photo by Marilyn Swanson) By: Donald L Swanson An assignment for benefit of creditor (“ABC”) is, historically, a nonjudicial process for administering the affairs of a failed business. ABC laws are rooted in English common law and predate enactment of federal bankruptcy laws in the U.S.[Fn. 1] An ABC is made by a... Continue Reading →

Re-envisioning? (Photo by Marilyn Swanson) By: Donald L Swanson State laws on assignments for benefit of creditors (“ABC”) have been around for a long time.  But times have changed over the last half-century.  Specifically, the bankruptcy alternative has changed dramatically: from a harsh remedy under the Bankruptcy Act of 1898;to the current Bankruptcy Code, with its... Continue Reading →