Viewing options together nudges people to compare and contrast the options and focus on differences.
Evaluating Choices in Mediation
Unanswered Questions: Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019
Since the obvious intent of Congress is to help small businesses in financial stress and to abbreviate their Chapter 11 process, courts will try to avoid roadblocks when they can.
Multi-Party Mediation: A Time Problem & A Solution
The mediator spends a half-hour with each party to discuss initial positions—from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. It’s now nearly lunchtime, we’ve only just begun, and time is already getting short.
A Strategy for Reorganizing Medium-Size Businesses With Too Much Debt For The Small Business Reorganization Act
The absolute priority rule is still an impediment to reorganizing medium-size businesses in Chapter 11.
The Farm Economy: A Problem For Us All
That’s all well and good for us well-fed folk, who frequent grocery stores stocked with vast arrays of food choices. But such luxuries are not universal—even here in these United States.
Don’t Guess Wrong on Finality for Appeal: Comparing U.S. Supreme Court Opinions (Rytzen and Bullard)
By: Donald L Swanson “An erroneous identification of a final order as interlocutory may cause a party to miss the appellate deadline.” --U.S. Supreme Court in Rytzen Group, Inc. v Jackson Masonry, LLC (decided 1/14/2020) Rarely has a Supreme Court bankruptcy ruling had a more-expansive effect that its most recent pronouncement. The quotation above shows why—because... Continue Reading →
Mediation Confidentiality at Work
By: Donald L. Swanson Every now and then we get a refresher on mediation confidentiality and how it works. Here is one such refresher. The case is Apollo Education Group, Inc. v. National Union Fire Insurance, Case No. CV-15-01948 in Arizona's U.S. District Court. The District Court addresses the admissibility into evidence of three documents from a... Continue Reading →
Merit Management’s Footnote 2 and Justice Breyer’s Point Prevail in Second Circuit (In re Tribune)
By Donald L. Swanson “The parties here do not contend that either the debtor or petitioner in this case qualified as a “financial institution” by virtue of its status as a “customer” under §101(22)(A). . . . We therefore do not address what impact, if any, §101(22)(A) would have in the application of the §546(e) safe... Continue Reading →
When a Case is “Ripe” for Early Mediation
By Donald L. Swanson A 2018 mediation study [Fn. 1] tests the following hypothesis: That referral of a lawsuit to mediation at an early stage is more likely to lead to settlement than a later referral. What the study finds is that timing is a complex issue that’s influenced by and “could be a proxy for”... Continue Reading →
Fraudulent Transfer’s Good Faith Defense: A Futility Exception to Investigation?
By: Donald L Swanson Court Ruling: A transferee on inquiry notice of fraud must diligently investigate its suspicions, before a good faith defense is available, even if an investigation would have revealed nothing. This ruling is from Janey, Receiver v. Magness, Case No. 19-0452 in the Texas Supreme Court (decided December 20, 2019), which Court is... Continue Reading →
