Carlson Dash Digest - October 2015 • Carlson Dash

This month we celebrate one year of the Carlson Dash Digest. We started the Digest with the goal of providing practical, relevant and topical content to our clients and peers. The feedback we have received tells us we are hitting that mark and our hope is that the Digest will become a trusted knowledge resource that you can refer back to when the need arises.

Feel free to share the Digest and also follow Carlson Dash on LinkedIn to see our weekly blogs as they post. Past issues of the Digest are also available on our website. The Digest is for our clients and peers so we welcome suggestions on topics that interest you that we may not have covered yet. Thank you for your support and interest.

Last month, Jeff Altshul attended the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges (NCBJ) in Miami, FL. The NCBJ is an association of U.S. Bankruptcy Judges that provides continuing legal education to judges, lawyers and other involved professionals; promotes cooperation among the Bankruptcy Judges, to secure a greater degree of quality and uniformity in the administration of the Bankruptcy system; and improves the practice of law in the Bankruptcy Courts of the United States.

Jeff also had his article Contract Illegality Cannot Be Used as a Defense to Adequate Protection published on the American Bankruptcy Institute’s (ABI) website. Read the article.

“Deemed” Substantive Consolidation – A New Theory

Creditors servicing troubled and/or bankrupt borrowers are forced to navigate numerous obstacles and pitfalls to protect their investments and loans. Included in this vast array of concerns is the significant substantive consolidation, and the significant impediments it levies on a creditor’s right to recovery in bankruptcy proceedings. In recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, crafty debtors (and on occasion even subordinate co-creditors) have sought to impede creditors through an even more convoluted variant of substantive consolidation, dubbed “deemed substantive consolidation.” Read on to learn how this non-formal approach could impact your claim.

Good Faith Can Save a Creditor

Creditors recently won a protection from debtors while investigating potentially exempt assets. Under both state and federal law, debtors are entitled to assert certain claims that assets may be exempt from seizure by creditors. However, many debtors do not act quickly to supply the required information to support the claim. Is the creditor at risk during this period of claims for damages? A recent case decided that there was a safe haven for the creditor while it investigated the claims in good faith. Click through to read the full case summary.