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Features

Commercial Leases and the Law of Electronic Transactions
Over the past 20 years, the rise of email as a generally-accepted medium of business communication has prompted the law to allow certain contracts, including leases, to be entered into electronically, without a handwritten signature. This article addresses recent developments and the present state of the law with respect to commercial leasing and electronic media.
Features

Professional Fees May Not Be Capped by Standard Carve-Out Provisions
Secured creditors and debtor-in-possession (DIP) lenders that rely on standard carve-out provisions to limit the impact of bankruptcy professional fees on their collateral would be well-advised to take notice of a U.S. Bankruptcy Court decision from earlier this year.
Features

Split Ninth Circuit Requires Default Interest to Cure Default
A Chapter 11 debtor "cannot nullify a preexisting obligation in a loan agreement to pay post-default interest solely by proposing a cure," held a split panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Features

Expansion of the <i>Barton</i> Doctrine To Unsecured Creditors' Committees
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held in <i>Blixseth v. Brown</i> that under <i>Barton v. Barbour</i>, a plaintiff must obtain a bankruptcy court's permission before commencing a lawsuit in another forum against a member of the committee of unsecured creditors, and that <i>Stern v. Marshall</i> does not preclude bankruptcy courts from adjudicating such claims on the merits.
Features

Make-Whole Mayhem
<b><i>Uncertain Treatment of Make-Whole Premiums Upon Bankruptcy-Induced Acceleration and Redemption of Indentures</b></i><p>Make-whole premiums are essentially prepayment penalties imposed on borrowers when loans are paid off in advance of their maturity dates. These premiums remove the borrowers' incentives to refinance whenever interest rates drop, and provide stability and predictability to the world of secured lending.
Features

Landlord Harassment of Commercial Tenants
<i><b>Part Two of a Two-Part Article</i></b><p>As discussed last month, in <i>Lansaw v. Zokaites</i>, the tenants (and bankruptcy petitioners) complained of certain harassment that occurred prior to the filing of their bankruptcy petition. Let us turn now to the court's analysis of the landlord's post–bankruptcy-petition behavior.
Features

High Expectations for Commercial Construction Activity
Construction industry executives are particularly optimistic regarding the prospects of local, nonresidential construction activity this year, according to a recent Wells Fargo Equipment Finance survey of industry contractors and equipment distributors.
Features

Navigating the Bankruptcy Court's Power to Modify A Secured Creditor's Lien
This article focuses on the impact of section 552 of the Bankruptcy Code, which addresses the effect of a bankruptcy filing on property acquired by the debtor after the filing of the bankruptcy case (referred to as "after-acquired property") and proceeds of pre-bankruptcy collateral.
Features

The Chapter 9 Crucible
Any bankruptcy practitioner, upon first contact with a municipal bankruptcy case, may be shocked by the lack of substantive law to be found in Chapter 9. The dearth of detail has long caused bankruptcy lawyers and courts to turn to the far more substantive provisions of Chapter 11 for practical guidance.
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