Are arbitration clauses enforceable in a bankruptcy case?  Last month, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas said “yes” and held that state law causes of action that arose out of alleged breaches of contract and other state law theories of liability should be arbitrated as agreed to by the parties in their pre-petition contracts rather than litigated in the bankruptcy court.  Gavilon Grain LLC v. M. Randy Rice (In re Turner…

In an important decision for secured creditors, the Ninth Circuit recently held that the proper “cramdown” valuation of a secured creditor’s collateral is its replacement value, regardless of whether the foreclosure value would generate a higher valuation of the collateral.  The appellate court’s decision has the potential to significantly impact lenders that include certain types of restrictions on the use of the collateral (such as low income housing requirements) in their financing documents. In First Southern Nat’l …

In a recent opinion, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit expanded the protections afforded to individual members of an official creditors’ committee against certain lawsuits.  Specifically, in In re Yellowstone Mountain Club, LLC, 841 F.3d 1090 (9th Cir. 2016), the Court unanimously held that the Barton doctrine (also known as the prior leave requirement) applies to lawsuits brought against individual members of an official creditor committee for actions taken in their…