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Despite a relatively strong 2020, New York Classic Motors, LLC, a unit of Classic Car Club Manhattan, filed for chapter 11 protection on April 9, 2021. Classic Car Club Manhattan is a private club where members can drive an impressive fleet of luxury vehicles both new and restored classics. Members are also entitled to attend a calendar of events and access the private clubhouse on the Hudson River. The clubhouse is located at Pier 76, 408 12th Avenue, near the Javits Center in Manhattan. New York Classic Motors holds the lease on the clubhouse and is a tenant of Hudson River Park.

In an interview, Classic Car Club Manhattan’s co-founder called the bankruptcy a “defensive move” to preserve its clubhouse space after Hudson River Park gave notice in January that it needed to vacate the space as part of a planned development even though the club had more than four years remaining on the lease. Because of the filing, the club will be able to continue operations at Pier 76 while the case is pending. The club has not filed a declaration or disclosure statement yet.
Continue Reading Car Club Seeks Chapter 11 Protection Despite Growing Membership in “Defensive Move”

The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, recently moved for approval of a structured dismissal of its most recent chapter 11 case. Debtors seek structured dismissal of their chapter 11 cases when they cannot confirm a chapter 11 plan. In this case, the A&P estate is massively administratively insolvent, meaning that it can’t pay expenses that became due after the bankruptcy filing.

In theory, the bankruptcy judge, the United States trustee and the creditors committee monitor the case to prevent administrative insolvency; if a case becomes administratively insolvent, the case should be converted to chapter 7. But there is often an enormous reservoir of inertia among the case professionals to resist conversion, particularly in big cases, even where administrative insolvency is clear. The costs of that inertia are asymmetrical. Typically, the professionals receive all or most of their fees, while administrative creditors are involuntarily exposed to loss.
Continue Reading A&P Liquidation Will Pay Administrative Creditors Just $.20 on the Dollar: Is There a Better Way?

A decision in the Delaware District Court allowing nonconsensual third-party releases in plans of liquidation has a surprising origin – the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

In October of 2017, the Weinstein scandal exploded across the nation, bringing to light over 80 sexual assault allegations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein saw swift retribution: his businesses, The Weinstein Company Holdings and affiliates (the “Weinstein Debtors”), faced multiple lawsuits and filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in March of 2018. Weinstein himself was arrested two months later. The scandal triggered the #MeToo social justice movement, empowering victims of sexual assault and harassment across the globe to voice their claims. Weinstein was ultimately convicted on two felony counts of sexual assault, and the chapter 11 proceeding involving The Weinstein Debtors is drawing to a close in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court.
Continue Reading Nonconsensual Third-Party Releases Not Limited to Plans of Reorganization

On March 11, 2021, the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved a plan of liquidation for Cred Inc. and debtor affiliates, a collection of cryptocurrency investment firms that filed for Chapter 11 protection on November 8, 2020. So how exactly did a cryptocurrency investment firm go bankrupt in Fall 2020? In November 2019, Bitcoin was trading between $7,000 and $9,500 per coin. By November 8, 2020, the price of BTC had doubled, hitting a high of $15,637. Just four months later, on March 13, 2021, BTC closed over $61,000. And it wasn’t just Bitcoin. Ethereum is up 970% since November 8, 2019; BinanceCoin is up 1,361%; and Cardano is up 2,814%. Even Dogecoin is up 2,111% since November 8, 2019. Anyone remotely involved in the cryptocurrency business should have had an historic year. So what was the problem for Cred Inc.?
Continue Reading Cryptocurrency Investment Firm’s Liquidation Plan Approved—Wait, What?

The record-breaking winter storm that hit Texas in February led to an unprecedented demand for electricity, which the state’s electric utilities were not able to satisfy at pre-storm price levels. Electric Reliability Council of Texas (“ERCOT”), a non-profit that manages the state’s electric grid and sets the wholesale price of electricity, initiated rolling blackouts and set electric prices to the market cap of $9,000 per megawatt hour. The increase in wholesale electric prices also pushed consumer prices to astronomical levels: one Texas customer was billed nearly $17,000 for electricity in February.

Weeks after Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. filed for chapter 11, Griddy Energy LLC joined it after suffering similar financial losses. The Griddy filing was precipitated by the increase in energy prices during the winter storm and later lawsuits by Griddy’s customers and the Attorney General of Texas stemming from these price hikes. Griddy intends to release customers from their unpaid electricity bills in exchange for releases from liability.
Continue Reading Texas Storm Continues to Spark Chapter 11 Filings by Electric Providers

Because of the unprecedented winter storm that clobbered Texas in February 2021, Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, Inc., was forced to file for chapter 11 in response to staggering increases in energy prices around the time of the storm. According to the first day declaration, Brazos was financially stable and bankruptcy “was unfathomable.” But in response to rotating outages across Texas, the Public Utility Commission of Texas instructed the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (“ERCOT”) to raise rates far beyond expectations for more than four straight days. ERCOT also imposed tremendous fees on energy use. After seven days of swelled energy prices, Brazos was presented with a bill for around $2.1 billion—due in mere days.
Continue Reading Texas Deep Freeze Spurs Chapter 11 Filing for Waco Based Energy Company

Earlier this month, three student loan borrowers filed an involuntary Chapter 11 petition under 11 U.S.C. § 303(b)(1) for Navient Solutions LLC, a student loan servicer. Three or more entities who each hold a claim against an involuntary debtor can file an involuntary bankruptcy petition on that debtor’s behalf if each claim is neither a contingent liability nor the subject of a bona fide dispute as to liability or amount. The borrowers alleged that Navient is insolvent and wrongfully collected about $45,000 in loan repayments from the petitioners after their loans were discharged in bankruptcy. On February 17, 2021, Navient filed an expedited motion to dismiss the petition, arguing that it was frivolous and filed in bad faith by petitioners’ counsel: for an advantage in other Navient suits and to harm Navient’s reputation. Navient asserted that the petitioners failed to allege specific facts or provide documentary evidence supporting the debtors’ right to file under section 303(b)(1).
Continue Reading Navient’s Expedited Motion to Dismiss Student Loan Borrowers’ Involuntary Chapter 11 Petition

Greylock Capital Associates, LLC, a New York-based hedge fund founded in 2004, recently filed for chapter 11 protection under subchapter V for small businesses. Assets under management for Greylock have halved since 2017 and the hedge fund has cut its staff from 21 people to just nine now. Greylock filed to reject its $100,000 per month Madison Avenue lease that the hedge fund no longer needs. Greylock leased the 11,400 square foot premises in 2014, but when the fund’s growth stalled after its height in 2017 there was no need for such a large office in the heart of midtown Manhattan.
Continue Reading Greylock Capital Associates, LLC May Preview A Rash of Filings To Reject New York City Leases

Herrick congratulates its Restructuring & Finance Litigation Group on the success it has enjoyed over the last two years. The team, which now has 18 members and counting, has grown substantially while taking on a variety of complex litigation matters and Chapter 11 Restructurings. Below is a small sampling of our recent work.
Continue Reading Herrick’s Restructuring & Finance Litigation: 2019-2020 In Review

Introduction

In In re VP Williams Trans, LLC,[1] Judge Michael Wiles of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York confirmed that a secured creditor may make an election under section 1111(b) of the United States Bankruptcy Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”) in a proceeding under subchapter V of the Bankruptcy Code for small business debtors. Judge Wiles’s decision appears to be the first decision on this issue in this Circuit since subchapter V of the Bankruptcy Code came into effect this year.
Continue Reading Bankruptcy Court Affirms Availability of 1111(b) Election in Subchapter V Cases