In this illuminating work, Ronald J. Mann offers readers a comprehensive study of bankruptcy cases in the Supreme Court of the United States. He provides detailed case studies based on the Justices' private papers on the most closely divided cases, statistical analysis of variation among the Justices in their votes for and against effective bankruptcy relief, and new information about the appearance in opinions of citations taken from party and amici briefs. By focusing on cases that have neither a clear answer under the statute nor important policy constraints, the book unveils the decision-making process of the Justices themselves - what they do when they are left to their own devices. It should be read by anyone interested not only in the jurisprudence of bankruptcy, but also in the inner workings of the Supreme Court.

In this absorbing narrative, Barry E.C. Boothman traces the history of Abitibi Power & Paper Limited alongside the rise and fall of the newsprint industry and the advent of Canadian corporate capitalism. In the first half of the twentieth century, Abitibi was Canada's biggest manufacturer - an apparent success story after the Wall Street crash of 1929 and a company deemed "too big to fail" - but the company eventually ended up at the centre of the longest and most controversial bankruptcy in Canadian history. Moving from the frontier areas of northern Ontario to the heart of the continental economy, Corporate Cataclysm shows how competitive strategies, industrial organization, corporate finance, and law combined with the empire-building dreams of entrepreneurs and the concerns of politicians to generate an economic disaster. It then chronicles the disputes and intense strife that plagued Abitibi's fourteen-year receivership.

Bankruptcy in America, in stark contrast to its status in most other countries, typically signifies not a debtor's last gasp but an opportunity to catch one's breath and recoup. Why has the nation's legal system evolved to allow both corporate and individual debtors greater control over their fate than imaginable elsewhere? Masterfully probing the political dynamics behind this question, David Skeel here provides the first complete account of the remarkable journey American bankruptcy law has taken from its beginnings in 1800, when Congress lifted the country's first bankruptcy code right out of English law, to the present day.

Skeel shows that the confluence of three forces that emerged over many years--an organized creditor lobby, pro-debtor ideological currents, and an increasingly powerful bankruptcy bar--explains the distinctive contours of American bankruptcy law. Their interplay, he argues in clear, inviting prose, has seen efforts to legislate bankruptcy become a compelling battle royale between bankers and lawyers--one in which the bankers recently seem to have gained the upper hand. Skeel demonstrates, for example, that a fiercely divided bankruptcy commission and the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress have yielded the recent, ideologically charged battles over consumer bankruptcy.

The uniqueness of American bankruptcy has often been noted, but it has never been explained. As different as twenty-first century America is from the horse-and-buggy era origins of our bankruptcy laws, Skeel shows that the same political factors continue to shape our unique response to financial distress.

The 2008 global financial crisis ushered in the biggest explosion in new bank regulation around the world since the Great Depression. Even more so than then, this new regulation has been coordinated on a global basis and reflects global standards as well as local idiosyncracies. Although governments and regulators have sought to put measures in place to prevent the failure of banks, they have acknowledged the need for measures to address what happens when banks fail or are threatened with failure and how to resolve such failure. Bank Resolution and Crisis Management: Law and Practice deals with the measures which European, U.S. and international law and policy makers have sought to put in place to deal with the threat of financial institutions failing, including enhanced supervision, early intervention and so called 'living wills'. Measures such as 'bail-out' (protecting private shareholders and creditors against losses) and 'bail-in' (imposing losses on shareholders and long-term creditors without causing contagion among short-term creditors) are discussed. The work includes comprehensive summaries and commentary on the EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive, the UK resolution laws including the Banking Act 2009 and amendments to that act, the Orderly Liquidation Authority under Title II of the U.S. Dodd-Frank Act, proposed new Chapter 14 to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, and the bank resolution provisions of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Act. The book also provides detailed commentary on the provisions in the Banking Act 2009 dealing with resolution, including discussion of the stabilisation, bank administration and insolvency powers. This includes analysis of secondary legislation such as the Partial Transfers Order. Special emphasis is given to the practical effect of such measures on financial transactions and their impact on arrangements, such as netting and set-off. There is also commentary on the Financial Services Investor Compensation Scheme and its role in returning money to the depositors in a failing bank. The special position of failing investment banks is also a feature of the book. Coverage includes analysis of the legislation adopted to address the particular issues that arose in the failure of Lehman Brothers and the resulting litigation, particularly that relating to the recovery of client assets. This work will be invaluable for regulatory, transactional and insolvency lawyers and other professionals advising banks on their powers and governance processes, in structuring and documenting transactions and in dealing with banks in the course of insolvency proceedings.

Im alltaglichen Wirtschaftsleben nehmen verbundene Unternehmen und Konzerne einen grossen Stellenwert ein. Bis zur Einfuhrung des Gesetzes zur Erleichterung der Bewaltigung von Konzerninsolvenzen enthielt die Insolvenzordnung (InsO) keine spezifischen Regelungen, die auf das Phanomen des Konzerns zugeschnitten waren. Der Autor untersucht, ob die Grundidee des Reformgesetzgebers, eine erleichterte Verfahrensgestaltung durch Koordination zu erreichen, zutreffend ist und ob Schwachen in der Rechtsordnung vorhanden waren, die eine Erganzung der InsO rechtfertigten. Die hieraus gewonnenen Erkenntnisse werden auf die neu in die InsO eingefuhrten Vorschriften ubertragen und kommentiert.

Die Autorin nimmt den "Suhrkamp"-Fall zum Anlass, schwierigen Rechtsfragen an der Schnittstelle von Gesellschafts- und Insolvenzrecht nachzugehen und auszuloten, ob gesetzgeberischer Handlungsbedarf besteht. Sie untersucht die Auswirkungen des bei Durchfuhrung eines Insolvenzplanverfahrens in Eigenverwaltung zur Verfugung gestellten Handlungs- und Gestaltungsspielraums auf die Stellung des Minderheitsgesellschafters und den diesem zugleich zur Verfugung gestellten Schutz. Ausserdem gibt sie Antwort auf die Frage, ob die durch das Gesetz zur weiteren Erleichterung der Sanierung von Unternehmen (ESUG) eroeffnete Moeglichkeit, im Insolvenzplan alle gesellschaftsrechtlich zulassigen Regelungen zu treffen, aus Sicht des Mehrheitsgesellschafters dazu einladt, den lastigen Minderheitsgesellschafter mittels Nutzung der insolvenzrechtlichen Gestaltungsmoeglichkeiten zu entmachten.

Das deutsche und das europaische Recht enthielten bis vor kurzem keine besonderen Regelungen fur Insolvenzverfahren von Konzernunternehmen. Dies war durchaus uberraschend, da eine Vielzahl von Unternehmen konzernverbunden ist. Durch den Zusammenbruch grosser Traditionskonzerne regte sich in der Praxis Widerstand und der Gesetzgeber wurde auf den Plan gerufen. Der Autor legt dar, dass eine Kodifikation konzerninsolvenzrechtlicher Vorschriften notwendig ist. Sodann erfolgt eine ausfuhrliche Darstellung und Untersuchung der Reformuberlegungen bzw. Reformprozesse. Abschliessend wird unter Berucksichtigung der daraus gewonnenen Erkenntnisse ein eigenes Loesungsmodell zur Bewaltigung von Konzerninsolvenzen aufgezeigt.

A decade after the Global Financial Crisis and Great Recession, developed economies continue to struggle under excessive household debt. While exacerbating inequality and political unrest, this debt - when combined with wage stagnation and a shrinking welfare state - has played a key role in maintaining economic growth and allowing households faced with rising costs of living to make ends meet. In Bankruptcy: The Case for Relief in an Economy of Debt, Joseph Spooner examines this economic model and finds it increasingly unsustainable. In a call to action to reduce debt burden, he turns to bankruptcy law, which is uniquely situated as a mechanism of social insurance against the risks of a debt-dependent economy. This book should be read by anyone interested in understanding the problem of consumer debt and how best to address it.