Texas Lawyer Blog: Bankruptcy

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Bankruptcy Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Bankruptcy

Texas Lawyer Blog

Bankruptcy law: adversary proceedings, fraudulent transfers, preferences, creditor representation.
By J. Michael McBride

Post Frequency: 6.9/day

Last Entry: March 29, 2011 at 11:47:27

U.S.-Style Bankruptcy System Proposed for U.K. Business

Posted on July 18, 2008
David Cameron, leader of Britain's opposition Conservative Party, pledged that he wants to introduce bankruptcy laws modeled after the U.S. system to give struggling businesses time to recover during the economic downturn. “We will consult on taking the best aspects of the American Chapter 11 system and give good companies breathing space to allow them to rescue or restructure the business in the face of the credit crunch,'' Cameron said...

Chickens Coming Home to Roost?

Posted on July 17, 2008
The Federal Reserve's actions (exponentially increase the money supply) have reduced the value of the dollar. One of the unintended (but known) consequences of a devalued dollar is that foreigners, mainly foreign governments, will seek to reduce their exposure to the falling dollar by moving away from the US currency...

A Quick Review of MBIA and Ambac

Posted on July 14, 2008
These two bond insurers have had a rough time and now are in the aftermath of being downgraded by the large credit agencies. Specifically, Moody's downgraded MBIA in mid June from AAA to A2. Other agencies had also taken similar action. However, what is interesting is that investors had already "voiced" their opinion by the time of the downgrade such that the company's share prices had fallen significantly prior to the downgrade...

Florida Department of Revenue v. Piccadilly Cafeterias Inc.

Posted on July 14, 2008
In the past, Bankruptcy courts have allowed real estate sales certain state stamp or transfer taxes exemptions even if the sale took place prior to confirmation of a reorganization plan. This is based on a broad interpretation of 11 U.S.C. §1146(a) of the Bankruptcy Code, and is usually done to expedite bankruptcy cases...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae Melt

Posted on July 11, 2008
Insolvency concerns have driven the share prices for the once venerable firms of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae almost into the ground. Today, share prices for these two have fallen substantially. Freddie Mac's 52 week high is $67.20 and it closed yesterday at $8...

Vick Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Posted on July 11, 2008
Michael Vick, the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback, is serving a 23-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to federal dogfighting charges last year. “He was subsequently suspended indefinitely without pay and lost all his major sponsors, including Nike...

Obama Proposes Bankruptcy Changes

Posted on July 09, 2008
Barack Obama proposes changing bankruptcy laws to help military families, seniors, and people recovering from natural disasters. According to the Associated Press, “Obama said he also would help service members and military families struggling financially after multiple moves, lengthy deployments and, in some cases, predatory lenders...

Interactive "Game" Allows You to Pick Your Own Vice President

Posted on July 09, 2008
Here is a link to a fun site created by www.slate.com where you can choose your own VP, depending on how you answer various questions. It takes only minutes and really is kind of fun! http://www.slate.com/id/2194590/ MichaelPosted by the Law Offices of J...

Former Senator From Texas/McCain Advisor at UBS

Posted on July 08, 2008
Sen. Phil Gramm has been at the Swiss banking giant, UBS since 2002. During that time, the bank has (like many banks/brokers) encountered some major losses. This fact may take on more importance as the US Presidential election draws near as Sen. Gramm has been touted as a possible Secretary of the Treasury in a McCain administration...

Federal Reserve to Expand Measures to Protect Wall Street

Posted on July 08, 2008
Fed Chairman Bernanke has announced plans to further ease the brokerage firms' money crises by extending the time in which they may borrow money from the Federal Reserve. Earlier this year, the "Fed window" was "opened" to brokerage firms and now those lending rights are being further expanded...

One More Article on June Auto Sales

Posted on July 02, 2008
This article on the bleak report turned in for US auto sales for June is interesting because it provides a make by make break down on the sales numbers. Interestingly, Mini posted a 40.5% increase while not surprisingly, Hummer posted a 54.2% decrease...

Junk Bonds Healthy???

Posted on June 27, 2008
Fridson Investment Advisors was founded by Martin Fridson who says, “that new issues of junk bonds are healthier and more default-resistant than in recent years. This shift in what has been a challenged market is happening because weaker borrowers are being shut out, in Mr...

Foreign Governments Continue to Buy/Bail-out US Mega Banks

Posted on June 26, 2008
The latest in the trend for foreign governments to use their "sovereign funds" to buy stakes in US Banks is Kuwait which just invested 3 billion more in Citi Bank during January. Likewise, it invested 2 billion in Merrill Lynch. Here is a link to one article on this subject: http://biz...

FBI Arrests Hundreds in Mortgage Fraud Case

Posted on June 20, 2008
The FBI said that "it has arrested more than 400 real estate brokers since March in a crackdown on incidents of mortgage fraud that have contributed to the country's housing crises." Apprehensions were made all over the country including Chicago, Atlanta, Miami and suburban Maryland...

Bankruptcy Rates Rise Among Older Americans

Posted on June 19, 2008
According to a new study, “the rate of bankruptcy filings among those 65 and older has more than doubled since 1991.” The study found that “Americans age 55 or older have experienced the largest increase in bankruptcy filings, going from 8...

Fifth Third Bancorp Needs to Raise Capital After Dividend and Profit Forecast Cut

Posted on June 18, 2008
Bloomberg reports that Fifth Third Bancorp, Ohio’s second largest bank, “stock fell 19 percent, after slashing its dividend and forecasting much lower profit.” This is reportedly the largest decrease in at least 23 years. “Fifth Third joins the list of banks and securities firms that have raised more than $300 billion to shore up their balance sheets after losses tied to mortgage and debt markets,” reported Bloomberg...

Successful Hedge Fund Operator Says Losses Will Reach 1.3 Trillion

Posted on June 18, 2008
John Paulson recently told a group of hedge fund managers meeting in Monaco that he expects that the losses and write downs which will follow the world wide credit crunch will reach 1.3 trillion dollars. He stated that he thinks that we are about one third of the way through this financial crisis...

More people opting for bankruptcy help

Posted on June 13, 2008
In 2005 Congress enacted a law to get consumers to look for alternatives to filing personal bankruptcy. The new law made it more expensive to file for bankruptcy protection, put tighter restrictions on qualifying for the protection with income limits and measuring the debtor's ability to pay their creditors, and mandatory credit counseling...

American Airlines denies bankruptcy rumor

Posted on June 11, 2008
American Airlines spokesman, Andy Backover, denied the rumors that the major U.S. carrier was about to file for bankruptcy protection in a Dallas Morning News report. The rumors started in a DealReporter story that quoted "unnamed sources" saying "bidders for AMR's regional carrier American Eagle would be cautious based on a risk of AMR filing bankruptcy"...

LandSource real estate partnership files for bankruptcy

Posted on June 10, 2008
LandSource Communities Development LLC, a California property developer backed by Calpers, filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 Sunday. Calpers (California Public Employees' Retirement System) is the largest public pension fund in the United States...

Insider joins Fed critics faulting credit crisis programs as risky

Posted on June 09, 2008
Federal Reverse Bank of Richmond President, Jeffrey Lacker, spoke out in London Thursday criticizing the Fed's recent rescue of Bear Sterns. In an interview before his speech, Mr. Lacker said that "before this recent episode, there [were] well-understood and well-articulated boundaries around when we would lend" -- to manage short-term interest rate, to help bank deadline with temporary shortages of cash, or to facilities the closure of a bank taken over by regulators...

Remembering Sen. Phil Graham

Posted on June 05, 2008
A recent article illustrates how legislation is crafted and how those little known provisions slipped into a bill that no one had time to read can impact us years later. Quote: Who's to blame for the biggest financial catastrophe of our time? There are plenty of culprits, but one candidate for lead perp is former Sen...

Lehman Brothers May Need to Raise Capital As Analysts See Loss

Posted on June 04, 2008
According to analysts, Lehman Brothers may need to seek more capital to alleviate concerns as the company prepares to report its first-quarterly loss since going public in 1994. Analysts at Oppenheimer & Co. and Bank of America predict that Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest U...

Great Series of Articles in WSJ re: Bear Stearns Bailout

Posted on June 03, 2008
Here is a quote from one of the 3 part series of articles from the Wall Street Journal about the Bear Stearns bail out: "Directors authorized an emergency bankruptcy filing, but Mr. Schwartz still held out hope that a rescue could be arranged. A bankruptcy filing for Bear Stearns -- with its nearly 400 different subsidiaries -- would be immensely complicated...

Federal Reserve Continues to Pump Money into Economy

Posted on May 29, 2008
The Federal Reserve continues its program of injecting money into the economy. This is accomplished in several ways. The first way referred to in the quotes below gets money to banks with the idea that the banks will then loan it out to customers. Of course, that may or may not be the result...

Mortgage Fraud Cases Surge, Convictions Rise, FBI Reports

Posted on May 29, 2008
The FBI has been working with the Securities and Exchange Commission in investigating over 1,300 mortgage fraud cases and 19 corporate investigations. Some interesting statistics were released yesterday in an FBI report concerning fraud cases linked to the subprime lending crisis...

UPDATE: City of Vallejo, California files for Bankruptcy

Posted on May 29, 2008
Vallejo, California filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 9 (available only to municipalities and a form of reorganization, not liquidation) last Friday in the Eastern District of California. The city has been struggling with personnel costs and low taxes from the housing market...

UPDATE: Vallejo, looking to bankruptcy, consoles citizens

Posted on May 20, 2008
In late February we discussed the city of Vallejo in California that was contemplating on filing Chapter 9 Bankruptcy. Tuesday night the City Council unanimously agreed to the bankruptcy filing after the two-month long mediation sessions with unions failed to balance the fiscal plan long-term...

Why more homeowners aren't getting help

Posted on May 16, 2008
Many Americans are trying to work out new loans for their mortgages to avoid foreclosure--no surprise there. An article at CNNMoney.com gives an explanation that might explain why some Americans are finding it difficult to accomplish this task. The person who will decide whether or not the homeowner will get a new loan is a person called a "servicer"...

Fed Loans Banks and Brokers 31 Billion...per Week!

Posted on May 16, 2008
In order to avoid a widening of the banking/credit crisis, the Federal Reserve has opened the window wide. That is, unprecedented amounts of money have been loaned to banks as well as (in a recent move) to brokerage firms. So, while the official word is that all is well and things are about to turn around, the amount of money which banks and brokerage firms are borrowing in order to survive is skyrocketing...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

Texas Governor Takes Surprising Stand In Favor Of Immigrants
Texas Governor Rick Perry, normally an ultra-conservative, surpris...

District Judge Upholds Texas' Moment of Silence Law
In 2003, the Texas legislature amended a "moment of silence" law s...

Irving, Texas Losing Students Due To Immigration Crackdown?
The Dallas Morning News had an interesting story Sunday about the ...

Two New USCIS Training Centers To Open In North Texas
The Dallas Morning News reports today that two regional training c...

Comprehensive Explanation of Irving, Texas Immigration Situation
The Dallas Morning News has a very good series of articles today a...