“Straddling the Line”: Delaware Bankruptcy Court Rules That Not All Tax Liabilities Incurred During a Debtor’s Petition Year are Eligible for Administrative Expense Priority

In re Affirmative Insurance Holdings, Inc., Case No. 15-12136 (CSS), 2019 WL 5173773 (Bankr. D. Del. Oct. 15, 2019).

In this Opinion, Chief Judge Sontchi ruled that tax liabilities incurred by a corporation during a year that “straddles” the petition date should be bifurcated, such that tax liabilities stemming from post-petition events are afforded administrative expense priority, whereas tax liabilities stemming from pre-petition events are afforded general unsecured status.  In so doing, his Honor departed from the previous practice of affording administrative expense priority to tax liabilities incurred by a corporate debtor during the year of its petition date in… Read More

Satisfaction of a Prepetition Loan by a DIP Loan Does Not Extinguish Vendor’s Reclamation Rights Under Section 546(c)

In re Reichhold Holdings US, Inc., No. 14-12237 (MFW), 2016 WL 4479286 (Bankr. D. Del. Aug. 24, 2016)

In this Memorandum Opinion, the Court overruled a limited reclamation claims objection asserted by a liquidating trustee, who argued that a creditor’s reclamation rights were cut-off by a postpetition loan that refinanced a prior perfected prepetition loan.  In doing so, the Court sided with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and rejected a line of cases from the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

After Reichhold Holdings US, Inc. (the “Debtor”) filed its chapter 11 petition, Covestro LLC… Read More

Pac Sun Class Representative Denied Permission to File Class Proof of Claim on Behalf of Priority Claimants

In re Pacific Sunwear of California, Inc., No. 16-10882 (LSS) (Bankr. D. Del. June 22, 2016 and Aug. 8, 2016)

In the first of two related Opinions, Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein granted claimant Tamaree Beeney permission to file a class proof of claim for alleged violations of California wage and hour laws under California’s Private Attorney General Act (“PAGA”), but limited her representative role to absent class members who hold non-priority general unsecured claims.  In the second Opinion, the Court denied reconsideration of Her Honor’s ruling and further disallowed another claimant from representing the priority class in… Read More

Unredeemed Gift Cards are Not Entitled to Priority Status Under Bankruptcy Code 507(a)(7)

In re City Sports, Inc., No. 15-12054 (KG), 2016 WL 4190090 (Bankr. D. Del. Aug. 4, 2016)

In what the Bankruptcy Court deemed a purely academic issue given the circumstances of the City Sports bankruptcy cases, Judge Gross held that unredeemed gift cards are not entitled to priority status, and instead, are properly classified as general unsecured claims.  In so doing, Judge Gross rejected and disagreed with a previous holding of the Delaware Bankruptcy Court wherein the court found that gift cards fall under the definition of “deposit” and accorded them priority status under the Bankruptcy Code.  See In re WW Warehouse,… Read More