Category Archives: Small business bankruptcy

Interim bankruptcy rules on the books in Massachusetts

By doug | Published: April 28, 2020

The bankruptcy judges in Massachusetts adopted the second set of changes to bankruptcy procedure rules this year, effective April 27, 2020. The compete set of rule changes can be read here. A bit of background: The creation of a new Small Business Reorganization Act in August, 2019 spurred a need for many small changes to […]

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Massachusetts adds local rules to implement new small business bankruptcy cases

By doug | Published: April 23, 2020

The Small Business Reorganization Act took effect in February of 2020, adding a streamlined Chapter 11 bankruptcy process for businesses with less than $7M in debt, and in April the bankruptcy court in Massachusetts issued some new local rules for handling these cases. Local rule 1002 -1 implements the requirement that the judge assigned to […]

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Will the First Circuit screw up the Small Business Reorganization Act?

By doug | Published: April 17, 2020

The newly enacted Small Business Reorganization Act, creating a new subchapter V in Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code geared toward smaller enterprises, gives bankruptcy lawyers a whole new toolbox when it comes to helping entrepreneurs with less than $7.5 million in debts. One of the new sections, 11 USC s. 1190, appears to specifically […]

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How does a discharge of debt under the Small Business Reorganization Act differ from an ordinary Chapter 11 discharge?

By doug | Published: April 14, 2020

With the Small Business Reorganization Act (SBRA) up and running as of February, 2020, Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code now has two separate sections that offer corporate debtors (and a few individuals) a discharge of their debts. This is something of a new frontier in American bankruptcy law, as up to now each chapter […]

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Companies struggling to reorganize in Chapter 11 should understand the concept of a critical vendor list

By doug | Published: April 3, 2020

With a wave off small business bankruptcies looming, more business owners and entrepreneurs are going to be looking at Chapter 11 as a possible way to continue to keep their venture operating, while shedding some of the pain from the shutdowns sparked by corona virus fears. The recent enactment of new bankruptcy protections for small […]

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Massachusetts marijuana firms face squeeze: forced to close, but unable to get funds or get bankruptcy protection

By doug | Published: April 1, 2020

Entrepreneurs in the emerging legal market for cannabis products in Massachusetts are facing a triple whammy crisis: First, the market for recreational (sometimes called “adult-use”) marijuana products has been closed by government order due to corona virus distancing measures, plus these firms will find themselves unable to participate in federal stimulus plans, and after that […]

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Stimulus legislation increases access to small business bankruptcy procedures; up to $7.5M in debt can be restructured

By doug | Published: March 31, 2020

In August of 2019, Congress did something that’s become a bit unusual — it passed bipartisan legislation, and saw it signed in to law by the President. The particular bill was a sweeping change to the federal bankruptcy code that was intended to open up Chapter 11 reorganizations to small businesses for the first time.  […]

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Highlights of the differences between the new small business bankruptcy law and traditional Chapter 11 cases

By doug | Published: March 27, 2020

The Small business Reorganization Act of 2019 roared in to life six months after its passage, on February 19, 2020, just in time for businesses to test its effectiveness given the ongoing corona virus crisis. Most lawyers and business people have at least heard of the existing Chapter 11 laws — at various points Delta […]

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A guide to interpreting the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 without driving yourself crazy

By doug | Published: March 22, 2020

Before diving in to the details of the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019, take your gloves off. You’re going to need all your fingers to cross-reference the myriad of bankruptcy law passages that are cryptically referenced there. For a head start, keep reading: you can consider this guide a means of freeing up at […]

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New small business bankruptcy offers a lifeline to companies blindsided by the sudden economic downturn

By doug | Published: March 20, 2020

In late August of last year, the usually dysfunctional and bitterly divided Congress did something unusual: it passed a bill that was signed into law by the President (it was only the fifty-fourth law enacted in more than a year and a half of effort by the 116th Congress) . The subject matter of the […]

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