Bankruptcy

This year’s Bankruptcy Law Article surveys include both notable cases and legislation that will have an impact on the practice of bankruptcy law in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. It will address one Supreme Court of the United States case argued in October 2020, which was decided early in 2021, and three Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals cases decided in 2020. This Article will also include a follow up on the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 and a glimpse into the CARES Act, the most groundbreaking legislation of its kind, and its provisions that directly and indirectly affect the insolvency industry. In a year not seen for a generation, the bankruptcy industry was deeply affected by the economic shutdowns of 2020.

Industries, such as retail, suffered extraordinary hardships and sought relief through Chapter 11 bankruptcies and creditor restructuring, and, overall, business bankruptcies reached their highest levels since 2013. Because of the effect of Covid-19, however, aggregate bankruptcy filings, including personal bankruptcies, decreased roughly thirty percent from 2019 to 2020. Bankruptcy professionals, and nearly everyone worldwide, have faced a world with uncertainties, financial and otherwise, instigated by this new virus.