| ID |
Name |
Group |
Other |
Code
Sec |
Cross
Ref |
Problem Referenced |
Proposed Solutions |
| NBRC-0178 |
Gary White, on behalf of the Natl. Assoc. of Credit
Management |
Chair, Government Affairs Comm., Natl. Assoc. of
Credit Management |
|
|
|
Supports the working group's proposal regarding court
review of creditor committee appointments. This proposal will help
develop sufficient flexibility for the court to impose a system of
checks and balances between debtors and creditors. |
Supports the working group's proposal on court review
of creditor committee appointments. |
| NBRC-0223 |
Frank R. Kennedy |
Professor, Michigan Law School; former Executive
Director, Commission on the Bankruptcy Laws of the United States
(1973) |
Cover letter discussing various areas of
concern |
|
|
Author provides a list of 30 "Topics for
Consideration by Commission on Bankruptcy Laws." The recommended topic
relating to Creditors' Committees is: Creditors' and equity holders'
committees. |
None. |
| NBRC-0286 |
Leonard Opperman |
Attorney |
|
1161 |
|
Code makes no provision for appointment of a
creditors' committee in railroad oranizations cases. 11 U.S.C. §
1161 et seq. Protection of the public interest is left soley to the
court appointed trustee and the bankruptcy court. The court appointed
trustee has a serious conflict of interest since he or she derives
economic benefit from continuation of the case. |
As the U.S. Trustee's Office cannot sufficiently
monitor the performance of the trustee in railroad reorganization cases,
§ 1161 should be amended to provide for a creditors'
commitee. |
| NBRC-0303 |
Commercial Law League of America |
Commercial Law League of America (CLLA) |
|
|
|
The Commerical Law League of America believes that
the following issue should be considered by the NBRC: Should the court's
power to change the composition of creditor's committees and review the
decisions of the U.S. Trustee be restored |
The CLLA believes that this issue should receive top
priority (no additional details are provided). |
| NBRC-0320 |
Robert M. Zinman, on behalf of the Bankruptcy
Institute |
American Bankruptcy Institute ("ABI") |
Numerous position papers, memoranda and research
material |
|
|
None. |
The court should have the ultimate authority to
change the composition of the creditors' committee and to review the
decisions of the U.S. Trustee in connection with committee matters (no
additional details provided). |
| NBRC-0360 |
Daniel J. Bussel |
Author, UCLA Law Review article |
|
|
|
In his UCLA Law Review article entitled "Coalition
Building Through Bankruptcy Creditors' Committees," the author states
that the legal framework governing the creditors' committee has failed
to keep up with the changes in bankruptcy law. The committee, however,
can be an effective device for building the consensus necessary to the
successful resolution of reorganization of cases. |
The author concludes that the next step in the
evolution of the creditors' committee is "to embrace the goal of
consensus building, and, with that goal in mind, continue to evolve the
institution so it can become even more effective." |
| NBRC-0386 |
National Association of Credit Management |
National Association of Credit Management
("NACM") |
|
|
|
In this statement entitled "Issues Involving
Governmental Agencies and Bankruptcy," the NACM expresses the following
conerns about government agencies in the bankruptcy process: the
presence of government agencies on creditors' committees could inhibit
or frustrate the work of the committees because the government's agenda
is often different from that of other unsecured creditors; also,
government agecies are already represented adequately by attorneys in
the bankruptcy process. |
Code should be amended to prevent government agencies
from sitting as members of creditors' committees. |
| NBRC-0450 |
Kevyn D. Orr |
Acting Director, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Executive
Office for U.S. Trustees |
|
1102 |
|
Author is sending comments on behalf of the United
States Trustee Program (USTP) to the Chapter 11 Working Group's revised
position paper dated October 9, 1996 on specific proposed amendments to
11 U.S.C. §1102 concerning de novo review of creditiors' committee
appointments. While being less concerned about this proposal than the
previous proposal of October 9, they nevertheless suggest additional
revisions to Section 1102 which they believe will help to better insure
that effective and representative creditors' committees are appointed in
Chapter 11 cases. |
1) Parties should initially direct their requests for
alterations in committee structure or membership to the United States
Trustee; 2) a "change in membership of a committee" as contemplated by
the working group proposal can include a decision to reconstitute,
modify or disband a committee; and, 3) the United States Trustee, rather
than the Bankruptcy Judge, will make new appointments to committees
following any court ordered adjustment in committee structure or
membership. The document goes on to give specific amendment language,
and a lengthy discussion of the implications. |
| NBRC-0492 |
Philip J. Brandl |
President, National Housewares Manufacturers
Association |
Position Statement on Bankruptcy Law Reform,
Housewares Manufacturers Coalition |
|
|
"Our members are also concerned about their ability
to be heard in bankruptcy cases." "Even if one or two trade creditors
are on [the creditors'] committee, those creditros are typically larger
organizations that may well not represent the interests and concerns of
smaller manufacturers." |
"We urge the Commission to give meaningful attention
to means of increasing the representation of smaller manufacturers in
retail bankruptcies." "One possibility would be to permit groups of
smaller creditors to appoint a nonprofit trade association or other
representative to represent them on a creditors' committee, rather than
simply having the largest creditors do so. |
| NBRC-0858 |
Ed Goldwasser, et al. |
Small World Toys |
|
|
|
"Unsecured creditors need to be better represented on
the Creditor's Committee and be more involved in the Bankruptcy
proceedings." |
See above. |
| NBRC-1028 |
Jim Gulechyn |
National Credit Manager, General Mills,
Inc. |
|
|
|
"Currently the Code is structured to require the U.S.
Trustee in most cases to appoint a creditor committee consisting of the
holders of the seven largest claims of the kinds represented by the
committee. In many cases involving significant unsecured debt, most of
the seven largest claims will be held by banks, insurance companies and
bondholders ("institutional creditors"). As a result, suppliers of goods
and services ("trade creditors") often have no effective voice onthe
committee and in the process and outcome of the case." |
"One solution to this problem is to revise
§1102(b) of the Code to provide that, if both trade debt and
non-trade debt are represented by the same committee, a majority of the
committee should ordinarily be composed of holders of trade debt. The
word 'ordinary' is used because such a composition might not be
practical in every case." |
| NBRC-1028 |
Jim Gulechyn |
National Credit Manager, General Mills,
Inc. |
|
123 |
|
In many cases, the creditors' committee is disbanded
on the effective date of the plan. After that, there is no one to
protect creditors, no one to monitor what the debtor in possession is
doing. |
"Section 123(a) could be amended to require that the
creditors' committee continue in existence until the plan is fully
performed." |
| NBRC-1028 |
Jim Gulechyn |
National Credit Manager, General Mills,
Inc. |
|
|
|
In many cases an informal committee is formed by the
trade creditors to deal with the debtor before bankruptcy is filed. If a
bankruptcy is filed, there should be some way to ensure some continuity
between this informal committee and the official committee appointed by
the U.S. Trustee. |
"Section 1102(b)(1) could be amended to prpovide tht,
if an informal committee has been created before the filing of the
petition, the official committee should ordinarily be composed of at
least three members of such pre-petition committee, plus the four
largest representative creditors." |
| NBRC-1034 |
Harry W. Greenfield and Alan Gordon |
Chair, Bankruptcy & Insolvency Section, and
Chair, Chapter 11 Subcommittee, respectively, Commercial Law League of
America (CLLA) |
Comments and suggestions regarding reforms to
preference recovery; Comments and suggestions regarding Employee
Participation in Bankruptcy Cases; Proposal on Section 547(c)(2)
Ordinary Course of Business |
|
|
CLLA does not support Proposal Number 15 to the
extent that it encourages the appointment of employee creditors'
committees. This is unnecessary because courts already have the
authority to create and appoint additional committees. |
CLLA believes that Proposal Number 15 should be
changed to delete its reference to encouraging the appointment of
employee creditors' committees. |
| NBRC-1069 |
T.C. Walthour |
Director, Corporate Credit, Dean Foods |
|
|
|
Author addresses three areas of concern with regard
to creditors' committees: 1) Trade Representation - the seven largest
claims will usually be held by institutional lenders, which have
different interests than trade creditors, who are not represented; 2)
Post-confirmation Committee - this is necessary to monitor the debtor's
actions and insure compliance with the plan; 3) Pre-petition Committee -
informal trade creditor committees formed to work with the debtor before
bankruptcy is filed should be involved in the creditors'
committee. |
1) revise §1102(b) of the Code to provide that,
if both trade debt and non-trade debt are represented by the same
committee, a majority of the committee should ordinarily be composed of
holders of trade debt; 2) Section 1123(a) could be amended to require
that the creditors' committee continue in existence until the plan is
fully performed; 3) Section 1102(b)(1) could be amended to provide that,
if aninformal committee has been created before the filing of the
petition, the official committee should ordinarily be composed of at
least three members of such pre-petition committee, plus the four
largest representative creditors. |
| NBRC-1175 |
Robert A. Colton |
Chair, Business Law Section of the Florida
Bar |
|
1102 |
|
|
"The Section supports the Commission's proposal that
section 1102 of the Bankruptcy Code be amended to allow judicial review
of creditors' committee appointments by the United States
trustee." |