This paper examines consumer bankruptcy filing rates. It attempts to identify some trends and some economic indicators that might predict those filing rates. While several studies examined these questions prior to the passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005...

The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 dramatically altered the system of consumer bankruptcy in the United States. In the wake of that landmark legislation, this article seeks to provide an historical context and perspective. The article identifies and highlights...

This essay is inspired by two recent books on comparative consumer bankruptcy: (1) Consumer Bankruptcy in Global Perspective (Oxford, U.K. and Portland, Ore.: Hart Publishing, 2003, Johanna Niemi-Kiesilauml;inen, Iain Ramsay, and William Whitford, editors), and (2) Jacob S. Ziegel, Comparative...

The time has come to cast a discerning eye at chapter 11 and examine how it is currently broken and what fixes can be made to improve it. This Article first explains what the congressional reformers of the 1970s dreamed that chapter 11 could and should be, and identifies five core normative...

The Chrysler and General Motors bankruptcy reorganizations represent the culmination of a sea-change in corporate restructuring practice that has occurred largely over the course of just the past decade. A bankruptcy reorganization has traditionally been effectuated though a chapter 11 plan of...

It is part of the received wisdom in bankruptcy jurisprudence that the Fifth Amendment Takings Clause independently limits the exercise of the bankruptcy power under the Bankruptcy Clause. In particular, secured creditors in bankruptcy are assumed to enjoy a constitutional right to receive the...

This paper takes the position that a legal regime best promotes entrepreneurial activity if that regime offers a viable system to resolve the financial affairs of a distressed individual entrepreneur. I call this a “failure resolution system” (FRS). Consciously recognizing the need for and...

This paper examines the consumer bankruptcy system in the United States after the enactment in April 2005 of S. 256, the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. The paper was prepared for a workshop on comparative commercial and consumer law at the University of Toronto...

With the recent amendments Congress made to the Bankruptcy Code in 1994, this article examines the history of bankruptcy legislation prior to the Bankruptcy Code's enactment in 1978, the history of the passage of the Bankruptcy Code in 1978, bankruptcy legislation subsequent to the Bankruptcy...

This article discusses the cross-collateralization provisions in DIP financing orders in the wake of the Eleventh Circuit's opinion in Shapiro v. Saybrook Manufacturing Co. (In re Saybrook Manufacturing Co.). Specifically, this article explores section 364(e) of the Bankruptcy Code and whether...