In Consolidated Appeal, District Court Affirms Bankruptcy Court Finding That Pre-Petition Credit Agreement Was Properly Modified

In re Aurora Foods, Inc., C.A. No. 04-166 (GMS), 2006 WL 3747306 (D. Del. Dec. 19, 2006) (Judge Gregory M. Sleet)

W Top Hat, Ltd. was one of several lenders entering into a credit agreement with the Aurora Foods Inc. debtors prior to Aurora’s bankruptcy. The credit agreement was modified several times prior to the bankruptcy. W Top Hat commenced an adversary proceeding against the debtors, contending that the final pre-petition modification to the credit agreement was improperly made. The bankruptcy court granted the debtors’ motion to dismiss the adversary proceeding. W Top Hat also objected to confirmation of the debtors’ plan, contending that the debtors failed to make required payments under the credit agreement. The bankruptcy court overruled W Top Hat’s objection, and confirmed the plan.

W Top Hat appealed both the dismissal of the adversary proceeding and the decisions overruling its objection to the confirmation order. Those appeals were consolidated on W Top Hat’s motion.

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In Calculating a Guarantor's Liability, the State Law Applicable to the Guaranty, Rather than the Law Applicable to the Underlying Loan Agreements, Governs

In re Stone & Webster, Inc., 354 B.R. 686 (D. Del. 2006) (Judge Sue L. Robinson)

This was a case of contract interpretation and choice of law issues, in connection with a determination of damages owed by a guarantor to a lender. The lender argued that the law to be applied was the Bankruptcy Code and Delaware law, because of the venue of the case; the guarantor argued in favor of the Saudi Arabian law selected in the underlying credit agreement. The court found that New York law, the law chosen in the guaranty, applied.

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