Second Circuit Weighs In On Bankruptcy Code V. Chapter 11 Plan Impairment And The Solvent-Debtor Exception

A handful of recent high-profile court rulings have considered whether a chapter 11 debtor is obligated to pay postpetition, pre-effective date interest ("pendency interest") to unsecured creditors to render their claims "unimpaired" under a chapter 11 plan in accordance with the pre-Bankruptcy Code common law "solvent-debtor" exception requiring a solvent debtor to pay pendency interest to unsecured creditors. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit weighed in on this question in In re LATAM Airlines Grp. S.A., 55 F.4th 377 (2d Cir. 2022).

The Second Circuit ruled as a matter of first impression that a claim is "impaired" within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Code only when a chapter 11 plan, rather than the Bankruptcy Code, alters the creditor's legal, equitable, or contractual rights. It also ruled as a matter of first impression that the solvent-debtor exception requiring a solvent debtor to pay pendency interest to unsecured creditors to render their