Patriot Coal Bankruptcy Cases Transferred to St. Louis

Wilmington and Philadelphia partner Andy Kassner and associate Joe Argentina co-authored an article for The Legal Intelligencer titled, “Patriot Coal Bankruptcy Cases Transferred to St. Louis.”

The article discusses one of bankruptcy law’s most contentious issues — bankruptcy venue. While a company in a voluntary bankruptcy filing can choose the venue (subject to statute), interested parties can, and often do, challenge the debtor’s choice.

Andy and Joe discuss a recent decision by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Chapman of the Southern District of New York in In re Patriot Coal, in which Judge Chapman granted such a request to transfer the Chapter 11 cases to the Eastern District of Missouri.

They explain how the decision demonstrates that bankruptcy courts ensure the venue statute has, and continues, to work well to balance the interests involved in the choice of venue of bankruptcy cases.

“With all of the issues pending in Washington, D.C., where political maneuvering is inhibiting the fixing of real problems, it is comforting that at least one statutory frame­work is working as intended,” they say.