Pandemic Justifies Deferral of Post-Petition Retail Rent Payments

Faegre Drinker co-chair Andy Kassner and senior attorney Joe Argentina published “Pandemic Justifies Deferral of Post-Petition Retail Rent Payments” in the June 3 edition of The Legal Intelligencer. Kassner and Argentina write that in any retail proceeding, the obligations of a debtor to timely perform its post-petition obligations under the store leases is clear. But what happens during a global pandemic? The authors discuss the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia’s decision in In re Pier 1 Imports, Inc., Case No. 20-30805-KRH (May 10, 2020), where the Court was requested to allow the debtors to defer payments of post-petition rent for store locations. The Court granted this request, and permitted the Pier 1 Debtors to defer post-petition rent at many locations.