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breached contract and violated various state laws, including law prohibiting retaliating against physicians for advocating medically appropriate health care for their patients. Although this fact made the rejection suspect, the bankruptcy court found the rejection to be in the best interests of the bankruptcy estate and creditors, and the appellate court was not left with the definite and firm conviction that the bankruptcy court made a mistake with respect to this issue. However, the appellate court reversed the bankruptcy court's order dismissing the physician's adversary proceeding. Since the rejection of an executory contract does not otherwise affect the parties' substantive rights, debtor's rejection of the contract did not automatically extinguish the physician's other causes of action.)
Abboud v. Ground Round, Inc. (In re The Ground Round, Inc.), 482 F.3d 15 (1st Cir. Mar. 30, 2007) (Debtor, which was a lessee of real property used for a restaurant, was required to return liquor license to lessor when debtor rejected the unexpired lease in Chapter 11 case. Lessor transferred license to debtor at the beginning of the lease term, but the license provided that debtor must transfer the license back to lessor at the termination of the lease. State law permitted liquor licenses to be transferred but not leased. Under state law, specific performance would be available to the lessor to retrieve the license. Additionally, if state law had allowed a lease of the license, then debtor would have lost its right to continue using the license when it rejected the lease.)
In re Darby, 470 F.3d 573 (5th Cir. Nov. 14, 2006) (Chapter 13 debtor could not compel Time Warner to provide cable service, even if he provided adequate assurance of payment and a deposit, because cable is not a "utility" pursuant to §
366. Although undefined in the statute, the term refers to services necessary to maintain a minimum standard of living, and the debtor admitted that cable would not be such a service. Furthermore, alternatives were available to the debtor, and the $250 fee for installing and initiating new satellite service was not prohibitively inconvenient.)
Travelers Cas. & Sur. Co. v. Pacific Gas & Elec. Co., 127 S.Ct. 1199, 2007 WL 816795 (Mar. 20, 2007) (Attorney's fees incurred by creditor in bankruptcy case may be recovered as unsecured claim when pre-petition contract allows them. Pre-petition indemnity contract required debtor to repay creditor any loss creditor incurred in connection with pre-petition surety bonds, including attorney's fees incurred pursing, protecting or litigating creditor's rights in connection with the bonds. Although no default occurred, creditor asserted a claim in the bankruptcy case to protect itself in case debtor defaulted on the obligations secured by the bonds, and creditor incurred attorney's fees negotiating plan language and a stipulation. When creditor amended proof of claim to include a claim for postpetition attorney's fees, debtor objected. Creditor is allowed to recover its
