Chapter 15 After Purdue: New Fortress Energy reinforces a critical restructuring alternative

The inclusion of broad exculpation and non-consensual third-party releases in a foreign restructuring plan that would be impermissible in Chapter 11 given the SCOTUS’s decision in Purdue may be recognized and enforced in the context of a Chapter 15 case. Judge Glenn’s recent decision in New Fortress Energy elaborates on and confirms what an emerging line of cases had already suggested: foreign restructuring plans containing broad exculpation and non-consensual third-party releases can be recognized and enforced under Chapter 15, Purdue notwithstanding. For companies whose boards, sponsors or other related parties and affiliates are confronting enterprise-threatening liabilities, this distinction may be determinative of outcome.