NO CLE - A New Weapon in Mega-Bankruptcy Cases: The Trust Indenture Act

Courts and commentators have long agreed that the Trust Indenture Act (TIA) provides
protection against majority amendment to certain core terms. Given recent aggressive
maneuvers in mega-cases, the TIA has become a weapon of choice for bondholders
to fight back. More pressing questions, however, concern the breadth of this protection
in nonconsensual debt restructurings. Should the TIA protect the ability, and not merely
the formal right, to receive payment in some circumstances? Is it limited to conduct
that disenfranchises the minority, or does it have broader uses as a weapon against
unilateral conduct by the issuer that hurts bondholders’ recovery?