TLA Claimholders Group v. LATAM Airlines Group S.A., et al.

Under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, a debtor’s plan of reorganization must “specify” whether a creditor’s claim is “impaired” or “not impaired” by the plan. 11 U.S.C. § 1123(a)(2)-(3). The Code confers on holders of impaired claims various substantive and procedural protections—including the right to vote on whether to approve the plan. See id. § 1129. Holders of unimpaired claims do not receive those protections. The Code presumes that all claims are impaired, by providing that a “class of claims * * * is impaired under a plan unless * * * the plan * * * leaves unaltered the legal, equitable, and contractual rights to which such claim or interest entitles the holder of such claim,” id. § 1124(1), or cures the debtor’s default on the claim and fully reinstates the underlying obligation, id. § 1124(2). The court of appeals concluded that the Chapter 11 plan in this case properly classified petitioner’s claims as unimpaired, even though the plan does not provide for full repayment of petitioner’s claims—including failing to pay any interest provided for in petitioner’s contracts that accrued after the bankruptcy commenced—and even though the plan does pass surplus value through to the debtor’s equity-holders. The question presented is as follows: May a Chapter 11 plan classify a creditor’s claim as unimpaired without paying any interest owed under the creditor’s contract that accrues during the bankruptcy, even while returning surplus value to the debtor’s equity-holders.