Finance & economics | Buttonwood

Chapter 11 is no longer a haven for deadbeat debtors

These days secured creditors are in control

IN THE EARLY 1980s Houston lived through a real-estate frenzy. Then the oil price crashed. Humble Place, a 30-acre tract divided into land parcels, was one of many unfinished projects. The developer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. By the start of the 1990s, his creditors were still unpaid. A court heard that his recovery plan amounted to “mowing the grass and waiting for the market to turn”.

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Snake in the grass”

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