Bankruptcy Court Concludes Agreement to Produce Documentary Series Was Not a Personal Services Contract

Chair emeritus and finance and restructuring partner Andrew Kassner and counsel Joseph Argentina coauthored an article for The Legal Intelligencer titled “Bankruptcy Court Concludes Agreement to Produce Documentary Series Was Not a Personal Services Contract.”

The article discusses Section 365 of the Bankruptcy Code, addressing the disposition of executory contracts between the debtor and third parties, and whether the contract is an executory contract that is subject to being assumed and assigned. This issue was recently considered in a case by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Kassner and Argentina explain that the debtors’ sought to assign a contract to produce a documentary series to their lenders. The authors note that the court found the contract to not be a personal services contract, as it was managerial in nature. They conclude that creative services by individuals is not enough to deem a contract “personal.”

The full article is available for The Legal Intelligencer subscribers.