In an article published by Law360, Atlanta-based associate Mark Gensburg examined the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit's decision on the subject of foreign creditors and collateral in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of Joseph C. Sheehan, a retired surgeon who had emigrated from Ireland to the United States. 

"When a debtor files for bankruptcy, it's axiomatic that all creditors, wherever located, must immediately cease their efforts to collect on debts owed to them by that debtor, right?," Gensburg wrote in the article published by Law360. 

"Not necessarily so, says the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, insofar as those creditors and their collateral are located outside of the U.S. On Sept. 7, a panel of the Seventh Circuit rendered a decision on the subject of foreign creditors and collateral in In re: Sheehan. The Sheehan case revolved around the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Joseph C. Sheehan, a retired surgeon who had emigrated from Ireland to Illinois."