John Owoc founded VPX Sports (maker of Bang Energy drinks) in 1993 and elected, as sole shareholder, to have it taxed as a Subchapter S corporation — letting the company’s income pass through to him rather than being taxed at the corporate level. In October 2022, VPX and several related entities filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition.
After a reconstituted board took over, Owoc sought confirmation that he remained free to revoke or terminate VPX’s S-corporation election himself, without running afoul of the automatic stay that freezes actions against a bankruptcy estate’s property. The bankruptcy court disagreed and treated the tax election as protected estate property, denying his motion.
The Eleventh Circuit reversed, holding the automatic stay does not bar Owoc from revoking or terminating VPX’s Subchapter S status. The court sent a related piece of the dispute — whether a separate, later request to terminate the election is barred by the equitable doctrine of laches — back to the bankruptcy court to sort out first, since that question depends on how the estate-property ruling gets applied on remand.
Citation: Owoc v. Liquidating Trustee (In re Vital Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), No. 24-14048 (11th Cir. Aug. 10, 2026).