In In re Montgomery Ward, LLC, 634 F.3d 732 (3d. Cir. 2011), the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit clarified the principles of res judicata in the context of a bankruptcy proceeding and further defined the scope of 11 U.S.C. § 1111(b). The decision is significant because it is the first appellate decision to determine what constitutes privity for res judicata purposes in the context of a bankruptcy proceeding and also because it held that section 1111(b) transforms non-recourse claims into recourse claims only for distribution purposes.

Montgomery Ward, LLC (“Montgomery Ward”) contracted with Jolward Associates Limited Partnership (“Jolward”) to construct a department store, on land Montgomery Ward owned in Illinois that was the planned site to develop a mall. The parties entered into a ground lease and Montgomery Ward transferred a leasehold interest in the land upon which the department store was to be constructed to Jolward.