A bankruptcy trustee's ability to avoid and recover pre-bankruptcy preferential transfers is essential to preserving or augmenting the estate for the benefit of all stakeholders. In 2019, however, the Bankruptcy Code was...more
Faulkner v. Broadway Festivals, Inc. The recent bankruptcy case for Northern District of Texas, Faulkner v. Broadway Festivals, Inc., Adv. Proc. 20-05031 (Bankr. N.D. – Tex., January 11, 2022), addresses preferential...more
A federal judge recently allowed a trustee’s preferential transfer claim against a law firm to proceed but dismissed a constructive fraudulent transfer claim. The decision highlights the pleading standards and analytical...more
Any creditor that has experienced more than a few customers or borrowers filing for bankruptcy is aware that there is a risk of being sued by a trustee to avoid transfers that the creditor received prior to the bankruptcy...more
“Can an unsecured creditor be better off when the debtor defaults rather than paying off the debt? Yes: Law can be stranger than fiction in the Preference Zone.”—Ninth Circuit Untimely payment by tenants and other obligors...more
It is bad enough when a customer or borrower files for bankruptcy and you have to write off the debt, but things can get worse when you are then faced with a lawsuit to recover payments made within the 90 days prior to the...more
We hope you enjoy this edition of Three Things, an effort from Partridge Snow & Hahn that identifies three timely and noteworthy items our attorneys think you could find helpful and interesting....more
The ability of a bankruptcy trustee to avoid fraudulent or preferential transfers is a fundamental part of U.S. bankruptcy law. However, when an otherwise avoidable transfer by a U.S. entity takes place outside the U.S. to a...more
In Kaye v. Blue Bell Creameries, Inc. (In re BFW Liquidation, LLC), 899 F.3d 1178 (11th Cir. 2018), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit broadened the scope of section 547(c)(4) of the Bankruptcy Code’s...more
On August 14, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a decision holding that section 547(c)(4) of the Bankruptcy Code, which provides a defense to the avoidance of preferential transfers to...more
• In its recent decision in William S. Kaye, Trustee of the BFW Liquidating Trust v. Blue Bell Creameries, Inc. (In re BFW Liquidation, LLC), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that liability for a...more
Trying to explain the primary purpose of Section 547 of the Bankruptcy Code to a client that just received a demand letter or complaint to avoid and recover preferential transfers can be a tough sell. Although the Section’s...more
The ability of a trustee or chapter 11 debtor-in-possession to avoid fraudulent or preferential transfers is a fundamental part of U.S. bankruptcy law. However, when a transfer by a U.S. entity takes place outside the U.S. to...more
The ability to avoid fraudulent or preferential transfers is a fundamental part of U.S. bankruptcy law. However, when a transfer by a U.S. entity takes place outside the U.S. to a non-U.S. transferee—as is increasingly common...more
In Schoenmann v. Bank of the West (In re Tenderloin Health), 849 F.3d 1231 (9th Cir. 2017), a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently addressed as a matter of apparent first impression...more
Among the required elements of a claim to avoid a preferential transfer under section 547(b) of the Bankruptcy Code is that, if the creditor-transferee were permitted to retain a pre-bankruptcy payment, it would end up being...more
As this election year draws to a close, forecasting the future is a topic of discussion, not only in political circles, but in technology circles as well. To chart the best way forward, it is important to understand...more
GM’s term lenders had received $28 million in cash interest during the 90 days prior to GM’s filing, and $1.5 billion in full payment during the bankruptcy, subject to disgorgement if the term lenders proved to be...more
Many businesses have been there - a customer who is always slow to pay or, worse yet, has stopped all payments. You diligently press them for payment and after many promises, you finally receive payment. The receivable...more
“Neither a borrower nor a lender be . . . .” Hamlet Act 1, scene 3, line 75 With all due respect to the great Bard, that simply isn’t possible in today’s business world. Even businesses that are not directly involved...more
With several billions of dollars ultimately at stake, the Second Circuit has affirmed that Section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code, a safe-harbor protecting certain securities-related payments from bankruptcy “claw backs,”...more
In Miller v. JNJ Logistics LLC (In re Proliance Int’l, Inc.), the question was “whether an (alleged) preferential transfer may be reduced by subsequent new value regardless of whether it was ‘paid’ or ‘unpaid’ prior to the...more