On May 23, 2017, Don A. Beskrone, the chapter 7 trustee for the estate of PennySaver USA Publishing, LLC filed preference actions against 46 defendants. PennySaver was an iconic company that specialized in the production, printing, and dissemination of a free weekly publication, offering coupons and classified ads to targeted audiences.
By 2013, the Debtors’ print circulation locally targeted 780 zones or regions and reached approximately 9.1 million California households every week. The Debtors’ website, PennySaverUSA.com, received 1 million unique visitors each month. By 2015, the Debtors encountered financial difficulties, which arose from a number of causes including, among other things: (i) a decline in print advertising market that corresponded with a rise in electronic media and changing consumer habits, and (ii) a related inability of the Debtors to pay their debts as they came due. Finally, on May 29, 2015 (the “Petition Date”), the Debtors filed for bankruptcy. Accordingly, the Trustee had until May 29, 2017 to file preference actions in this case pursuant to the statute of limitations contained in the Bankruptcy Code.
These cases have been filed in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The Trustee is represented by Ashby & Geddes, P.A.
Preference actions are a form of litigation specifically provided for by the Bankruptcy Code which are intended to recover payments made by the Debtor within the 90 days prior to declaring bankruptcy. The presumption is that the Debtor knew it was going to file bankruptcy, so any payments it made during this 90-day window went to friends and people it wanted to keep happy, and stiffed those the Debtor’s management didn’t like. Recognizing that these payments aren’t always made for inappropriate reasons, the Bankruptcy Code provides creditors with many defenses to preference actions. Included among these are the “ordinary course of business defense” and the “new value defense.” For reader’s looking for more information concerning claims and defenses in preference litigation, attached is a booklet I prepared on the subject: “A Preference Reference: Common Issues that Arise in Delaware Preference Litigation.”
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