News & Analysis as of

Bankruptcy Code Section 546(e)

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

Seventh Circuit Addresses Scope of Section 546(e)

We have previously blogged about the section 546(e) defense to a trustee’s avoidance powers under the Bankruptcy Code. A trustee has broad powers to set aside certain transfers made by debtors before bankruptcy. See 11 U.S.C....more

Jones Day

Court's Broad Interpretation of Definition of "Securities Contracts" Promotes Expansive Scope of Bankruptcy Code "Safe Harbor"

Jones Day on

Section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code's "safe harbor" preventing avoidance in bankruptcy of certain securities, commodity, or forward-contract payments has long been a magnet for controversy. Several noteworthy court rulings...more

King & Spalding

Safe Harbor Provision of Section 546(e) Applies to Privately Held Securities

King & Spalding on

On May 2, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana reversed a bankruptcy court, finding that Section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code preempts state law fraudulent transfer claims and that the...more

Bracewell LLP

546(e)’s Not-So-Safe Harbor: Second Influential Judge Echoes Concerns that Broad Exemption Shelters Pirates

Bracewell LLP on

Delaware Judge Brendan Shannon has joined calls for reforming Section 546(e) of the bankruptcy code, echoing concerns that the section’s safe harbor from fraudulent transfer liability has allowed investors to “loot privately...more

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Bankruptcy Court Narrowly Construes Section 546(e) Safe Harbor

On August 18, 2022, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana, in In re BWGS, LLC, No. 19-01487-JMC-7A, 2022 WL 3568045 (Bankr. S.D. Ind. Aug. 18, 2022), narrowly interpreted the safe harbor...more

Morgan Lewis

Tribune: Lessons Learned and Relearned

Morgan Lewis on

This is how Tribune ends: not with a bang, but a whimper. The 12-year litigation saga, rooted in the spectacular failure of the media and sports conglomerate’s 2007 leveraged buyout, reached an end in late February with a...more

McGuireWoods LLP

U.S. Supreme Court Declines Review Ending Shareholder Fraudulent Transfer Litigation in Tribune

McGuireWoods LLP on

After more than a decade, litigation resulting from the failed leveraged buyout (LBO) of media giant Tribune Company has finally drawn to a close. On Feb. 22, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the latest...more

Jones Day

Another New York District Court Widens the Bankruptcy Code's Securities Contract Safe Harbor

Jones Day on

In 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit made headlines when it ruled that creditors' state law fraudulent transfer claims arising from the 2007 leveraged buyout ("LBO") of Tribune Co. ("Tribune") were...more

Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Determines that Section 546(e) “Financial Participant” Does Not Exclude Debtors, Splitting from SDNY...

In a December 2020 decision, a Delaware Bankruptcy Court, in Kravitz v. Samson Energy Co. (In re Samson Res. Corp.), Nos. 15-11934 (BLS), 17-51524 (BLS), 2020 Bankr. LEXIS 3575, at *6 (Bankr. D. Del. Dec. 23, 2020), held that...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Issues Decision on Whether a Debtor Can Be a “Financial Participant”

We have blogged previously about section 546(e), the Bankruptcy Code’s safe harbor for certain transfers otherwise subject to avoidance as preferences or fraudulent transfers. See 11 U.S.C. § 546(e). Among the transfers...more

Jones Day

New York District Court Expands the Scope of the Bankruptcy Safe Harbor for LBO Payments

Jones Day on

In 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit made headlines when it ruled that creditors' state law fraudulent transfer claims arising from the 2007 leveraged buyout ("LBO") of Tribune Co. ("Tribune") were...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

Bankruptcy Court Denies Section 546(e) Safe Harbor Protection in Fraudulent Transfer Action

The Bankruptcy Code enables a trustee to set aside certain transfers made by debtors before bankruptcy. See 11 U.S.C. §§ 544, 547, 548. These avoidance powers are subject to certain limitations, including a safe harbor in...more

Dechert LLP

Bank Customers as “Financial Institutions” Under the 546(e) Securities Safe Harbor

Dechert LLP on

Analyzing the inner workings of the elements required for the securities contract “safe harbor” protection under Section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code, the Bankruptcy Court for the SDNY dismissed a complaint seeking to...more

A&O Shearman

Can a Corporate Debtor Be a ‘Financial Institution’? Second Circuit Again Holds That Tribune’s LBO is Protected By the Bankruptcy...

A&O Shearman on

On December 19, 2019, the Second Circuit held that appellants’ state law constructive fraudulent transfer claims were preempted by virtue of the Bankruptcy Code’s safe harbors that exempt transfers made in connection with a...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

Former Tribune Shareholders Still Merit Safe Harbor Upon Revision

We have noodled on the impact that the Supreme Court’s decision in Merit Management Group, LP v. FTI Consulting, Inc., which held that the safe harbor provided in Section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code does not apply when the...more

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

When is a “Mere Conduit” More Than A “Mere Conduit”? The Second Circuit Has a Clue

Section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code is a safe harbor provision that establishes that a trustee or debtor-in-possession may not avoid a transfer “by or to... a financial institution.. in connection with a securities...more

Dechert LLP

Second Circuit Paves a Way to Protect LBO Payments from Avoidance Actions 

Dechert LLP on

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently held in In re Tribune Company Fraudulent Conveyance Litigation, No. 13-3992-cv (L) (2d Cir., Dec. 19, 2019) that Bankruptcy Code Section 546(e) barred claims seeking to avoid...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Second Circuit Recognizes ‘Customer’ Safe Harbor in Tribune LBO Litigation

As we had anticipated in our prior client alerts, the “customer” safe harbor defense to constructive fraudulent conveyance claims challenging securities transactions — which was flagged by the U.S. Supreme Court in Merit...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

No, You’re a Customer: Recent Second Circuit Decision Circumscribes Merit and Preempts State Law Impairment of Safe Harbor...

On December 19, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (the “Second Circuit”) affirmed a ruling of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “District Court”)...more

Jones Day

Tribune District Court Rules That LBO Payments May Not Be Avoided Because Debtor Was "Customer" of "Financial Institution"

Jones Day on

In In re Tribune Co. Fraudulent Conveyance Litig., 2019 WL 1771786 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 23, 2019), the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied a litigation trustee’s motion to amend a complaint seeking to...more

Dechert LLP

Does Tribune Make Merit Management Obsolete?

Dechert LLP on

In March 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Merit Management Group, LP v. FTI Consulting, Inc., unanimously affirming the Seventh Circuit, holding that transfers are not protected from avoidance under the...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

District Court Applies Section 546(e) Safe Harbor to Customer of Financial Institution, Revitalizing Key Defense

A recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has breathed new life into the Bankruptcy Code Section 546(e)’s securities transaction safe harbor for fraudulent conveyance actions. Judge...more

King & Spalding

New York District Court Finds That Tribune Qualifies as Financial Institution Under Bankruptcy Code Safe Harbor Provision

King & Spalding on

On April 23, 2019, Judge Cote of the District Court for the SDNY, issued an opinion in In re Tribune Company Fraudulent Conveyance Litigation, finding that the Tribune Company, which employed Computershare Trust Company...more

Mintz - Bankruptcy & Restructuring Viewpoints

The Delaware Bankruptcy Court Grapples With Section 546(e) Post-Merit Management

In its ruling in FTI Consulting, Inc. v. Sweeney (In re Centaur, LLC), the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware addressed the Supreme Court’s recent clarification of the scope of Bankruptcy Code Section...more

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Section 546(e) Safe Harbor Beyond Our Borders

The recent Supreme Court decision in Merit Management Group LP v. FTI Consulting, Inc. eliminated any circuit split or confusion over the language of the section 546(e) safe harbor. The Court stated that the “only relevant...more

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