The “Catch-22” of Preference Law
If your holiday to‑do list includes lights, cocoa, and some year‑end legal news, here’s a little stocking stuffer for you. In a recent decision from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, Judge...more
On October 27, 2025, Judge Mary F. Walrath of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware issued a detailed opinion in Miller v. Industrial Finishes & Systems, Inc. (In re CalPlant I, LLC), Adv. No. 23-50690. ...more
Most restaurant bankruptcies are won or lost before the case is ever filed. The 90 days leading up to a filing are critical for New York restaurant owners: the moves you make (or don’t make) can affect everything from your...more
Port Elizabeth Terminal & Warehouse Corp., a major marine terminal and warehousing operator serving the Port of New York and New Jersey, filed for Chapter 11 on November 14, 2025, in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of...more
On September 17, 2025, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut rejected an argument by a debtor that payments made by its creditor to a financial consultant were preferential transfers under the Bankruptcy...more
Over one thousand creditors were “preferred” as Rite Aid ran up to its first bankruptcy filing in 2023. That is what the trustee appointed to liquidate Rite Aid’s assets is alleging in a tidal wave of lawsuits recently...more
Rite Aid is now in its second bankruptcy in less than two years. Despite the failed reorganization efforts of the first bankruptcy, nearly a thousand complaints were recently filed in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of...more
In Chapter 7, more money in the estate means more money for creditors. In a decision this year by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, In re Star Development Group, LLC, a debtor tangled with a Chapter 7 Trustee over a $1...more
Earlier this summer, the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York rejected a challenge to the Litigation Administrator, Moshin Y. Meghji, lawsuits against Celsius Network LLC customers. The challenge was based...more
The ordinary course of business, new value, and contemporaneous exchange for new value defenses are the most frequently used defenses in a preference action. However, there are additional, less common defenses that a...more
A debtor's non-exempt assets (and even the debtor's entire business) are commonly sold during the course of a bankruptcy case by the trustee or a chapter 11 debtor-in-possession ("DIP") as a means of augmenting the bankruptcy...more
Nelson Mullins reported on March 25 that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Matter of S. Coast Supply Co., 91 F.4th 376 (5th Cir. 2024), held that preference claims arising under 11 U.S.C. § 547 may be sold, reversing the...more
In a March 2024 decision, the U.S. Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the First Circuit (the “Panel”) followed existing case law prohibiting debtors in businesses related to cannabis from availing themselves of federal bankruptcy...more
Businesses in financial distress have multiple options to consider when attempting to reorganize or liquidate. A state court receivership or Chapter 7 Bankruptcy are likely options for liquidation when there are significant...more
The Fifth Circuit recently ruled that a debtor can sell a preferential transfer action under Bankruptcy Code section 363 to a purchaser that is not a representative of the bankruptcy estate. Briar Cap. Working Fund Cap.,...more
As we turn to a new year, my wife and I like to reminisce about our best days and milestones of the prior year (for 2023, it was a huge celebration with our best friends for my wife’s birthday, an epic bike ride with our kids...more
As bankruptcy attorneys who often defend clients in preference avoidance actions, we were pleased with the 547(b) amendments, effective as of February 20, 2020, requiring a trustee to conduct some level of due diligence into...more
There is longstanding controversy concerning the validity of third-party release provisions in non-asbestos trust chapter 11 plans that limit the potential exposure of various nondebtor parties involved in the process of...more
The Bankruptcy Code and its predecessor statutes have long permitted bankruptcy trustees (or their equivalents) to claw back preferences, which involve transfers made on preexisting debts within 90 days (or 1 year, if made to...more
Section 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code provides that the reversal or modification of an order approving a sale or lease of assets in bankruptcy does not affect the validity of the sale or lease to a good-faith purchaser or...more
This will continue our series on bankruptcy schedules. In a prior blog post, we looked at Schedule A/B. Today, our focus will be on Schedule C related to the claiming of exemptions. ...more
This will be the first in a series of blog posts that will focus on completing bankruptcy schedules. We’ll start in this blog with the first schedule – Schedule A/B. ...more
This entry is part of Nelson Mullins’s ongoing “Bankruptcy Basics” blog series that is intended to address foundational aspects of bankruptcy for new and non-bankruptcy practitioners and professionals. This entry will discuss...more
Your customer has filed bankruptcy, leaving a series of unpaid invoices in its wake. While unfortunate, you chalk it up to one of the many costs of doing business and move on to landing bigger and better accounts....more
With the recent uptick in Chapter 11 filings and a further increase expected in the coming quarters, companies across all industries would be wise to consider certain precautionary measures if a customer begins missing or...more