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
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
Nothing is more frustrating to a trade creditor saddled with a large unpaid balance owed by a debtor in bankruptcy than being subject to the risk of having to remit back to the debtor’s estate “preference” payments received...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
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
In Weisfelner v. Blavatnik (In re Lyondell Chemical Company), 2017 BL 131876 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Apr. 21, 2017), the bankruptcy court presiding over the chapter 11 case of Lyondell Chemical Company ("Lyondell") handed down a...more
Judge Christopher S. Sontchi of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Court) issued a decision on Feb. 28, 2017, that has important – and positive – significance for Native American tribal governments, their...more
The Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania has recently held that a pre-petition foreclosure of a debtor’s real property, conducted in accordance with state law, is not subject to attack as a preference...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
In Unsecured Creditors Committee of Sparrer Sausage Company, Inc. (In Jason’s Food, Inc.), 2016 WL 3213096 (7th Cir. June 10, 2016), the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a Bankruptcy Court’s narrow application of the...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
In what appears to be a matter of first impression, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois recently held that payments made to investors in a two tiered securitization structure commonly employed in...more
On December 18, 2014, Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi issued an opinion granting summary judgment in favor of defendant and against trustee who sought to avoid and recover $1,181,583.84 as preferential transfers pursuant...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