Defending Complex Preference Claims Involving Workouts, Insider Payments, Claim Waivers, Setoff, Critical Vendors

Course Details
- smart_display Format
On-Demand
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
Intermediate
- work Practice Area
Bankruptcy
- event Date
Wednesday, November 1, 2023
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
-
This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
This CLE course will discuss commonly attacked transactions such as payments to trade creditors, loan workouts, and payments to insiders. The panel will analyze statutory defenses and other key defenses such as earmarking, critical vendor, mere conduit, assumed contract, claim waivers, and setoffs.
Faculty

Ms. Swedberg specializes in creditor’s rights and bankruptcy. Her practice focuses primarily on representing lenders and other commercial creditors, asset purchasers, receivers, creditor’s committees and adversary proceeding defendants. Ms. Swedberg also assists lenders in real estate foreclosures, receiverships, pursuing loan collateral and negotiating workouts. She served on the Board for the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) for seven years and was President in 2018. Ms. Swedberg currently serves on the Board for the Minnesota Chapter of Intentional Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC), served as President of the Minnesota State Bar’s Bankruptcy Section, and is the Board President for two nonprofit organizations.

Mr. Herz centers his practice on complex bankruptcy and insolvency matters. His diverse and dynamic practice spans representation of Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 trustees, creditor committees, post-confirmation trusts, individual creditors – including financial institutions, loan servicers and landlords – and debtors in all phases of the bankruptcy process. Mr. Herz also has deep experience in adversary proceedings and other bankruptcy-related litigation and has facilitated the recovery and administration of millions of dollars in assets and claims. In 2022, Mr. Herz was appointed to the Lawyers Advisory Committee for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey, which serves as a conduit between the bankruptcy bar and the Board of Bankruptcy Judges in the state.
Description
Bankruptcy litigators representing clients in preference litigation must anticipate specific preference claims that arise in commonly attacked transactions such as payments to trade creditors, loan workouts, and payments to insiders.
Several cases in recent years have refined, limited, or expanded the standards, defenses, and limitations on preference actions. Our panel will discuss commonly attacked transactions such as payments to trade creditors, workouts, and payments to insiders.
The panel will analyze statutory defenses and other key defenses such as earmarking, critical vendor, mere conduit, assumed contract, claim waivers, and setoffs, and will discuss strategies to minimize exposure to preference claims.
Listen as our authoritative panel of bankruptcy practitioners guides you through the key defenses to preference actions and discusses recent developments in preference litigation and best practices for minimizing preference liability.
Outline
- Statutory preference defenses
- New value
- Ordinary course of business
- Contemporaneous exchange
- Specific preference claims and other defenses
- Loan workouts
- Payments to corporate insiders
- Motions to dismiss
- Earmarking
- Mere conduit defense
- Involuntary bankruptcy issues
- 503(b)(9) effect on new value
- Assumed contract defense
- Critical vendor defense
- Claim waivers
- Setoff issues
Benefits
The panel will review these and other notable questions:
- What are best practices for preventing a creditor from becoming a target of a preference action?
- What steps can be taken to minimize or eliminate preference exposure if a demand is received or an action is commenced?
- What is the standard for bringing preference actions against corporate insiders? Why is the burden tougher to establish these claims?
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