Bankruptcy

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Frederick Grede v. Bank of New York

Case No.:15-1039

Officials: POSNER, EASTERBROOK, and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.

Practice Area: Bankruptcy

Bank remains as creditor, but will be an unsecured creditor due to it being put on inquiry notice of assets.

“Section 550(d), the basis of the bank’s second defense, limits a trustee in bankruptcy to a single satisfaction of a debt owed the bankrupt estate. The district judge thought that granting the trustee the requested relief would result in “a windfall recovery of the millions loaned to Sentinel by BNYM plus the entire collateral that secured these loans,” because the trustee would have both the value of the loans that remained and the collateral (the customers’ assets that Sentinel pledged to the bank). No. The bank is still owed Sentinel’s debt to it. It has just lost its security interest. This does not give the trustee a double recovery. See In re Skywalkers, Inc., 49 F.3d 546, 549 (9th Cir. 1995). The bank remains a creditor in the bankruptcy proceeding, but is an unsecured creditor because it was on inquiry notice that the assets that Sentinel had used to secure the bank’s loans had been fraudulently conveyed to the bank.”

Affirmed in part and reversed in part. Remanded

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.