It is an understatement to say that questionable collateral descriptions in Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”) financing statements have spawned much litigation over many years. The drafters of the UCC have refined the law of secured transactions in attempt to provide clear guidance to lenders and borrowers on the correct manner to describe collateral in a financing statement. To be blunt, it does not take a great deal of skill or legal acumen to correctly prepare a financing statement, particularly with respect to providing a legally sufficient collateral description.

In the recent Chicago bankruptcy case In re Gouletas, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Timothy A. Barnes ruled that obligations are not extinguished by statutes of limitation and, even after the expiration of the limitation period, a creditor retains its rights in collateral so long as the underlying debt is enforceable.

Background

In a recent Chapter 11 case and subsequent Chapter 7 case, Judge Timothy Barnes of the N.D. of Illinois allowed counsel for an assignee (“Assignee”) in an Illinois assignment for the benefit of creditors (“ABC”) to recover attorneys’ fees and expenses incurred pre-petition and post-petition. The decision is noteworthy because it addresses a custodian’s counsel’s entitlement to the recovery of both pre- and post-petition fees and expenses as an administrative expense.

A series of cases decided by the federal district court in Chicago holds that a properly perfected secured creditor can waive its right of priority in collateral in favor of a judgment lien creditor if it fails to properly act against its collateral following a borrower’s default.