In the recent court decision of Trenfield v HAG Import Corporation (Australia) Pty Ltd [2018] QDC 107, the liquidators recovered unfair preferences from a retention of title creditor who argued it was a secured creditor.

The issues

ABT Molecular Imaging, Inc. has filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 18-11398). ABT, based in Louisville, TN, designs, manufactures and distributes the world’s first and only small-footprint Biomarker Generator for Fludeoxyglucose, the imaging agent used in positron emission tomography.

New MACH Gen, LLC, along with four subsidiaries and affiliates, has filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Lead Case No. 18-11368). MACH Gen, headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, owns and operates three natural gas-fired electricity generating facilities across the United States.

In the recent decision of Heavy Plant Leasing [2018] NSWSC 707, a creditor successfully defended an unfair preference claim by establishing it did not have reasonable grounds to suspect the insolvency of the debtor company, who was a subcontractor in the earth moving business.

The most common way of defending a liquidator’s unfair preferences claim is to rely upon section 588FG(2) of the Corporations Act 2001(Cth); commonly called the ‘good faith defence’.

Sancilio Pharmaceuticals Company, Inc., along with two subsidiaries and affiliates, has filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Lead Case No. 18-11333).

Color Spot Holdings, Inc., along with three subsidiaries and affiliates, has filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Lead Case No. 18-11272). Headquartered in Temecula, CA, Color Spot is one of the largest growers and distributors of live plants in the western and southwestern United States.

The reality of a bankruptcy proceeding is that creditors often receive less than a full distribution on their claims, forcing them to absorb such losses or look for new avenues to make themselves whole. The “bankruptcy haircut” is more often the case for general unsecured creditors and occurs less often for secured creditors (when they are not undersecured) and lessors (when they are not underwater on their lease). Sometimes creditors have the luxury of looking to guarantors to mitigate their losses when the guarantors are not insolvent or otherwise judgment proof.

FreeLinc Technologies, Inc., along with its affiliate FreeLinc Technologies, LLC, has filed a petitions for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for District of Delaware (Lead Case No. 18-11254).

EBH Topco, LLC, along with thirty-one (31) subsidiaries and affiliates, has filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Lead Case No. 18-11212).

Enduro Resource Partners LLC, along with five subsidiaries and affiliates, has filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Lead Case No. 18-11174).