Tribune II: Law Firm Perspectives
by | posted in: Avoidance, Financial Firms and Safe Harbors, fraudulent transfer, Statutory Interpretation | 0

By Xiao Ma (Harvard Law School)

Xiao Ma

On December 19, 2019, the Second Circuit issued its amended opinion in In re Tribune Company Fraudulent Conveyance Litigation, 2019 WL 6971499 (2d Cir. Dec. 19, 2019), which held the “safe harbor” provision in section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code covers Tribune Company’s payments made to public shareholders as Tribune constitutes a “financial institution” in pursuance with the Bankruptcy Code definition, and such definition includes the “customer” of a financial institution when the financial institution acts as the customer’s “agent or custodian…in connection with a securities contract”.

The Second Circuit’s opinion was controversial in light of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Merit Management Group, LP v. FTI Consulting, Inc., 138 S.Ct. 883 (2018) on the scope of safe harbor, with law firms perceiving it as moving away from the position of Merit by opening new room for application of safe harbor protection. Jones Day suggests that the Tribune’s reasoning “avoided the strictures of Merit”, while Nelson Mullins finds it “shifting the focus from the financial institution as a ‘mere conduit’ to an ‘agent’.” Kramer Levin comments that the decision represents a “dramatic, and perhaps unexpected, extension of the safe harbor from the position it occupied in the immediate aftermath of Merit.” Weil calls it throwing the 546(e) safe harbor a lifeline.

Firms also find the case paving a way to protect LBO payments from subsequent attacks. King & Spalding notes that the Second Circuit’s opinion provides protection for recipients involved in LBO transaction where the debtor is the “customer” of the intermediary financial institutions. Cadwalader believes that the decision may “narrow the impact” of Merit, as market participants could structure their transaction to involve a financial institution thereby bypassing the “mere conduit” carve-out. Skadden agrees on the likely trend of structured LBOs, highlights that the customer defense is “likely to continue gaining momentum” after the Second Circuit’s decision. Parties would ensure they meet the “financial institution” and “customer” criteria methodically articulated in Tribune. “An appropriately structured principal/agent relationship could continue to shelter transfers or distributions within the ambit of section 546(e) safe harbors,” says Weil, adding that the operative facts will be key to strengthen the position.

Finally, Gibson Dunn notes that Tribune is not binding on other circuits. It remains to be seen whether such holding will be extended to different circumstances by other courts. “Some courts may find (in contrast to the Second Circuit) that the Supreme Court in Merit could not possibly have intended that its narrowing of the section 546(e) safe harbor be so easily vitiated by an argument that the Court itself acknowledged in a footnote,” says Kramer Levin.

In a prior Roundtable post, Professor Bussel noted that a plain meaning interpretation of the term “financial institution” should not include the customers of commercial banks, thus precluding a sharp change from Merit.

For Roundtable’s other posts on Tribune, see Bankruptcy Court Disagrees with Second Circuit’s Holding in Tribune, Tribune Fraudulent Conveyance Litigation Roundup. For Roundtable discussions relating to the 546(e) safe harbor, please refer to the tag #Safe Harbors.

Second Circuit Fumbles Tribune on Reconsideration
by | posted in: Avoidance, Bankruptcy Roundtable Updates, Financial Firms and Safe Harbors, fraudulent transfer, Statutory Interpretation | 0
Daniel J. Bussel

By Daniel J. Bussel (UCLA School of Law)

The Second Circuit recently issued its revised opinion in Tribune Company Fraudulent Conveyance Litigation, determining that a debtor-transferor that effectuates a transfer involving a securities contract in its capacity as the customer of a commercial bank is itself a “financial institution” within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Code section 101(22)(A) and therefore the transfer is protected under section 546(e).

This ruling has critically important implications for the avoiding powers of the bankruptcy trustee. Section 546(e) insulates all transfers involving securities by or to a financial institution from avoidance except as an “actual fraud” under section 548(a)(1)(A). Virtually all transferors are customers of commercial banks and almost any transfer can be effectuated with funds transferred through the agency or in the possession of a commercial bank. The result is the virtual repeal of the avoiding powers as to any transfer involving securities that is not an actual fraud on creditors, undoing centuries of fraudulent transfer and preference law.

These considerations are powerful enough that the Second Circuit, if necessary in light of the statute’s plain language, should have striven mightily to avoid interpreting the term “financial institution” so as to include the customers of commercial banks. The Code’s avoiding power sections read as a whole make no sense if limited only to cases involving transfers by entities that are not customers of commercial banks. Moreover, such a reading of section 101(22) flies in the face of Merit Management, the recent, directly applicable, Supreme Court precedent.

The full article is available here.

For more posts on the scope of section 546(e), see Ralph Brubaker, Understanding the Scope of the § 546(e) Securities Safe Harbor Through the Concept of the “Transfer” Sought to Be Avoided.