Law Commons^™

Three Against Two: On The Difference Between Property And Contract And The Example Of Deposit Accounts In Bankruptcy, Jeanne L. Schroeder, David G. Carlson

Articles

In Citizen's Bank v. Strumpf (1995), Justice Scalia announced that deposit accounts are not "property". Five years later, the Uniform Commercial Code was amended to make deposit accounts collateral for the depositary bank maintaining the account, thereby crowding the field previously occupied by the common law right of setoff. Security interests attach to personal "property." Security interests attach to deposit accounts. Deposit accounts, by syllogistic logic, are property. Does this mean that the UCC has overruled the Supreme Court? We argue not. A deposit account is a mere contract in the two-person universe that contract law presupposes. A deposit account …

Commodifying Consumer Data In The Era Of The Internet Of Things, Stacy-Ann Elvy

Articles & Chapters

Internet of Things (“IOT”) products generate a wealth of data about consumers that was never before widely and easily accessible to companies. Examples include biometric and health-related data, such as fingerprint patterns, heart rates and calories burned. This Article explores the connection between the types of data generated by the IOT and the financial frameworks of Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code and the Bankruptcy Code. It critiques these regimes, which enable the commodification of consumer data, as well as laws aimed at protecting consumer data, such as the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, various state biometric …

Are Government Creditors Exempt From U.C.C. Article 9 Filing And Perfection Requirements?, Thomas Sica

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (the “UCC”) requires a creditor to perfect its security interests against its collateral in order to recover the creditor’s priority in such collateral. Former versions of the UCC that predate 2001 provided that the Article 9’s perfection requirements did not apply “[t]o a transfer by a government or a governmental unit of the state.” This exception was eliminated from the UCC in 2001. Thirty-two states, however, still have versions of the UCC that contain some version of this exception. Within the states that still enforce this exception for governmental units, there are …

When Is A Dog’S Tail Not A Leg?: A Property-Based Methodology For Distinguishing Sales Of Receivables From Security Interests That Secure An Obligation, Steven L. Harris, Charles W. Mooney Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

There are two principal ways in which a firm that is owed money payable in the future but needs the money now may use its rights to payment (“receivables”) to obtain the needed financing. It might sell its receivables, or it might borrow and use the receivables as collateral to secure the loan. Different legal consequences follow depending on whether the transaction is a true sale or is a security interest that secures an obligation (a “SISO”).

These legal consequences are particularly salient when the firm enters bankruptcy. If the transaction is a sale, then the buyer can collect the …

Turnover Actions And The “Floating Check” Controversy, David R. Hague

Faculty Articles

When a debtor files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a Chapter 7 trustee is appointed and is charged with collecting and reducing to money the property of the bankruptcy estate. One of the most basic collection methods a trustee possesses is its turnover power under § 542(a) of the Bankruptcy Code. Pursuant to § 542(a), an entity in possession, custody, or control, during the bankruptcy case, of property that the trustee may use, sell, or lease, must deliver to the trustee, and account for, such property or the value of such property.

An interesting issue has arisen that is placing debtors …

In Re Whitehall Jewelers Holdings, Inc., Jonathan Borst

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

In In re Whitehall Jewelers Holdings, Inc., No. 08-11261(KG), 2008 WL 2951974 (Bankr. D. Del. July 28, 2008), the court held against Whitehall Jewelers Holdings, Inc. (“Debtors”), in favor of approximately 124 consignment vendors (“Consignment Vendors”), where Debtors sought an order permitting the “free and clear” sale of all of their assets and inventory, including consigned goods from Consignment Vendors. See id. at *1–2. In order to develop a full understanding of the court’s holding, it is necessary to understand its statutory context, specifically sections 363 and 541 of the Bankruptcy Code, as well as Federal Rule of …

Repossession Does Not Alter Debtor’S Rights In Collateral, Ian Park

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

Does section 541(a)(1) of title 11 of the U.S. Code, which defines a debtor’s bankruptcy “estate,” include collateral which has been lawfully repossessed by secured creditors pursuant to Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”) prior to the debtor’s filing for bankruptcy? The courts have split in answering this pro-debtor issue by defining “estate” differently. Recently, in Tidewater Fin. Co. v. Curry (In re Curry), 509 F.3d 735, 735 (6th Cir. 2007), the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals split with the Fourth and Eleventh Circuits and held that a secured creditor’s repossession of collateral under the state’s …

11th Biennial Judge Joe Lee Bankruptcy Institute, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law

Continuing Legal Education Materials

Materials from the 11th Biennial Judge Joe Lee Bankruptcy Institute held May 2003.

21st Annual Conference On Legal Issues For Financial Institutions, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law

Continuing Legal Education Materials

Materials from the 21st Annual Conference on Legal Issues For Financial Institutions held by UK/CLE in April of 2001.

Consumer Bankruptcy Update, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law, Sandra D. Freeburger, Thomas L. Canary, Ann E. Samani, W. Thomas Bunch, David M. Cantor, Jan C. Morris, Beverly M. Burden, William W. Lawrence, Lisa Koch Bryant, Dean A. Langdon, Joan Lloyd Cooper, Henry H. Dickinson, William S. Howard, Joseph M. Scott Jr., Joe Lee, C.R. Bowles Jr., Alan C. Stout, James D. Lyon, Sandra D. Freeburger, Geneva F. Parris, Joseph J. Golden, John R. Stonitsch, Hal D. Friedman, Gregory R. Schaaf, Richard H. Nowka, Christopher W. Frost, Scott A. Bachert, Michael L. Baker, Cathy S. Pike

Continuing Legal Education Materials

Materials from the Consumer Bankruptcy Update presentations held by UK/CLE in December 2000.

Rights Of Subrogation In Letters Of Credit Transactions, James J. White

Articles

The past twenty years have seen more than a dozen cases, in which parties to letter of credit transactions have sought subrogation to the rights of the person they have paid or to the rights of the persons on behalf of whom, they have acted.' The most obvious case arises when the issuer of a standby letter of credit pays a beneficiary on a debt that is owed to the beneficiary by a bankrupt applicant. Having failed to take 'collateral from the applicant, the issuer seeks to be subrogated to the security interest of the beneficiary. Failing subrogation, the issuer …

15th Annual Legal Issues For Financial Institutions Conference, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law, Walter R. Byrne Jr, Mark F. Sommer, Lisa Koch Bryant, Leonard A. Watkins, Thomas W. Grundy, Joann B. Heppermann, James C. Seiffert, William H. Haden Jr., T. Richard Riney, Marcus P. Mcgraw, W. Bradford Boone, John T. Mcgarvey, James F. Rose, J. Rick Jones, M. Thurman Senn, M. Brooks Senn

Continuing Legal Education Materials

Program and materials from the 15th Annual Legal Issues for Financial Institutions Conference held by UK/CLE on March 10-11, 1995.

Revising Article 9 To Reduce Wasteful Litigation, James J. White

Articles

For reasons that are unclear to me, the committees reviewing the articles of the Uniform Commercial Code and drafting revisions are congenitally conservative. Perhaps these committees take their charge too seriously, namely, to revise, not to revolutionize. Perhaps their intimate knowledge of the subject matter exaggerates the importance of each section and consequently magnifies the apparent size of every change. In any case, my own experience with two such committees tells me that the members quickly become focused on revisions and amendments that any outsider would describe as modest. To the extent that the revision of any of the articles …

The Malformed Mouse Meets The Libr: Secured And Restitutionary Claims To Commingled Funds, Harold R. Weinberg

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The "malformed mouse" is section 9-306(4)(d) of the Uniform Commercial Code. It provides a formula that determines the extent to which an insolvent debtor's commingled bank account contains funds subject to a security interest. A special entitlement is necessary because it is impossible to physically distinguish this collateral after commingling. The label malformed mouse is appropriate if one agrees with critics who have questioned the mouse's statutory architecture and underlying rationale. The image of an elusive creature is also apt. The mouse continues to elude understanding, although it has been part of the Code for many years and the subject …

Efficiency Justifications For Personal Property Security, James J. White

Articles

In February of 1983 Pan American World Airways issued 100 million dollars of convertible secured notes. As security for these notes it put up three Boeing 747 SP aircraft, two 747-100 aircraft, and one McDonnell Douglas DC10-30. The appraised value of these aircraft was 157 million dollars. To the extent possible under the law, Pan American made these aircraft subject to the claims of the owners of the new notes. On default, the note holders would have the first claim on these aircraft, would have the right to repossess them outside of bankruptcy, and would have the right to the …

The Recent Erosion Of The Secured Creditor's Rights Through Cases, Rules And Statutory Changes In Bankruptcy Law, James J. White

Articles

One can view the law of creditors' rights as a series of cyclesin which alternatively the rights of the creditor and then those of the debtor are in ascendancy. Looking back through Americanlegislative history, one sees both the state legislatures and the Congress intervening on behalf of debtors in a variety of ways onmany occasions. An early example of such intervention was the enactment, particularly in the Midwest and West, of generous exemption laws that removed a variety of property beyond the reach of general creditors. A second example is the enactment of usury laws, which continue to be a …