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Rethinking Absolute Priority After Ahlers, John D. Ayer

Michigan Law Review

There was no evident reason why the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Norwest Bank Worthington v. Ahlers. It can be conceded that the issue was important: in the midst of an agricultural depression, a farmer was trying to hang onto his farm without paying the full amount of his bank debt. The farmer argued that he ought to be able to do so because he was offering to contribute "new value" beyond what he was obliged to contribute - specifically, his efforts as a farmer.

For Ahlers is a case with a past, as well as a future. Thus, in …