Law Commons^™

Grissom V. Johnson: Just The Facts..., Dean C. Copelan

Mercer Law Review

In Grissom v. Johnson (In re Grissom), the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals established a case-by-case analytical model to determine when a foreclosure sale brought a "reasonably equivalent value" under 11 U.S.C. § 548. Absent fraud, collusion, or illegal or unlawful procedures, courts should presume that the price brought at the legitimate foreclosure sale is a reasonably equivalent value of the property. For a bankruptcy trustee "to avoid [a] foreclosure sale as [a] transfer of property for which [the] debtor received less than reasonably equivalent value," the trustee "must establish specific factors which undermine confidence in the reasonableness …