Bankruptcy Settlements Post-Jevic: Potential New Requirements For Priority-Altering Settlements

As noted in a recent Distressing Matters  post, the United States Supreme Court in In re Jevic Holding Corp. held that debtors cannot use structured dismissals to make payments to creditors in violation of ordinary bankruptcy distribution priority rules.  The Jevic dissent complained that the majority avoided the more general question presented—whether a bankruptcy settlement can violate the statutory priority scheme.  The bankruptcy court for the Eastern District of Tennessee has addressed that complaint, holding that priority-altering settlements must be "fair and equitable" and promote a significant Code-related objective.

In In re Fryar, the bankruptcy court reviewed a settlement involving the sale of the debtor's equity interests in two private ventures.  The IRS had a lien on the debtor's equity interests.  The settlement proposed using the sale proceeds to pay off a bank lien on certain real estate, rather than using the proceeds to satisfy the IRS.