Triad International Maintenance Corp. v. Southern Air Transport, Inc. (In Re Southern Air Transport, Inc.)

OPINION

ALAN E. NORRIS, Circuit Judge.

The bankruptcy trustee of Southern Air Transport, Inc. (“SAT”), a debtor in a Chapter 11 proceeding, seeks to recover a $100,000 payment made to defendant Triad International Maintenance Corporation (“TIMCO”) as an avoidable preference under the Bankruptcy Code. 11 U.S.C. § 547(b). TIMCO advances two theories in response: that it was a fully secured creditor at the time of the payment; alternatively, that the payment represented a contemporaneous exchange for new value, an exception to the usual rule prohibiting transfers of interest in the debtor’s…