Martin Energy Services, LLC v. M/V Bravante IX

OPINION ON THE MERITS

Robert L. Hinkle, United States District Judge

In this interpleader action, two parties assert competing claims to a specific fund that would have been paid in the first instance to another party had that other party not initiated bankruptcy proceedings. As both claimants agree, the fund must properly be distributed outside the bankruptcy proceeding; there will be no share-and-share-alike with other creditors. After a bench trial, this order reaches the substantive result that all parties to the underlying transaction intended—the substantive outcome that would have…