Gaffney v. United States Department of Transportation (In Re Premier Airways)

CARL L. BUCKI, Bankruptcy Judge.

Real property is indeed different from personalty, and the Bankruptcy Code incorporates distinctions that honor this difference. One such distinction occurs in 11 U.S.C. § 544(a)(3), which grants to a trustee certain rights of a bona fide purchaser of real property. This power is key to a resolution of the present dispute, which involves the claim of the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) to an equitable lien on land that the debtor acquired through a grant under the Airport Improvement Program (“AIP”) of the Department of Transportation.

Prior to its…