HSBC Holdings PLC v. Picard

U.S. Supreme Court

Question(s) Presented

1. Whether applying Bankruptcy Code Section 550(a)(2) to permit recovery of the proceeds of a foreign transaction that occurred abroad between two foreign parties governed by foreign law constitutes a “domestic” application of Section 550(a)(2) for the purpose of an extraterritoriality analysis.

2. Whether a bankruptcy court’s and district court’s abstentions from applying U. S. law on grounds of international comity should be reviewed for abuse of discretion, as all seven other circuits that reached the issue have held, or de novo, as the court below held.

Tab Group

Petition Stage

Cert. petition denied

June 1, 2020

U.S. Chamber urges Supreme Court to review whether a bankruptcy trustee may use the Bankruptcy Code to claw back purely foreign transactions between foreign entities or whether such claims are barred by the presumption against extraterritoriality

October 2, 2019

Click here to view the amicus brief filed jointly by the U.S. Chamber, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, and the Institute of International Bankers.

Jeffrey A. Udall of Walden Macht & Haran LLP served as co-counsel for the amici.