A bankruptcy trustee sued subcontractors C.A. Guard and Stovall to recover payments made within 90 days before the general contractor went bankrupt. The court ruled that C.A. Guard's payment was a preferential transfer that must be returned because the company failed to prove its mechanics' lien was actually secured by estate assets. Stovall kept its payment because it released a fully-secured surety bond claim, which counted as new value. The key lesson: releasing a lien or claim only protects you from repayment if that lien or claim was genuinely secured at the time you released it.
Document and prove the value of any lien or claim you release in exchange for payment—vague assertions won't protect you if the contractor goes bankrupt
Timing matters: the court judges whether a lien had real value on the exact date you released it, not before or after
Releasing a surety bond claim (like a payment bond) is stronger protection than releasing a mechanics' lien if the bond is actually backed by real security