My company shipped goods to another company that filed bankruptcy right after and that doesn’t seem fair. Can we do anything?

The answer to this question is yes, provided that the creditor actually shipped the goods within 20 days before the bankruptcy was filed. When a debtor receives goods while insolvent, the creditor has what’s called the right of R\reclamation to recover the property or its value from the debtor. In the bankruptcy code, that right has become incorporated into the creditor’s ability to obtain a highest priority administrative claim against the debtor for the amount of the goods that were shipped on the eve of the bankruptcy. This administrative claim is powerful because it enables that creditor to receive payment before any other creditor is paid, except perhaps for secured creditors who may have the right to the cash generated from the debtor’s operations. Creditors need to be careful however because many times bankruptcy courts establish bar dates for filing administrative expense claims and these claims aren’t filed by simply submitting the proof of claim form that every creditor receives upon the filing of the bankruptcy case. Instead the administrative creditor needs to file a specific request with the bankruptcy court and obtain an actual order of the court allowing the administrative claim to be paid in the first priority against the bankrupt estate.