First... I am NOT defending Mr. Palmer, et al.. BUT..

There is a little known proviso in the Federal Bankruptcy Laws that allows the court appointed receiver to recover any payments made to creditors (payroll excepted) that have been made within the 90 days prior to filing of the Bankruptcy.

How I know this (since I'm not a lawyer)....

Back some years ago I owned a small electronics design and manufacturing company in Bergen county. A "small" company named BULOVA WATCH ran a tab on me well in excess of $5000. (No, we didn't make watches, we were makig some subassemblies for a militay contract they had) After many calls and check is in the mail promises, I finally refused to ship anymore subassemblies until I got some big money. They sent a check for $5000.
85 days later they filed bankruptcy... We had to return the money, which by that time we had used to pay our bills.
BTW... we never saw a dime of that...ever.

Soooo... even if "Mr. C" had gotten the check (and it didn't bounce, a common problem pre Bankruptcy) he probably would have had to return the money...

Also... if Shamrock filed Bankruptcy, then any open hull warranties are...worthless.