Opinion ID: 197801
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Assignment Clause

Text: 33 Next, Hicks Muse contests a settlement modification which deferred any determination regarding the enforceability of certain causes of action against nonsettling defendants, including Hicks Muse, which the Bank Group assigned to the Trustee. Hicks Muse contends that the bankruptcy court had no choice but to strike this modification because it lacked the power to approve the assignment. See Caplin v. Marine Midland Grace Trust Co. of N.Y., 406 U.S. 416, 434, 92 S.Ct. 1678, 1688, 32 L.Ed.2d 195 (1972) (holding that trustee lacked standing to sue in behalf of individual creditors of estate); Williams v. California 1st Bank, 859 F.2d 664, 666-67 (9th Cir.1988) (applying Caplin ban even though creditor purportedly assigned its claim to trustee). 34 We need not address the Caplin question on which the Hicks Muse contention is predicated. Unlike a settlement agreement wherein the estate abandons an enforceable right, the assignment by the Bank Group conferred a benefit upon the chapter 7 estate. As the bankruptcy court acted well within its discretion in determining that the benefit conferred by the settlement served the best interests of the chapter 7 estate without regard to whether the Trustee realized additional benefit from the subject assignment, nothing more was required. 9