In Fidelity Financial Services, Inc. v. Richard V Fink, the U.S Supreme Court was tasked with determining whether a creditor's post-petition perfection of its lien on a debtor's property is considered an avoidable transfer under section 547(b) of the Bankruptcy Code. The case arose when Fidelity Financial Services loaned money to a debtor and secured their interest by obtaining a lien on the debtor’s property but did not perfect this interest until after bankruptcy proceedings had begun. When they attempted to enforce their claim against the bankrupt estate, Trustee Richard V Fink argued that it should be avoided as preferential under Section 547(b). In ruling for Mr.Fink, Justice Kennedy writing for unanimous court held that such late perfection could indeed be deemed preferential and therefore voidable if done within 90 days before filing bankruptcy (or one year if insider), thus affirming lower courts' decisions.

In the dissenting opinion for Fidelity Financial Services, Inc. v. Richard V Fink, Justice Scalia disagreed with the majority's interpretation of Section 547(c)(4) of the Bankruptcy Code. He argued that this provision should not be read to allow a debtor to recover preferential transfers if they are followed by new value given to the creditor on an unsecured basis. Instead, he believed that any 'new value' must remain unpaid in order for it to offset against previous preferential payments and thus prevent them from being recovered by a trustee in bankruptcy proceedings. According to him, allowing such recovery would undermine one of the key purposes of bankruptcy law: ensuring equal treatment among creditors.