Your situation
Selling company data in bankruptcy
A bankruptcy case or an assignment for creditors is open, or it is about to be. Ask your lawyer who has authority over the assets before anyone signs. Filing a case creates an estate under 11 U.S.C. § 541. A consumer privacy ombudsman can be appointed for the hearing in 11 U.S.C. § 332. Identifying details stay out of a licensed copy even when other assets are being sold.
Up to $150K · $0 cost · 3 days
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Estate property | 11 U.S.C. § 541(a) states: "The commencement of a case under section 301, 302, or 303 of this title creates an estate. Such estate is comprised of all the following property, wherever located and by whomever held." Section 541(a)(1) states: "Except as provided in subsections (b) and (c)(2) of this section, all legal or equitable interests of the debtor in property as of the commencement of the case." Office of the Law Revision Counsel |
| Privacy ombudsman | 11 U.S.C. § 332(a) states: "If a hearing is required under section 363(b)(1)(B), the court shall order the United States trustee to appoint, not later than 7 days before the commencement of the hearing, 1 disinterested person (other than the United States trustee) to serve as the consumer privacy ombudsman in the case and shall require that notice of such hearing be timely given to such ombudsman." Office of the Law Revision Counsel |
| Assignments | An assignment for the benefit of creditors follows state law. Ask your lawyer whether an assignee has authority to license records in your state. |
| Authority | Ask your lawyer whether a trustee has authority over the assets before anyone signs a license. |
| Identifying details | Names, emails, phone numbers, and customer and staff details stay out of the copy, even when a court is selling other assets. |
The situation in plain words
A case is filed, or an assignment is about to be signed, and someone wants to know if the records can be licensed. Ordinary titles are a weak guide. Directors, a trustee, and an assignee do not all have the same authority, and the answer changes with the paper in front of you. Read the statute for what a filing does to property, then ask your lawyer who may sign in this case. Bring the assignment document rather than a general description of the process. If a court is selling other assets, that sale does not pull names, emails, or customer lists into a data license. Whether you need a consumer-privacy hearing is a legal question, not a box on an enquiry form.
Who can decide, and who signs
A job title does not tell you who may sign after a case is filed. Your lawyer reads the petition and the orders and tells you whether management still has that authority.
Ask your lawyer whether a trustee or an assignee is the person with authority over the assets. We have no rule that we will contract with either one.
The person who enquires has to be the person with authority. Sending the form does not create a court order.
What is possible
If a license happens, the company still pays nothing to Vetrix, personal details are still removed, and names, emails, phone numbers, and customer and staff details stay out of the copy. A court-supervised sale of other assets does not put those details into scope. This is general information. Your lawyer decides authority, and your lawyer decides whether a sale of records needs a court.
For a court-supervised sale of one airline's records, read the Spirit Airlines data auction, explained.
If the company's privacy policy restricted transfers of personal information, the court may appoint a consumer privacy ombudsman before that information is sold.
Timing
Ask about authority before you ask about fit. An enquiry sent by the wrong person wastes the three-day decision and can confuse the estate. If a hearing date is already on the calendar, your lawyer should see the records question before that date, not after the order is entered. A staff export does not make the question faster. The check, if it ever happens, is read-only and comes only after fit and after the right party is the one asking. A court date and a vendor login are different clocks.
What to do next
Read the appointment document, or the petition, and take it to your lawyer before you describe the systems.
Ask who has authority to sign, and ask whether a hearing under the privacy section is required for the records you have in mind.
Keep identifying details out of every description you send, including when other assets are being sold.
Send an enquiry only in the name of the party your lawyer says has authority.
Read 11 U.S.C. § 541 and § 332 for the words of the law. Use your lawyer for what they require in your case.
Where to go next
For the wider job, read how to wind down a company. For every other position, see what to do with your company's records in your situation.
Does your company qualify to sell its data? Confirm that before you treat a license as available. Before a system is connected, you approve what is shared and never shared.
If the company is in a different position, start here:
For the same decision seen from your role, read realizing data assets in insolvency.
For the wider legal question, read is it legal to sell company data to AI companies.
General information only. This is not legal, tax or financial advice.
Related
- Your situation
What changes for your records in eight company situations.
- Winding down
Order of operations to wind down a company, from approval through taxes and dissolution.
- Eligibility
Staff, records, daily-use systems, and the right to license, plus a checker.
- What's shared
Which records can be licensed, which details never leave, and what you approve.
- Listing didn't sell
What is still possible when a buyer for the business did not appear.
- After layoffs
Records after layoffs, while the company keeps operating.
- Insolvency practitioners
Authority questions for an office-holder before anyone signs.
Questions about bankruptcy and assignments
Can current management sign a data license after a bankruptcy case is filed?
Ask your lawyer. Filing a case creates an estate. Section 541(a) states that the commencement of a case under section 301, 302, or 303 creates an estate comprised of the debtor's property interests, wherever located and by whomever held. That text does not name a job title as the signer. Directors might keep authority in one case and lose it in another. Your lawyer reads the petition and the orders.
What does 11 U.S.C. § 332 say about a consumer privacy ombudsman?
Section 332(a) applies when a hearing is required under section 363(b)(1)(B). The court then orders the United States trustee to appoint a disinterested person as the consumer privacy ombudsman, not later than 7 days before the hearing. Whether your records need that hearing is your lawyer's question. Bring the privacy policy and the proposed sale to that conversation. The section does not decide the case by itself.
Does one state's assignment procedure apply to every company?
No. An assignment for the benefit of creditors follows state law. Ask your lawyer whether an assignee has authority to license records in your state. The forms from one state are the wrong forms for a company in another state. Bring the assignment document. A bankruptcy statute is not the rule for that assignment, and the assignment is not a bankruptcy case.
Will Vetrix contract with a trustee?
We have no rule that we will contract with a trustee or an assignee. Ask your lawyer who has authority over the assets, then ask us who can sign. The person who enquires has to be the person with that authority. An enquiry is not a court order. Identifying details stay out of the copy even when a court is selling other assets. Do not send a staff list or a customer list with the question.
Where do I read about the Spirit Airlines data auction?
The Spirit Airlines data auction is one court-supervised sale, explained from that case's filings. Dollar figures and bid history belong to that case. Sections 541 and 332 are the Bankruptcy Code text for property of the estate and for a consumer privacy ombudsman. Your lawyer applies those sections to your petition and your privacy policy. One airline's docket is not a template for your estate.
Sources
- Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S.C. § 541. Property of the estate. Checked 2026-11-04
- Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S.C. § 332. Consumer privacy ombudsman. Checked 2026-11-04
- Vetrix Labs. Company data license agreement terms.