The court granted Liquidation Trustee Alex Zyngier’s motion and expunged Buy Direct, LLC’s claims with prejudice following the December 9 hearing, according to the expungement order. The ruling eliminates Proof of Claim Nos. 102 and 142, which asserted an aggregate $47.4 million against the DirectBuy Home Improvement liquidating estate.

The Trustee’s motion argued that the claims arose from litigation involving an unaffiliated predecessor, were barred by a 2017 section 363 sale order transferring assets free and clear without successor liability, and duplicated counterclaims dismissed with prejudice by an Indiana federal court in September 2024. Although that dismissal remains on appeal, the bankruptcy court’s with-prejudice expungement removes the $47.4 million claim from competition for liquidating-trust recoveries and materially clarifies the remaining claims pool.