400
Opinion of the Court
had a claim against the debtor. Honoring the check, in short, left the debtor in the position that it would have occupied if it had withdrawn cash from its account and handed it over to petitioner. We thus believe that when the debtor has directed the drawee bank to honor the check and the bank has done so, the debtor has implemented a "mode, direct or indirect . . . of disposing . . . of property or . . . an interest in property." 11 U. S. C. § 101(54) (1988 ed., Supp. II) (emphasis added). For the purposes of payment by ordinary check, therefore, a "transfer" as defined by § 101(54) occurs on the date of honor, and not before. And since it is undisputed that honor occurred within the 90-day preference period, the trustee presumptively may avoid this transfer.
In the face of this argument, petitioner retreats to the definition of "transfer" contained in § 101(54). Petitioner urges that rather than viewing the transaction as involving two distinct actions—delivery of the check, with no interest in property thereby being transferred, and honoring of the check, with an interest being transferred—that we instead should view delivery of the check as a "conditional" transfer. We acknowledge that § 101(54) adopts an expansive definition of transfer, one that includes "every mode . . . absolute or conditional . . . of disposing of or parting with property or with an interest in property." There is thus some force in petitioner's claim that he did, in fact, gain something when he received the check. But at most, what petitioner gained was a chose in action against the debtor.8 Such a right, however, cannot fairly be characterized as a conditional right to
8 Petitioner asserts that upon the date of delivery, he held a cause of action against the debtor. Brief for Petitioner 18. We think that petitioner may overstate matters a bit; it appears under the U. C. C. that receipt of the check provides a contingent cause of action, the contingency being a subsequent dishonoring of the check and a demand to the drawer for payment. See U. C. C. § 3-122(3), 2 U. L. A. 407 (1991), and Official Comment ¶ 1. It is unnecessary to resolve this question, however, for even on petitioner's more expansive assertion his claim under the Bankruptcy Code fails.
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