I owe money to a company that may go bankrupt and they also owe me money.

[DSbankrupt]

I owe some money to a large freight company that may go bankrupt in the very near future. That company also owes me some money for a damage claim. If they file bankruptcy before they pay me, can I simply deduct what they owe me from what I owe them and call it good?

[justbroke]

That's a legal question and would be something generically known as an setoff (or recoupment). These are generally allowed as a matter of law but you must be careful when doing so after one of the parties files bankruptcy. For example, you can't setoff a pre-petition debt with a post-petition debt and vice-versa.

As always, I would obtain practical legal advice to make sure that the debts in question are mutual and that you are not mixing pre and post petition debts.

Having wrote that, I can't give you a yes or no answer.