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| vol 20, num 1 | January 2024 |
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| Co-Chairs’ Corner |
| We are excited to report that the Bankruptcy Litigation Committee was very active in 2023, with 2024 looking just as good, if not better. The committee now has more than 1,100 members — over 200 more than we had just three years ago. It is its members that make this committee so vibrant, and we just wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped make 2023 great.
Here is a quick review of last year — and a preview of what is to come.
Conferences
The committee sponsored some fantastic panels for ABI’s major conferences in 2023. For the Annual Spring Meeting (ASM), the Bankruptcy Litigation Committee partnered with the International Committee. Hamid Khanbhai (Campbells; Cayman Islands), Nicosia Lawson (Baker & Partners; Cayman Islands) and Wei-Yang Lim (Kirkland & Ellis; Hong Kong) presented “Lessons from Lucking: A Cross-Border Case Study.” The speakers are all experts in their field and traveled very far to present their panel. Their visuals were excellent, and the audience was captivated the entire time.
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| Finality in Bankruptcy Appeals: Ritzen and Its Aftermath |
| In Ritzen Grp. Inc. v. Jackson Masonry LLC, the U.S. Supreme Court definitively established that an order denying a motion for relief from the automatic stay under Bankruptcy Code § 362(d) is a final order that may be — and must be — immediately appealed. In the years following Ritzen, almost every circuit court has had an opportunity to ring in on finality issues. This article surveys notable circuit court opinions applying Ritzen in contexts ranging from discovery motions to claim objections.
The brief background of Ritzen is that Ritzen Group, Inc. filed a motion for relief from the automatic stay to allow pre-petition litigation to go forward in another forum, which was denied. Instead, the underlying claim was litigated in bankruptcy court by way of an adversary proceeding, and the outcome was unfavorable to Ritzen. Thereafter, Ritzen appealed both the final result as well as the earlier order denying relief from stay. However, the district court dismissed the appeal with respect to the earlier order as untimely, and the Sixth Circuit affirmed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari and unanimously affirmed, holding that an order unreservedly granting or denying relief from stay is final.
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| What Is a “Bona Fide Dispute”? |
| Two provisions of the Bankruptcy Code turn on the existence of a “bona fide dispute.” An involuntary petition may not be filed by an alleged creditor against the alleged debtor if the creditor’s claim is “the subject of a bona fide dispute as to liability or amount.” A trustee may sell property free and clear of an interest that is “in bona fide dispute.” These disparate statutory provisions share a unique phrase.
What is a “bona fide dispute”? Two recent court decisions address this question.
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