An order fixing the amount and priority of a claim is immediately appealable, the Eleventh Circuit said. The appeals court dismissed the appeal because the debtor waited to appeal until confirmation of the chapter 11 plan that specified treatment of the allowed claim.
The appeals court’s decision is no surprise, but breathe a sigh of relief, because a contrary ruling would have meant chaos in bankruptcy cases large and small.
The state taxing authority filed a claim against the chapter 11 debtor. Bankruptcy Judge Robert A. Mark of Miami held a hearing and entered an order sustaining in part and overruling the debtor’s objection in part. The court gave the taxing authority an allowed priority claim for about $1.9 million and an allowed $500,000 general, unsecured claim.
Rather than appeal, the debtor filed a timely motion for reconsideration. The bankruptcy court denied the reconsideration motion. The debtor did not appeal within 14 days.
Seven months later, the bankruptcy court confirmed the chapter 11 plan. The debtor then appealed from the confirmation order, the order fixing and allowing the priority and nonpriority claims, and the order denying the reconsideration motion.
Finding a lack of appellate jurisdiction, the district court granted the taxing authority’s motion to dismiss the appeal.
In a nonprecedential, per curiam opinion on December 19, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of the appeal.
The court of appeals said that its jurisdiction covers “final” orders under 28 U.S.C. § 158(d). Although finality is given a more flexible interpretation in bankruptcy, the circuit court quoted the Supreme Court for saying that orders in bankruptcy court are appealable “if they dispose of discrete disputes within the larger case.” Bullard v. Blue Hills Bank, 575 U.S. 496, 501 (2015).
The Eleventh Circuit cited an earlier Supreme Court decision for the proposition that an “order denying priority status to a creditor’s claim is ‘final’ because it resolves a discrete dispute within the bankruptcy proceeding. See Howard Delivery Serv., Inc. v. Zurich Am. Ins. Co., 547 U.S. 651, 657 n.3 (2006).”
Again citing Bullard, the circuit court said that the bankruptcy court’s orders “settled and disposed of a discrete dispute — what was owed to the [taxing authority] — within the larger bankruptcy case.” Putting the pieces together, the appeals court affirmed dismissal of the appeal because the debtor should have appealed within 14 days after the bankruptcy court denied the motion for reconsideration.
An order fixing the amount and priority of a claim is immediately appealable, the Eleventh Circuit said. The appeals court dismissed the appeal because the debtor waited to appeal until confirmation of the chapter 11 plan that specified treatment of the allowed claim.
The appeals court’s decision is no surprise, but breathe a sigh of relief, because a contrary ruling would have meant chaos in bankruptcy cases large and small.
The state taxing authority filed a claim against the chapter 11 debtor. Bankruptcy Judge Robert A. Mark of Miami held a hearing and entered an order sustaining in part and overruling the debtor’s objection in part. The court gave the taxing authority an allowed priority claim for about $1.9 million and an allowed $500,000 general, unsecured claim.