Bellingham: And the Supreme Court Punts

By M. Jonathan Hayes

The Supreme Court made one thing perfectly clear in its 9-0 ruling on In re Bellingham. It doesn't always reverse the Ninth Circuit.

The Ninth Circuit rulings that the Supreme Court undertook to review were:

Bankruptcy judges may not (usually) enter final judgments in fraudulent conveyance matters. That is the province of Article III judges because it is essentially a common law matter that would exist outside the bankruptcy arena (a so-called “private right”) and would not necessarily be resolved as part of the claims quantification process . . .

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