Limits of Bankruptcy Court Authority: A Reminder from the Eleventh Circuit

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By James Davis, Staff Attorney to Chapter 13 Standing Trustee Henry E. Hildebrand, III (Nashville, TN)

The Eleventh Circuit, in Wortley v. Bakst,1 recently offered a reminder of the potential inconvenience of bankruptcy courts’ limited adjudicatory powers. The allegations in the case were salacious—that a law firm hired a bankruptcy judge’s fiancé in a scheme to improperly influence court rulings. But the Eleventh Circuit did not end up expressing any view of these doings because the appeal foundered on procedural grounds.

The alleged improprieties occurred in connection with a . . .

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