The Fifth Circuit recently dismissed an appeal of a confirmation order as equitably moot. The decision was based on three key factors: the appellant hadn’t obtained a stay pending appeal, the plan had been substantially...more
IRS Chief Tells Elizabeth Warren: More Transparent Bank Data Can Fight Tax Evasion - "Rettig, a Trump administration holdover, touted a provision in the American Families Plan that would require banks to report on their...more
At a conference to be held at the end of the summer recess on September 27, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to grant petitions seeking review during the new Term that begins on October 4 of three notable...more
The court-fashioned doctrine of "equitable mootness" has traditionally been invoked to bar appeals of orders confirming "substantially consummated" chapter 11 plans. Some appellate courts, however, have applied it to bar...more
In In re Nuverra Environmental Solutions, Inc., 834 Fed. App'x 729 (3d Cir. 2021), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit handed down a long-awaited ruling that could have addressed, but ultimately did not address,...more
In Drivetrain LLC v. Kozel (In re Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas LLC), 18-3120 (10th Cir. May 5, 2020), the Tenth Circuit held that the doctrine of equitable mootness applies to appeals of confirmed Chapter 11 plans of...more
On August 9, 2019, in a unanimous decision (written by a former bankruptcy judge), the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the confirmation of the Peabody Energy Chapter 11 plan (“Plan”) with a prominent backstopped...more
In Trinity 83 Dev., LLC v. ColFin Midwest Funding, LLC, 917 F.3d 599 (7th Cir. 2019), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that section 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code does not moot an appeal involving a...more
In Tanguy v. West (In re Davis), 2018 WL 4232063 (5th Cir. Sept. 5, 2018), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit revisited the circumstances under which section 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code moots an appeal of a...more
Equitable mootness is a judicially created doctrine often applied in appeals from orders of bankruptcy courts confirming chapter 11 plans of reorganization. In instances where granting relief on appeal would result in...more
The consummation of a plan of reorganization typically involves a series of complex actions by the debtor and its stakeholders (for example, existing debt and equity are extinguished and new debt and equity issued in their...more
On October 20, 2017, the Second Circuit issued its long awaited ruling on several appeals from a U.S. District Court (Bricetti, J.) determination affirming the United States Bankruptcy Court (Drain, J.) in the MPM Silicones,...more
In Beem v. Ferguson (In re Ferguson), 2017 BL 101650 (11th Cir. Mar. 30, 2017), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit addressed the distinction between constitutional mootness (a jurisdictional issue that...more
The doctrine of equitable mootness provides that Chapter 11 reorganization plans will be deemed moot, and therefore not subject to appellate review, if a plan has been substantially consummated and granting appellate relief...more
A pair of recent decisions by the Ninth Circuit in In re Mortgages Ltd. underscore the power of the equitable mootness doctrine and the importance of obtaining stays of bankruptcy court orders to avoid having appeals of the...more
Equitable mootness is a judge-made remedy that is misnamed. Judges apply it to seek an equitable result, but mootness in the constitutional sense is absent. Article III, section 2 of the U.S. Constitution bars federal...more