Supreme Court clarifies bankruptcy jurisdiction, leaves much unanswered

Lawyers' Forum

By John Collen

John Collen is a partner at SmithAmundsen LLC and an adjunct law professor in the Bankruptcy LL.M. Program at St. John’s University School of Law in New York. He was of counsel on one of the friend-of-the-court briefs filed with the Supreme Court in the Executive Benefits case. Although the brief supported the prevailing party, it focused heavily on exactly the issue that the court declined to address, namely consent to jurisdiction.

Posted July 24, 2014 2:41 PM

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that a bankruptcy judge could make proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law in matters where the bankruptcy judge lacked constitutional authority to enter a final order adjudicating the underlying dispute. The significance of Executive Benefits Insurance Agency v. Arkison, No. 12-1200 (June 9, 2014), can only be understood in the context of the tortured history of bankruptcy court jurisdiction. As originally enacted, the Bankruptcy Code of 1978 gave bankruptcy judges the …

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