It’s Not Final, and That’s Final: The Ninth Circuit’s Gugliuzza Decision
April 11, 2017
Authored by: Amanda Cartwright and Mark Duedall
As we have noted in another post, Non-Final Finality: Does One Interlocutory Issue Resolved in a Bankruptcy Court Order Render All Issues Addressed in the Order Non-Appealable?, not all orders in bankruptcy cases are immediately appealable as a matter of right. Only those orders deemed sufficiently “final” may be appealed without additional court authorization. See 28 U.S.C. § 158(a)(3) (interlocutory order may be appealed only with leave of the court). Appeals from “final” bankruptcy-court orders usually are first heard by a United States district court or a bankruptcy appellate panel (a “BAP”), which have jurisdiction “to hear appeals from final judgments, orders, and decrees” from bankruptcy courts. Id. § 158(a)(1).
What happens when a district court or a BAP properly exercises appellate jurisdiction over a bankruptcy court’s