Blixseth v. Yellowstone Mountain Club, LLC, et al.

Summarized by David Hercher , U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Oregon
12 years 1 week ago

Citation:

Blixseth v. Yellowstone Mountain Club, LLC, No. 12-35986 (9th Cir. Feb. 18, 2014)

Tag(s):

Ruling:

The bankruptcy judge properly denied a recusal motion. Alleged ex parte communications by the judge were not improper; the judge did not act out of an improper or corrupt motive; and the judge did not make antagonistic or biased statements about the appellant.

Procedural context:

The underlying bankruptcy case is the chapter 11 case of a limited liability company of which the appellant, Blixseth, was a founder. Blixseth moved that the bankruptcy judge recuse himself from the case, including consideration of a plan that Blixseth opposed, based on allegations of numerous incidents of judicial misconduct. The bankruptcy judge denied the motion, and the district court affirmed. The 9th Circuit’s ruling was on appeal from the district court’s ruling on the recusal motion.

Facts:

The bankruptcy court confirmed a plan over Blixseth’s objection. In connection with plan confirmation, the court found that Blixseth had misappropriated the LLC’s cash and property for his personal use with fraudulent intent, and the court entered a $40 million judgment against him. The 9th Circuit found that none of the ex parte communications alleged by Blixseth was improper. It also rejected his claims of judicial antagonism; one circumstance on which that claim was based “comes nowhere near showing that the judge had ‘such a high degree of favoritism or antagonism as to make fair judgement impossible.’” The 9th Circuit characterized Blixseth’s claims as “a transparent attempt to wriggle out of an unfavorable decision by smearing the reputation of the judge who made it.”

Judge(s):

Kozinski, Paez, and Berzon

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