Myers v. Raynor (In re Raynor)

Summarized by Brian Hockett , Thompson Coburn LLP
15 years 6 months ago

Citation:

___ F.3d ____, No. 09-2464 (8th Cir. Aug. 23, 2010)

Tag(s):

8th Circuit

Ruling:

Eighth Circuit affirmed the Eighth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (“BAP”) holding that 11 U.S.C. § 546(a) did not time bar the filing of an avoidance action two years to the day after the petition date because the day counting rules provided under Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9006(a) requires that the first day counted is the date following the petition date. In reaching this conclusion, the Eighth Circuit determined that the language of 11 U.S.C. § 546(a) expressly permits the filing of an avoidance suit two years after the entry for relief, meaning that a suit must be filed within two years from the day after the petition date. The Eighth Circuit also concluded that 11 U.S.C. § 546(a) was not a jurisdictional statute, which permitted Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9006(a) to apply to the time calculation of the two-year period under 11 U.S.C. § 546(a), also meaning that a suit must be filed within two years from the day after the petition date.

Procedural context:

Appeal from BAP’s affirmation of a stipulated judgment entered by the Bankruptcy Court, under which the parties agreed that the debtor and defendant reserved their right to appeal the timeliness of the filing of the avoidance adversary proceeding.

Facts:

On September 13, 2004, John Raynor ("Debtor") filed a bankruptcy petition. On September 13, 2006, the Chapter 7 trustee filed an adversary proceeding against Maureen Raynor, Debtor's spouse ("Defendant"), seeking to avoid and recover several transfers made by Debtor to Defendant. The adversary proceeding filing date was the two-year anniversary date of the filing of the bankruptcy petition.

Judge(s):

Smith, Benton, Shepherd

ABI Membership is required to access the full summary. Please Sign In using your ABI Member credentials. Not a Member yet? Join ABI now - it is absolutely worth it!