- Citation:
- No. 11-3782-bk (2d Cir. August 29, 2012) (SUMMARY ORDER)
- Tag(s):
-
- Ruling:
- AFFIRMING the decision of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, which had affirmed an order of the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, the Second Circuit denied the request of the creditor-appellant, Michigan Funds Administration ("MFA"), a state taxing entity, to amend its claim for payment of administrative expenses under 11 U.S.C. § 503. The Second Circuit held that the bankruptcy court acted within its discretion in finding that the 2010 claim submitted by MFA was not an amendment of the prior claim submitted by MFA in 2009 because it did not "relate back" to the 2009 claim. Looking at the relevant Michigan stature for workers' compensation assessments, the Second Circuit found that because the assessments do not accumulate as they accrue, the periods before and after the claim are non-continuous. The Second Circuit held that the circumstances were thus distinguishable from cases where courts have allowed a timely filed tax claim to be amended to cover "continuous" periods before and after the original claim.The Second Circuit also upheld the bankruptcy court's rejection of MFA's alternative argument--that even if the 2010 claim did not relate back under Bankruptcy Rule 7015, the bankruptcy court abused its discretion in denying MFA's request to file a late new claim after the bar date. The Second Circuit stated that "MFA has failed to provide any reasonable explanation for its failure to timely file a contingent and liquidated claim that it could have amended when it calculated the exact amount of DPH Holding Corp.'s assesment in 2010."
- Procedural context:
- The creditor-appellant, Michigan Funds Administration, had appealed a August 19, 2010 decision of the district court (Judge Crotty), which had affirmed a September 9, 2010 of the bankruptcy court (Judge Drain).
- Facts:
- The Michigan Funds Administration timely filed a claim against the debtor in 2009 for workers' compensation assessments. After the bar date, in 2010, the Michigan Funds Administration attempted to either file a new claim for additional assessments after the original claim or amend its original claim.
- Judge(s):
- Robert Katzmann, Richard Wesley, Gerald Lynch
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