Rosenberg v DVI Receivables
- Summarized by David Banker , Womble Bond Dickinson
- 8 years 4 months ago
- Citation:
- No. 15-2622, 3d Cir. Aug. 29, 2016
- Tag(s):
-
- Ruling:
- Section 303(i) of the Bankruptcy Code allows a former debtor to seek costs, attorneys' fees, and damages against a petitioning creditor, where a court dismisses an involuntary bankruptcy petition. The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that § 303(i) does not preempt non-debtors' state law tortious interference claims predicated on the filing of involuntary bankruptcy petitions.
- Procedural context:
- Tortious interference action brought in District Court for the Southern District of Florida by non-debtor parties for damages allegedly caused by the filing of involuntary bankruptcy petitions. Action transferred to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. District Court concluded that these claims were preempted and dismissed the complaint. Matter appealed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed and remanded to Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
- Facts:
- DVI Funding, LLC and several entities known as DVI Receivables filed involuntary bankruptcy petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Maury Rosenberg and his affiliated businesses. Rosenberg transferred his case to the Southern District of Florida, where the Bankruptcy Court dismissed the involuntary petition against him because, among other things, DVI Funding and the DVI Receivables were not Rosenberg’s creditors. After the Bankruptcy Court dismissed his involuntary petition, Rosenberg recovered attorney’s fees, costs, and damages under § 303(i) of the Bankruptcy Code. Then, Rosenberg’s wife and several limited partnerships associated with Rosenberg—persons and entities not named in the bankruptcy—brought tortious interference claims under state law in the District Court for the Southern District of Florida for damages allegedly caused by the filing of the involuntary petitions.
- Judge(s):
- AMBRO, JORDAN and SCIRICA, Circuit Judges
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!
