Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

NextEra Energy, Inc. v. Elliott Associates, L.P., et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, No. 18-1109 · judgment September 13, 2018

Certiorari denied · April 29, 2019

Pre-decision estimate: 7% cert probability (95% interval 4%–11%)

Before the decision, about 1.7× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Third Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and down for a business respondent.

Question presented

Whether a debtor’s decision to agree to a negotiated breakup fee as part of a sale transaction should be reviewed by the bankruptcy court under the deferential “business judgment rule” of 11 U.S.C. § 363, as the Fifth Circuit has held, or under the heightened standard of 11 U.S.C. § 503, which requires the bankruptcy court to decide on the debtor’s behalf whether the fee is necessary, as the Third Circuit held below. (i)

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Jonathan Saul Franklin
Norton Rose Fulbright US, LLP

For respondent
Douglas Harry Hallward-Driemeier
Ropes & Gray, LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Proceedings

Apr 29 2019
Petition DENIED.
Apr 10 2019
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/26/2019.
Apr 09 2019
Reply of petitioner NextEra Energy, Inc. filed.
Mar 27 2019
Brief of respondents Elliott Associates, L.P., et al. in opposition filed.
Feb 21 2019
Brief amici curiae of National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees filed.
Feb 12 2019
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including March 27, 2019, for all respondents.
Feb 06 2019
Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 25, 2019 to March 27, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
Jan 18 2019
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 25, 2019)