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Vibe Micro, Inc. v. SIG Capital, LLC

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 17-16277 · judgment April 29, 2019

Certiorari denied · October 7, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 16% cert probability (95% interval 11%–21%)

Before the decision, about 3.8× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Ninth 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.

Questions presented

A circuit split currently exists over the scope of 11 U.S.C. § 303(i), which provides remedies for the improper filing of an involuntary bankruptcy petition. The Ninth Circuit has held that 11 U.S.C. § 303(i), an “ambiguous” statute, implicitly forbids non-debtors from obtaining any relief—under state or federal law—from an improper bankruptcy filing. Miles v. Okun (In re Miles), 430 F.3d 1083, 1093-94 (9th Cir. 2005). By contrast, the Third Circuit has rejected that position, finding that 11 U.S.C. § 303(i) does not forbid non-debtors from obtaining state-law damages over a wrongful petition for involuntary bankruptcy. Rosenberg v. DVI Receivables XVII, LLC, 835 F.3d 414, 422 (3d Cir. 2016) (specifically rejecting In re Miles). This Petition presents two questions for review:

  1. Does 11 U.S.C. § 303(i) forbid any recovery except to the debtor?

  2. If 11 U.S.C. § 303(i) does forbid recovery except in favor of the debtor, can a non-debtor defend an involuntary petition on the debtor’s behalf and request a recovery be paid to the debtor?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Torrence Evans Strause Lewis
Law Offices of Torrence E. S. Lewis

For respondent
—

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Oct 07 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Sep 11 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/1/2019.
  3. Jul 24 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 28, 2019)