Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Office of the United States Trustee v. John Q. Hammons Fall 2006, LLC, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, No. 20-3203 · judgment August 15, 2022
Before the decision, about 11.4× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a federal-government petitioner, counsel who has won certiorari before, and a circuit split argued in the petition, and down for a business respondent.
Question presented
Section 1004(a) of the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017, Pub. L. No.115-72, Div. B, 131 Stat. 1232 (28 U.S.C. 1930(a)(6)(B) (2018)), amended the schedule of quarterly fees payable to the United States Trustee in certain pending bankruptcy cases. In Siegel v. Fitzgerald, 142 S. Ct. 1770 (2022), this Court held that that provision contravened Congress's constitutional authority to "establish * * * uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies," U.S. Const. Art. I, § 8, Cl. 4, because it was initially applied only in the 88 federal judicial districts that have United States Trustees but not in the 6 districts that have Bankruptcy Administrators. This Court left open the question of "the appropriate remedy" for the violation. Siegel, 142 S. Ct. at 1783. The question presented in this case is: Whether the appropriate remedy for the constitutional uniformity violation found by this Court in Siegel, supra, is to require the United States Trustee to grant retrospective refunds of the increased fees paid by debtors in United States Trustee districts during the period of disuniformity, or is instead either to deem sufficient the prospective remedy adopted by Congress or to require the collection of additional fees from a much smaller number of debtors in Bankruptcy Administrator districts.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Elizabeth B. Prelogar
Solicitor General
For respondent
Daniel L. Geyser
Haynes and Boone, LLP
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Amicus briefs
6 merits
(1 supporting pet./neither, 5 respondent)
Argument & decision
Argued January 9, 2024 — Masha G. Hansford · Daniel L. Geyser. Audio and transcript
Decided June 14, 2024. Opinion by Jackson.
Proceedings
- Jul 16 2024Judgment Issued.
- Jun 14 2024Judgment REVERSED and case REMANDED. Jackson, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Kavanaugh, JJ., joined. Gorsuch, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Thomas and Barrett, JJ., joined.
- Jan 09 2024Argued. For petitioner: Masha G. Hansford, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. For respondents: Daniel L. Geyser, Dallas, Tex.
- Dec 28 2023Reply of petitioner Office of the United States Trustee filed. (Distributed)
- Dec 18 2023Brief amicus curiae of MF Global Holdings LTD filed. (Distributed)
- Dec 18 2023Brief amicus curiae of USA Sales, Inc. filed. (Distributed)
- Dec 18 2023Brief amici curiae of Former Bankruptcy Judges filed. (Distributed)
- Dec 18 2023Brief amicus curiae of The Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America filed. (Distributed)
- Dec 15 2023Brief amici curiae of Acadiana Management Group, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Dec 11 2023Brief of respondents John Q. Hammons Fall 2006, LLC, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Nov 30 2023CIRCULATED
- Nov 20 2023Brief amicus curiae of Institute for Professionals in Taxation in support of neither party filed.
- Nov 17 2023Record requested from the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
- Nov 17 2023SET FOR ARGUMENT on Tuesday, January 9, 2024.
- Nov 17 2023Record received from the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. The record is electronic and is available on PACER.
- Nov 09 2023Brief of petitioner filed.
- Nov 06 2023Motion to dispense with printing the joint appendix filed by petitioner GRANTED.
- Oct 17 2023Motion to dispense with printing the joint appendix filed by petitioner Office of the United States Trustee.
- Sep 29 2023Petition GRANTED.
- Aug 09 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/26/2023.
- Aug 09 2023Reply of petitioner Office of the United States Trustee filed. (Distributed)
- Jul 24 2023Brief of respondents John Q. Hammons Fall 2006, LLC, et al. in opposition filed.
- Jun 23 2023Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 24, 2023)