Supreme Court Report

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John Felix Castleman, Sr., et ux. v. Dennis Lee Burman, Chapter 7 Trustee

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 22-35604 · judgment July 28, 2023


Certiorari denied · February 20, 2024
Pre-decision estimate: 6% cert probability (95% interval 4%–8%)

Before the decision, modestly above 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).

Question presented

Whether, when a debtor in good faith converts a bankruptcy case to Chapter 7 after confirmation of a Chapter 13 plan, the post-petition, pre-conversion increase in value of the debtor’s homestead belongs to the debtor (as the Tenth Circuit held in Rodriguez v. Barrera (In re Barrera), 22 F. 4th 1217 (10th Cir. 2022) or the Chapter 7 estate, and is therefore available for distribution to creditors (as the Ninth Circuit held below).

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Stephen Charles Hathaway
Hathaway Holland Law Firm. PLLC

For respondent
Peter H. Arkison

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Feb 20 2024
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jan 10 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/16/2024.
  3. Jan 05 2024
    Waiver of right of respondent Dennis Lee Burman, Chapter 7 Trustee to respond filed.
  4. Dec 05 2023
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 8, 2024)