Karl Linard Malloy v. Kristin E. Schelin, et al.

In Bullard v. Blue Hills Bank, 575 U.S. 496 (2015), this Court held that a bankruptcy order is final when it definitively resolves a discrete dispute within the bankruptcy case. In Ritzen Group, Inc. v. Jackson Masonry, LLC, 589 U.S. 35 (2020), this Court applied that rule to automatic-stay litigation, holding that such litigation constitutes a discrete procedural unit whose resolution yields a final, immediately appealable order. In the proceedings below, the bankruptcy court denied motions for protective relief under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a), holding that its prior remand order permitted (i) entry and docketing of a state-court judgment affecting estate property and (ii) continuation of appellate proceedings against the debtor. The district court dismissed the appeals for lack of jurisdiction, concluding that the bankruptcy court’s orders were not final and, in one instance, that the appeal was moot after judgment was entered. The court of appeals affirmed, holding that the bankruptcy court’s orders did not “definitively dispose of discrete disputes.” The question presented is: Whether a bankruptcy court order conclusively determining the scope of the automatic stay is a final order appealable as of right under 28 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1), or may be rendered effectively unreviewable through the combined application of non-finality and mootness doctrines. (i)