Opinion ID: 548355
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Where must the trial take place?

Text: 59 Given that Braunstein is entitled to a jury trial, in what forum must that trial take place? In answering this question, it is important to determine whether this is a core or non-core proceeding, for if it is the former, we will have to determine whether the bankruptcy court can hold such a trial. If this is a non-core proceeding, then 28 U.S.C. Sec. 157(c)(1) requires that we remand the case to the district court for withdrawal of the reference of the Chapter 7 proceeding to the extent that the district court will hold a jury trial over this adversary action. Section 157(c)(1) provides that: 60 A bankruptcy judge may hear a proceeding that is not a core proceeding but that is otherwise related to a case under title 11. In such proceeding, the bankruptcy judge shall submit proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law to the district court, and any final order or judgment shall be entered by the district court after considering the bankruptcy judge's proposed findings and conclusions and after reviewing de novo those matters to which any party has timely and specifically objected. 61 On the other hand, the Seventh Amendment concludes no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. In Parsons v. Bedford, 28 U.S. (3 Pet.) at 275, the Supreme Court held that [t]he only modes known to the common law to re-examine such facts, are the granting of a new trial by the court where the issue was tried, or to which the record was properly returnable; or the award of a venire facias de novo, by an appellate court, for some error of law which intervened in the proceedings. In Capital Traction Co. v. Hof, 174 U.S. 1, 13, 19 S.Ct. 580, 585, 43 L.Ed. 873 (1899), the Court held that unless a new trial has been granted [as allowed by the common law], facts once tried by a jury cannot be tried anew, by a jury or otherwise, in any court of the United States. (Emphasis added.) 62 The Seventh Amendment limitations on the review of jury findings are not compatible with section 157(c)(1), which requires that any contested finding by the bankruptcy court must be reviewed de novo. 14 By the Seventh Amendment, any fact found by a jury cannot be reviewed de novo. Accordingly, a bankruptcy court cannot conduct a jury trial in a non-core proceeding. See In re United Missouri Bank, 901 F.2d 1449, 1453 (8th Cir.1990); Gibson, Jury Trials in Bankruptcy: Obeying the Commands of Article III and the Seventh Amendment, 72 Minn.L.Rev. 967, 1046-47 (1988).