Opinion ID: 201663
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Standing of the Lovett Appellants

Text: 13 Article III of the Constitution confines the federal courts to deciding actual cases and controversies. Cotter v. City of Boston, 323 F.3d 160, 166 (1st Cir.2003). Part of this requirement is that a plaintiff must have standing, that is, he must establish that (1) he or she personally has suffered some actual or threatened injury as a result of the challenged conduct; (2) the injury can fairly be traced to that conduct; and (3) the injury likely will be redressed by a favorable decision from the court. N.H. Right to Life Political Action Comm. v. Gardner, 99 F.3d 8, 13 (1st Cir.1996). We review the district court's decision on standing de novo, crediting the plaintiff's factual allegations to the extent that they are material and construing those alleged facts, together with the reasonable inferences therefrom, in favor of the plaintiff. Id. at 12. 14 The challenged conduct at issue in this case is the disposition of the claims against the Moneta Receivership, as presented by the Moneta Receiver, and approved by the district court in the Claims Disposition Order. The Claims Disposition Order invited anyone who had claims being adjudicated by the order and was dissatisfied with the recommended disposition to object within thirty days of the order; otherwise, the disposition of the Moneta Receivership estate as to those claims would become final. 15 The Lovett Appellants did not make a claim to the Moneta Receiver prior to the Claims Bar Date, and therefore, they do not have standing to object to the adjudication of a pending claim in the Claims Disposition Order. Moreover, even though the Lovett Appellants may have not known prior to the Claims Bar Date that they possibly had a claim against the Moneta Receiver due to the complex nature of Fairway and Moneta's involvement with the Kilberg Entities, once such evidence began to surface, they did not attempt to file a late claim with the Moneta Receiver. And, with the newly-acquired evidence that they might have a claim against Moneta, the Lovett Appellants could have asked the district court directly to allow their late claim by presenting their theory that Moneta is an alter ego of the Kilberg Entities as its reasonable excuse for delay. See 3 Ralph E. Clark, A Treatise on the Law and Practice of Receivers § 652 (3d ed. 1959) (If a reasonable excuse for delaying to make an earlier claim is shown, the creditor will be admitted at any time before actual distribution, or even after partial payment, if there be a surplus in the hands of the receivers, so as not to interfere with payments already made.). What they could not do was file an objection to the Claims Disposition Order without having a claim that would be affected by that Order. See Claims Disposition Order (stating that any claimant who opposes the Receiver's recommended disposition of its claim  must file a motion within thirty days) (emphasis added). Such a claim is essential because it submits [the claimant] to the court's jurisdiction in respect of all defenses that might be made by the receivers, and of all objections that other claimants might interpose to the validity, amount, or priorities of their claim, and the claimant puts himself in a position, should his interest warrant, to challenge the receiver's acts and demands of other claimants or creditors. Clark, supra, § 626. And, despite the Lovett Appellants' contention, there is nothing in their objection to the Claims Disposition Order that can be construed as a motion for leave to file a late claim with the Moneta Receiver. The district court was correct to dismiss the Lovett Appellants' objection to the Claims Disposition Order for lack of standing.