Opinion ID: 202705
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Odell Abstention

Text: 40 In Odell v. H. Batterman & Co., the Second Circuit held that where a federal receiver had taken a tenant into receivership (because of financial problems), the receivership court should allow the tenant's landlord to pursue eviction proceedings in a parallel proceeding in state court. 223 F. at 299. The Second Circuit held that [a] landlord has a right, which the court cannot properly disregard, to have its claim to the possession of [its] property passed upon and determined, and, if found to be valid, it has a right to be restored to the immediate possession of the property. Id. One might understand Odell to stand for the proposition that where a blanket stay of litigation would prohibit a party from having its claim of possession adjudicated, a federal court may exercise its discretion to lift the stay as to that party. Thus, our review is for abuse of discretion. See, e.g., Manhattan Rubber Mfg. Co. v. Lucey Mfg. Co., 5 F.2d 39, 41 (2d Cir.1925) (finding that Odell applied an abuse of discretion standard); see also New Eng. Power and Marine, Inc. v. Town of Tyngsborough ( In re Middlesex Power Equip. & Marine, Inc. ), 292 F.3d 61, 69 (1st Cir. 2002) (noting that appellate courts review discretionary abstention decisions for abuse of discretion). 41 Odell was decided in 1915, and has not been cited since 1952. We need not decide whether it should be resurrected because there is a clear and significant difference between the facts of Odell and the situation here. In Odell, the landlord seeking to regain possession of his property had no forum in which to pursue a remedy; its state court action was stayed, and the federal court did not provide an opportunity for resolution of its claims. 223 F. at 299. GVI, however, has a federal forum for the resolution of its claims: the district court. In fact, GVI has had its possessory claim adjudicated. Thus, even assuming that we would recognize a doctrine of Odell abstention, we would find that the district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to abstain from hearing GVI's possessory claim.