Opinion ID: 2780845
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mandatory Joinder

Text: The mandatory joinder requirements in Rule 19, made applicable to adversary proceedings by Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7019, do not apply to contested matters such as these. See Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1018; Fed. R. Civ. P. 19 (setting forth a two-step test to determine whether a party is necessary and indispensable to an action). Even if Rule 19 did apply here, the Zeltser Group did not meet its burden of proving that the parties not joined were both necessary and indispensable to the proceeding. The Zeltser Group’s appellate brief fails to articulate a single nonconclusory reason for why the bankruptcy court could not grant complete relief among the existing parties without joining the over a dozen non-parties identified by the Zeltser Group, or why the absence of these non-parties impeded their ability to protect their interests or subjected an existing party to a substantial risk of inconsistent obligations. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 19(a)(1). In fact, the Zeltser Group, purportedly on behalf of the Alleged Debtors, admitted to the alleged debt at the 48 Case: 12-15595 Date Filed: 02/20/2015 Page: 49 of 57 outset of the proceedings, indicating that they believed the involuntary petitions could be adjudicated without any additional parties.