Opinion ID: 494610
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction to determine applicability of automatic stay

Text: 20 We have no difficulty deciding that we may determine the applicability of the automatic stay. As the Second Circuit has said, [w]hether the stay applies to litigation otherwise within the jurisdiction of a district court or court of appeals is an issue of law within the competence of both the court within which the litigation is pending ... and the bankruptcy court supervising the reorganization. In re Baldwin-United Corporation Litigation, 765 F.2d 343, 347 (2d Cir.1985). The court in which the litigation claimed to be stayed is pending thus has jurisdiction to determine not only its own jurisdiction but also the more precise question whether the proceeding pending before it is subject to the automatic stay. Id.; see also NLRB v. Edward Cooper Painting, Inc., 804 F.2d 934, 936, 938-39 (6th Cir.1986) (court of appeals has jurisdiction to determine whether the automatic stay applied to NLRB proceeding pending before it); Hunt v. Bankers Trust Co., 799 F.2d 1060, 1069 (5th Cir.1986) (court has jurisdiction to determine automatic stay provision's applicability to case pending in Texas district court). Cf. EEOC v. Hall's Motor Transport Co., 789 F.2d 1011, 1013 (3d Cir.1986) (filing of bankruptcy petition does not act as automatic stay of suit under Title VII). Finding that we have jurisdiction to determine the applicability of the automatic stay provision to the pending petition for enforcement, we turn to the question whether the automatic stay provision applies to the instant action.