Opinion ID: 198278
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Sua Sponte Reconsideration and Reversal

Text: 47 Finally, Patriot complains that the bankruptcy court abused its discretion by reopening the case on its own motion, reversing its original decision, and avoiding Patriot's lien without notice or further hearing. 6 We review the bankruptcy court's discretionary decision to reopen the case and reconsider its prior decision for an abuse of discretion. See In re Gonic Realty Trust, 909 F.2d 624, 626 (1st Cir.1990). Patriot acknowledges that the bankruptcy court had broad discretion under Bankruptcy Code §§ 105(a) and 350(b) to reopen the case on its own motion to avoid its lien. 7 Nevertheless, Patriot complains that the bankruptcy court's sua sponte decision to avoid its lien without notice or further hearing violated its procedural due process rights since it had no formal opportunity to address the lien avoidance issue. We disagree. First, Patriot had already presented its principal arguments to the bankruptcy court prior to the court's first decision. Second, despite the procedural posture in which the issue was raised, at a minimum, Patriot could have raised its constitutional argument at the December 10th hearing, if not in a motion for reconsideration. Moreover, because we have fully considered the merits of Patriots constitutional claim, any resulting prejudice from Patriot's alleged inability to raise this argument below has been cured. Consequently, because Patriot has suffered no prejudice, we agree with the district court's conclusion that the bankruptcy court did not abuse its discretion.