Opinion ID: 196044
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Post Facto Authorization

Text: 8 In surveying the terrain occupied by section 327(a), the threshold question is whether the statute permits the post facto authorization of professional services at all. Because this inquiry is strictly a matter of statutory construction, our power of interpretive scrutiny is plenary. See, e.g., United States v. Holmquist, 36 F.3d 154, 158 (1st Cir.1994), cert. denied --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 1797, 131 L.Ed.2d 724 (1995); United States v. Gifford, 17 F.3d 462, 472 (1st Cir.1994); Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Commercial Union Ins. Co., 978 F.2d 750, 757 (1st Cir.1992). 9 If possible, a statute should be construed in a way that conforms to the plain meaning of its text. 3 See, e.g., Estate of Cowart v. Nicklos Drilling Co., --- U.S. ----, ----, 112 S.Ct. 2589, 2594, 120 L.Ed.2d 379 (1992); Pritzker v. Yari, 42 F.3d 53, 67-68 (1st Cir.1994), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 1959, 131 L.Ed.2d 851 (1995); Holmquist, 36 F.3d at 159. When a statute's language is ambiguous, however, a court must often venture into extratextual territory in order to distill an appropriate construction. See Pritzker, 42 F.3d at 67; see also Sullivan v. CIA, 992 F.2d 1249, 1252 (1st Cir.1993) (noting the power of courts to look behind statutory language when the legislature blow[s] an uncertain trumpet). 10 In this instance, the statutory language, for all intents and purposes, is indeterminate. Section 327(a) neither expressly sanctions nor expressly forbids the post facto authorization of outside professional services. Courts have repeatedly remarked this ambiguity. See, e.g., In re Singson, 41 F.3d 316, 319 (7th Cir.1994); In re Triangle Chems., Inc., 697 F.2d 1280, 1289 (5th Cir.1983). What is more, Rule 2014(a) does not fill the void. The most that fairly can be said is that the language of both statute and rule contemplates prior authorization, see Triangle Chems., 697 F.2d at 1284, 1289; Stephen R. Grensky, The Problem Presented by Professionals Who Fail to Obtain Prior Court Approval of Their Employment, 62 Am.Bankr.L.J. 185, 188-89 (1988), 4 without explicitly prohibiting authorization after the fact. 11 The discerned ambiguity in section 327(a) necessarily moves us beyond the four corners of the statute's text. Since there appears to be no explicatory legislative history, we proceed to a consideration of the overarching equitable design of the Chapter 11 process. See Pioneer Inv. Servs. Co. v. Brunswick Assocs. Ltd. Partnership, --- U.S. ----, ----, 113 S.Ct. 1489, 1495, 123 L.Ed.2d 74 (1993). Bankruptcy courts, after all, are courts of equity, traditionally governed by equitable principles. See, e.g., Bank of Marin v. England, 385 U.S. 99, 103, 87 S.Ct. 274, 277, 17 L.Ed.2d 197 (1966); In re Arkansas Co., 798 F.2d 645, 648 (3d Cir.1986); Triangle Chems., 697 F.2d at 1288. In light of the purposefully nonmechanical nature of equity, we think it is appropriate that bankruptcy courts should be permitted to entertain post facto applications for professional services under section 327(a). We so hold, thereby joining several of our sister circuits. See, e.g., Singson, 41 F.3d at 319-20; In re Land, 943 F.2d 1265, 1267-68 (10th Cir.1991); In re F/S Airlease II, Inc., 844 F.2d 99, 105 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 852, 109 S.Ct. 137, 102 L.Ed.2d 110 (1988); In re THC Fin. Corp., 837 F.2d 389, 392 (9th Cir.1988); Triangle Chems., 697 F.2d at 1289.