Opinion ID: 2997159
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Motion to Apply the Supplemental Bar Date to

Text: Simmons’s Claim As required, Kmart initially sent notice of the Original Bar Date to approximately one million potential claimants, including those listed on Kmart’s schedules of liabilities (which are filed with the bankruptcy court) and numerous others, who were unlisted.4 After Kmart learned that it had inadvertently failed to send notice of the Bar Date to approximately 4,000 claimants, most of whom did not ap- 4 Kmart explained that when it sent out this initial notice, its objective was to “make extra sure that we had noticed the world as broadly as possible,” including not only clearly legitimate claimants, but also those Kmart believed had “no basis on which they could be construed creditors.” Hence, notice was sent to both scheduled and unscheduled putative claimants. Kmart further explained that had it attempted to include all of these million possible claimants on the schedules which it filed with the bankruptcy court, such schedules would have been “about 100,000 pages long.” Since, in Kmart’s view, such a filing would be impracticable, none was attempted. 12 No. 03-4084 pear on Kmart’s schedules, Kmart petitioned the bankruptcy court to establish the Supplemental Bar Date in an effort to rectify any due process problems—namely, that claimants without notice of Kmart’s bankruptcy and the Bar Date might have irretrievably forfeited their rights. The bankruptcy court did so. After Simmons’s Rule 9006(b) motion was denied, she attempted to gain the benefit of the Supplemental Bar Date. The bankruptcy court denied this request as well, reasoning that Simmons should not be given a “second bite of the apple” because her attorney indisputably had actual knowledge of the Original Bar Date. In so ruling, the bankruptcy court in effect construed the meaning of its prior order establishing the Supplemental Bar Date. As such and as we stated earlier, we review the court’s denial of Simmons’s request only for an abuse of discretion. See Taylor v. Prudential Sec. Inc. (In re VMS Sec. Litig.) (In re VMS Ltd. P’ship Sec. Litig.), 103 F.3d 1317, 1321 (7th Cir. 1996) (citing cases); In re Weber, 25 F.3d at 416. Given our circumscribed review, we conclude without difficulty that the bankruptcy court did not abuse its discretion. In that Simmons was not listed on any of Kmart’s schedules and never physically received notice of the Bar Date from the debtor (we assume arguendo), she was like many of the creditors to whom the Supplemental Bar Date applied. Nonetheless, she is distinguishable in one key respect. Simmons’s counsel had actual knowledge of the Original Bar Date. And the attorney’s knowledge is chargeable to the client. Irwin v. Dept. of Veterans Affairs, 498 U.S. 89, 92 (1990). See also Pioneer, 507 U.S. at 396-97; In re Longardner & Assocs., Inc., 855 F.2d 455, 459 (7th Cir. 1988). In addition and as we noted above, the Supplemental Bar Date was established to alleviate potential due process problems. But because Simmons and her attorney both had knowledge of the Original Bar Date, there was no such due process concern with respect to Simmons. The bankruptcy No. 03-4084 13 court’s reasoning was sound, and its ruling was not an abuse of discretion.