Opinion ID: 2267900
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jurisdiction to Determine Effect of Stay

Text: Although neither party has raised this issue, there appears to be some split of authority among Federal courts over whether any court, other than the Bankruptcy Court in which the bankruptcy proceeding is, or was, pending, has jurisdiction to determine whether action taken or proposed to be taken in a case pending in another court is subject to the automatic stay of § 362. The clearly predominant rule is that jurisdiction is concurrent, and that the court in which the non-bankruptcy case is pending may determine the effect of the stay on that case. See In re: Middlesex Power Equipment & Marine, Inc., 292 F.3d 61, 66 (1st Cir.2002); In Re Baldwin-United Corp. Litigation, 765 F.2d 343, 347 (2nd Cir.1985); U.S. Dept. of Housing & Urban Dev. v. CCMV, 64 F.3d 920, 927 (4th Cir.1995); Picco v. Global Marine Drilling Co., 900 F.2d 846, 850 (5th Cir.1990); N.L.R.B. v. Edward Cooper Painting, Inc., 804 F.2d 934, 939 (6th Cir.1986); In re Glass, 240 B.R. 782, 787 (Bkrtcy.M.D.Fla.1999); In re Montana, 185 B.R. 650, 652 (Bankr.S.D.Fla.1995); compare Gruntz v. County of Los Angeles, 202 F.3d 1074 (9th Cir.2000) (replacing 166 F.3d 1020 (9th Cir.1999)); Rainwater v. State of Alabama, 233 B.R. 126, 139 (Bankr.N.D.Ala.1999); In re Raboin, 135 B.R. 682, 684 (Bankr.D.Kan.1991); In re Sermersheim, 97 B.R. 885, 889 (Bankr. N.D.Ohio 1989). We need not consider here whether, under the so-called Rooker-Feldman doctrine ( Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413, 44 S.Ct. 149, 68 L.Ed. 362 (1923); District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 103 S.Ct. 1303, 75 L.Ed.2d 206 (1983)), a State court decision resolving the effect of a § 362 stay on a matter otherwise within its jurisdiction is entitled to preclusive effect in the Bankruptcy Court or another Federal court. In conformance with the prevailing view, however, we conclude that a Maryland court has, and, indeed, must have, jurisdiction to determine, at least in the first instance, whether and how a matter properly pending before it is affected by a § 362 stay. The State court may not grant relief from the staythat is a matter committed exclusively to the Bankruptcy Courtbut it may, when presented with the issue, determine whether, factually or legally, a stay is in effect and whether a particular action it is about to take or has already taken is subject to such a stay. Those determinations are, of course, reviewable on appeal. The issue of whether the challenged actions of the Circuit Court were legally permissible is therefore properly before us.