Court Opinion

ID: 9694683
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 17:51:01.877059+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:04.639716
License: Public Domain

SCHERMER, Bankruptcy Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Because there is no final order of the bankruptcy court, we lack jurisdiction to address the merits of this appeal.
This court must first decide whether the bankruptcy court’s order is final for purposes of 28 U.S.C. § 158(a). This circuit has “traditionally considered three factors in determining when an order in a bankruptcy case is final: the extent to which (1) the order leaves the bankruptcy court nothing to do but execute the order; (2) the extent to which delay in obtaining review would prevent the aggrieved party from obtaining effective relief: (3) the extent to which a later reversal on that issue would require recommencement of the entire proceeding.” In re Koch, 109 F.3d 1285, 1287 (8th Cir.1997). As the majority noted, the order of the bankruptcy court denying a change of venue is interlocutory. Only the third factor weighs in favor of ap-pealability in this case.
Although our circuit has not yet determined whether an order denying a change of venue is an appealable order, other circuits have held it is not. See Blankenship v. Am. Sav. & Loan Assoc., 871 F.2d 1087 (6th Cir.1989), In re Blankenship, No. 89-5075, 1989 WL 27812 (6th Cir. (Ky.) March 24, 1989) (stating this court has no jurisdiction over an interlocutory appeal from an order denying leave to appeal or, from orders transferring venue) (citations omitted); Dalton v. United States, 733 F.2d 710, 714 (10th Cir.1984) (holding it is “[ajlso well-established ... that an order transferring venue of an action, even if the transfer is to a district in another circuit, is an interlocutory order and unappealable, except by certification under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b)”). Section 1292(b) allows for immediate appeal when an order of the district court “involves a controlling question of law as to which there is substantial ground for difference of opinion and ... an immediate appeal from the order may materially advance the ultimate determination of the litigation.” 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b).
Authority for the majority opinion is based upon Collier on Bankruptcy ¶ 3.02[4][f] (L. King 15th ed.1988). This treatise suggests that courts should be more lenient granting interlocutory appeals than the standard followed under § 1292(b) when a request for change of venue has been made. Venue decisions are usually fact specific to the case at hand. “Thus they are generally not ‘controlling questions of law’ as that term is used in § 1292(b), but rather are discretionary determinations. Such discretionary orders are not of the type from which interlocutory appeals are generally taken.” K-Mart Corp. v. Swann Ltd. Partnership, 128 B.R. 138, 140 (D.Md.1991) (citations omitted).