Court Opinion

ID: 9688137
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 17:34:25.156945+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:35.259662
License: Public Domain

STOSBERG, Bankruptcy Judge,
dissenting.
The question of whether a proceeding is core and under the bankruptcy court’s broad grant of jurisdiction has historically produced a vast array of cases varying in result. For this reason, broad latitude should be given to the bankruptcy judge to determine whether a particular proceeding is core. The Supreme Court explained the broad grant of jurisdiction in bankruptcy cases in Northern Pipeline Construction Co. v. Marathon Pipe Line Co., 458 U.S. 50, 54, 102 S.Ct. 2858, 2862-63, 73 L.Ed.2d 598 (1982):
This jurisdictional grant empowers bankruptcy courts to entertain a wide variety of cases involving claims that may affect the property of the estate once a petition has been filed under Title 11. Included within the bankruptcy courts’ jurisdiction are suits to recover accounts, controversies involving exempt property, actions to avoid transfers and payments as preferences or fraudulent conveyances, and causes of action owned by the debtor at the time of the petition *851for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy courts can hear claims based on state law as well as those based on federal law.
In this case, the Debtor filed this adversary proceeding against the defendants to recover a receivable owed by the defendants on an unpaid account of the Debtor. Such a proceeding involves recovery of property of the estate and is core to the bankruptcy case in accordance with the Supreme Court’s explanation of jurisdiction. Northern Pipeline, 458 U.S. at 54, 102 S.Ct. 2858.
Furthermore, the parties to this proceeding admitted jurisdiction and the bankruptcy court made a finding regarding the core nature of this proceeding. See DuVoisin v. Foster (In re Southern Indus. Banking Corp.), 809 F.2d 329, 331 (6th Cir.1987) (Court of Appeals held that bankruptcy court had jurisdiction to decide “related” proceeding, emphasizing the “intention of Congress to extend a broad jurisdictional grant to the bankruptcy courts over all matters that arise in connection with bankruptcy cases.” (Internal citation omitted)). To borrow a colloquial phrase used by the Sixth Circuit, “if something looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is probably a duck.” Sorah v. Sorah (In re Sorah), 163 F.3d 397, 401 (6th Cir.1998). The “duck rule” clearly applies in this case. This action by the Debtor to collect an unpaid account looks like a core proceeding, all parties and the bankruptcy court treated it like a core proceeding, and therefore, it is a core proceeding.
The panel offers no justifiable reason to decline jurisdiction over this appeal other than engaging in an unnecessary academic analysis that offers little or no guidance to the trial court. For these reasons, I would affirm the decision of the bankruptcy court based on the record in this appeal.