Brown v. Citizens & Southern National Bank (In Re Brown)

32 B.R. 590, 9 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 324, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 5545, 10 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1375
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedAugust 24, 1983
Docket19-51504
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 32 B.R. 590 (Brown v. Citizens & Southern National Bank (In Re Brown)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Citizens & Southern National Bank (In Re Brown), 32 B.R. 590, 9 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 324, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 5545, 10 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1375 (Ga. 1983).

Opinion

*591 ORDER

WILLIAM L. NORTON, Bankruptcy Judge.

Under consideration in this Adversary Proceeding are two motions on behalf of Defendant, The Citizens and Southern National Bank, to dismiss Plaintiff’s Complaint which initiated this Adversary Proceeding. The grounds argued are that under the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Northern Pipeline Construction Company v. Marathon Pipe Line Company, et al., - U.S. -, 102 S.Ct. 2858, 73 L.Ed.2d 598 (1982), this non-Article III United States Bankruptcy Judge lacks subject matter jurisdiction over these claims of Plaintiff. Defendant has also moved the court to stay any proposed discovery by Plaintiff until these motions on lack of subject matter jurisdiction have been determined.

The Adversary Proceeding initiated by the Debtor alleges violations of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1601,1640. Such proceeding is a “related” civil proceeding as described in 28 U.S.C. § 1471(b) and (c) as enacted by § 241(a) of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978.

This Court lacks any jurisdiction over such proceedings under § 241(a) as a result of the decision of the Supreme Court in Northern Pipeline, supra.

The plurality opinion in Northern Pipeline declared all of § 241(a) of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 as an unconstitutional grant of Article III authority, i.e., the “Judicial power of the United States,” to non-Article III judges. 102 S.Ct. at 2879-80. The plurality found that § 241(a) enacted a new Chapter 90 to Title 28 U.S.C. and cited several new sections of Chapter 90 of Title 28, including § 1471. Together these combined to confer Article III “judicial power of the United States” upon non-Article III Bankruptcy Judges.

The concurring opinion of Justice Rehnquist urged that the plurality opinion was too broad in holding all of § 241(a) as an unconditional grant of Article III authority to non-Article III judges. 102 S.Ct. at 2881-82. Justice Rehnquist urged that the decision in Northern Pipeline should be limited to the State law questions raised in that adversary proceeding and not be expanded by the plurality’s broader holding of unconstitutionality of the overall jurisdictional scheme of the § 241(a) grant. 102 S.Ct. at 2882. However, Justice Rehnquist in conclusion concurred in the decision of the plurality that there was no feasible way to sever the constitutionality of the State law questions from the constitutionality of the package of the § 241(a) grant. 102 S.Ct. at 2882.

The dissenting opinion of Justice White criticized the plurality for its “sweeping invalidation of § 241(a),” that is holding all § 241(a) as unconstitutional. Justice White argued unsuccessfully in his footnote 3 that the decision should reject its “conclusion of non-severability” and adopt a more “contemporary approach to the problem of sev-erability” to salvage and leave as valid that part of the grant of § 241(a) other than State law-common law actions. He quoted: “the invalid [should] be dropped if what is left is fully operative as a law.” [Citing Champlin Refining Co. v. Corp. Com’n of State of Okl. 286 U.S. 210, 52 S.Ct. 559, 76 L.Ed. 1062 (1932)].

Despite Justice White’s preference for severability, he acknowledged that the holding comprised of the plurality and concurring opinions went beyond the mere State law-common law action and held all of § 241(a) unconstitutional. Only the Chief Justice in his sole dissent expressed the view that the holding did not necessitate invalidating the congressional scheme set forth in § 241(a). 102 S.Ct. at 2882. The plurality in footnote 40 pointed out that the *592 Chief Justice misconstrued and limited too narrowly the holding of the plurality.

All Justices, including the Chief Justice, however, concluded that only Congress by legislation could provide a constitutional solution.

Yet, despite the contrary conclusions of perhaps eight Justices that the plurality held all of § 241(a) unconstitutional, the Judicial Conference, led by the lobbying of the Administrative Office, the Emergency Rule, a plethora of Article III judges, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and others have erroneously followed the post-Northern Pipeline urgings of the Chief Justice as originally argued in his dissent and rejected in footnote 40 of the plurality.

Insofar as the Judicial Conference Emergency Local Rule is construed to confer any power on this non-Article III judge to exercise any § 241(a) jurisdiction in this proceeding in this case, said Rule is not founded on any valid federal jurisdiction statute and is unconstitutional. The rule cannot restore in a round-about fashion what the Supreme Court has invalidated. This Court finds no basis in the plurality opinion for the holding of the Sixth Circuit in White Motor Corp., 704 F.2d 254, 256-61 (CA 6, 1983), or Fifth Circuit in Braniff, 700 F.2d 214 (CA 5, 1983), or other recent Article III judges’ holdings that the Supreme Court decision merely invalidated § 1471(c) and left intact the pseudo grant of jurisdiction in § 1471(a) and (b) to the District Court. A review of the plurality and concurring opinions and Justice White’s dissenting opinion reveals that all of § 241(a), and not merely one subsection, was held to be unconstitutional. In declaring § 241(a) unconstitutional, neither the plurality, concurring or dissenting opinions mention 28 U.S.C. § 1471. Section § 1471(c) is not specified as unconstitutional and § 1471(a) and (b) are not mentioned as constitutional. Instead, the plurality labeled the § 1471(a) and (b) grant to the District Court as a “facade,” i.e., no grant at all, because the statutory scheme clearly shows “all” the Title 11 U.S.C. jurisdiction was “vested” by Congress in the Bankruptcy Court and Bankruptcy Judges.

The Judicial Conference Emergency Model Local Rule cannot re-grant to the District Court the § 1471 jurisdiction over bankruptcy proceedings which the Supreme Court found to have been “vested” in the Bankruptcy Judges, and cannot judicially legislate an adjudicatory system using Bankruptcy Judges contrary to the Bankruptcy Reform Act and the Bankruptcy Rules (effective August 1, 1983). The congressional approval and enactment of the Bankruptcy Rules effective August 1, 1983, further complicates the situation and renders inapplicable the several above-referenced Court of Appeals and District Court decisions. These decisions endorsed the Emergency Local Rule as lawfully giving bankruptcy jurisdiction to the District Courts, vaguely stated as conferred by § 1471(a) and (b) or § 1334 or § 1331.

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32 B.R. 590, 9 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 324, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 5545, 10 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1375, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-citizens-southern-national-bank-in-re-brown-ganb-1983.