In Re Holland

539 F.3d 563, 60 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 25, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 17587, 2008 WL 3844140
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedAugust 19, 2008
Docket07-1949
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 539 F.3d 563 (In Re Holland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Holland, 539 F.3d 563, 60 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 25, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 17587, 2008 WL 3844140 (7th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

*564 WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge.

When a debtor files for bankruptcy in Illinois but owns real property in Florida, which state’s law applies in determining whether the property is exempt from the debtor’s bankruptcy estate? That’s the central question raised on appeal here and the answer turns on 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(2)(B) (2005) (which has since been renumbered as § 522(b)(3)(B)). Debtor Diana Holland believes this provision points us to Florida law; the trustee of her bankruptcy estate prefers Illinois law. The district court agreed with Holland but never decided whether she was entitled to an exemption under Florida law; it instead remanded the matter to the bankruptcy court. Because the district court’s decision was not a final appealable order, we dismiss this appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

I. BACKGROUND

On October 15, 2005, Holland filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the Northern District of Illinois. Although domiciled in Illinois, Holland sought to exempt $350,000 worth of uninhabited real property that she owns as a tenant by the entirety in Florida, claiming that Florida law (as incorporated by 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(2)) exempts the land from the bankruptcy estate. The Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee disagreed, arguing that section 522 instead required the court to apply Illinois law, which (unlike Florida law) would not exempt the property.

Without addressing which state’s exemptions applied, the bankruptcy court applied Illinois law and ruled in the trustee’s favor. On appeal, the district court reversed and concluded the bankruptcy court should have applied Florida law. However, the district court did not decide whether Florida law actually entitled Holland to the exemption. The trustee then appealed the district court’s order to this court, and the district court stayed proceedings pending this appeal.

II. ANALYSIS

Unfortunately for everyone, the parties have given little thought to whether we have appellate jurisdiction in this case. In his “Jurisdictional Statement,” the trustee characterizes the district court’s order that reversed and remanded the bankruptcy court’s decision as a “final judgment” that “denfied] the Trustee’s objection to the Debtor’s claimed exemption in Florida real estate.” The trustee believes that “[t]he District Court’s order is considered a final judgment because it determined the Debtor’s entitlement to a bankruptcy exemption.”

The trustee is mistaken. The district court’s docket reveals there has been no “final judgment” in this case. While the district court’s order could have taken the place of a formal Rule 58 judgment, such an order would have constituted a final judgment only if the court was actually “finished with the case.” See, e.g., Taylor-Holmes v. Office of the Cook County Pub. Guardian, 503 F.3d 607, 609 (7th Cir.2007). And that’s not what happened here. Although the district court’s order held that the bankruptcy court should have applied Florida law, it never addressed whether Holland was actually entitled to a bankruptcy exemption. Indeed, the order stated, “The Court expresses no opinion on whether Holland has a valid exemption under Florida law.” Cf. In re Yonikus, 996 F.2d 866, 868 (7th Cir.1993) (“Orders granting or denying exemptions are ap-pealable as final judgments under 28 U.S.C. § 158(d).”). If anything, the order suggested — as the trustee himself concedes in his opening brief — that the matter has been remanded for further proceedings before the bankruptcy court. See Appellant’s Br. at 11-12 (“The District *565 Court reversed the ruling of the bankruptcy judge and remanded for determination of the validity of Ms. Holland’s exemption under Florida law.”). As far as we know, those proceedings have yet to take place and the matter remains stayed.

Circuit courts remain split on which test to apply in determining whether a district court order that remands a case to a bankruptcy court is appealable. See, e.g., In re Lopez, 116 F.3d 1191, 1192 (7th Cir.1997) (cataloging cases). Most circuits have held that such an order is not final and appeal-able unless the remand is for “ministerial” proceedings. See, e.g., In re Pratt, 524 F.3d 580, 584-85 (5th Cir.2008), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 128 S.Ct. 2445, 171 L.Ed.2d 232 (2008); In re Penn Traffic Co., 466 F.3d 75, 78-79 (2d Cir.2006) (per curiam); In re Torres, 432 F.3d 20, 22-23 (1st Cir.2005); In re Popkin & Stern, 289 F.3d 554, 556 (8th Cir.2002); In re Overland Park Fin. Corp., 236 F.3d 1246, 1251 (10th Cir.2001); In re Alvarez, 224 F.3d 1273, 1275 (11th Cir.2000); Jove Eng’g v. IRS, 92 F.3d 1539, 1547-48 (11th Cir.1996); In re St. Charles Preservation Investors, Ltd., 916 F.2d 727, 728-29 (D.C.Cir.1990) (per curiam); see also In re Wallace & Gale Co., 72 F.3d 21, 24 (4th Cir.1995) (“District court orders remanding cases to the bankruptcy court for further consideration are not, ordinarily, final orders.”). The Sixth Circuit “will not deem final a district court’s decision remanding to a bankruptcy court for further proceedings if the district court has not certified the decision pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b).” In re Brown, 248 F.3d 484, 485 (6th Cir.2001); see also In re Yousif, 201 F.3d 774, 781 (6th Cir.2000) (Moore, J., concurring).

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539 F.3d 563, 60 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 25, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 17587, 2008 WL 3844140, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-holland-ca7-2008.