Summary:
Bestwall sought to have a Personal Injury Questionnaire ("PIQ") sent to all asbestos claimants pursuant to Rule 2004 to which the Claimants Committee objected. The bankruptcy court found that the PIQ created no undue hardship and was consistent with other similar orders and overruled the objection. The Claimants Committee appealed.
The District Court, following Bullard v. Blue Hills Bank held that this discovery the PIQ Order was not a final appealable order, tacitly accepting that Bullard overruled the "more pragmatic and less technical" definition for finality that the 4th Circuit had applied in Mort Ranta v. Gorman. Here a discovery order is neither dispositive of the litigation nor a narrow issue of pure law and is accordingly interlocutory.
Commentary:
This is, with Till v. SCS being another, a prime example of the Chapter 11 bar failing to pay attention when consumer bankruptcy issues advance to the Supreme Court as happened in Bullard and then being shocked and appalled that those same decisions find application in their corporate bankruptcy cases. Perhaps those lawyers should maintain NACBA memberships and contribute to NCBRC, so that they can provide insight and resources (read: money) to advocate for their positions before finding out it is too late.
For a copy of this opinion, please click here:
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