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Bankruptcy | Case Law | Stare Decisis
STARE DECISIS
In re Silverman, 616 F.3d 1005 (9th Cir. 2010)
“. . .[A] bankruptcy court is not bound by a district court’s decision from another district.”
Court reaffirms earlier decision that BAP decisions are merely persuasive, not binding, authority as to bankruptcy courts. The court does not decide the issue of whether a bankruptcy court is bound by the decisions of a district judge within it’s own district, but indicates that they probably are not binding. In re Commercial Money Centers, Inc., 392 B.R. 814, 832 (9th Cir. BAP 2008) Under the law of the case doctrine, bankruptcy court was not barred from considering an issue that was not specifically raised by the parties. Humetrix, Inc. v. Gemplus S.C.A., 268 F.3d 910 (9th Cir. 2001) Law of the case doctrine applies only if the issue was decided “explicitly or by necessary implication in the previous disposition.” In re Rainbow Magazine, 77 F.3d 278 (9th Cir. 1996) 1. The law of the case of doctrine Caldwell asserts that the award of sanctions against him for Rainbow’s bad faith filing ignores the ruling of the B.A.P.. He argues that the sanctions violate the law of the case doctrine as well as the plain language of the mandate. We disagree.“The law of the case doctrine states that the decision of an appellate court on a legal issue
must be followed in all subsequent proceedings in the same case.” Herrington v. County of Sonoma, 12 F.3d 901, 904 (9th Cir. 1993) (quoting Maag v. Wessler, 993 F.2d 718, 720 n.2 (9th Cir. 1993). Although the observance of the doctrine is considered discretionary, this court has ruled that the prior decision should be followed unless: (1) the decision is clearly erroneous and its enforcement would work a manifest injustice, (2) intervening controlling authority makes reconsideration appropriate, or (3) substantially different evidence was adduced at a subsequent trial Hegler v. Borg, 50 F.3d 1472, 1475 (9th Cir. 1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1029 (1995). In re Drysdale, 248 B.R. 386 (9th Cir. B.A.P. 2000), aff’d, 2 Fed. Appx. 776 (9th Cir. 2001) Case law holding that student loan consolidation must be five years old to be eligible for discharge was applied retroactively. In re Berg, 188 B.R. 615 (9th Cir. B.A.P. 1995), aff’d, 121 F.3d 535 (9th Cir. 1997) A lower federal court should only deviate under compelling circumstances from the interpretation placed on a federal statute by the only circuit to have spoken. See also In re Taffi, 68 F.3d 306 (9th Cir. 1995), cert. denied, 521 U.S. 1103 (1997)