O'Hagan Publishes Article on Subject Matter Jurisdiction in Bankruptcy

The Norton Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice recently published an article by Eamonn O'Hagan, an associate in FKSA's Financial Restructuring & Insolvency Group, titled Stop Changing the Subject! Recent Supreme Court Jurisprudence on Whether Statutory Requirements Are Subject Matter Jurisdictional or Claims Processing Rules. Mr. O'Hagan analyzes recent Supreme Court precedents addressing whether a movant's failure to satisfy a particular Bankruptcy Code requirement deprives the Bankruptcy Court of subject matter jurisdiction or simply deprives the movant of a basis for relief. In the article, Mr. O'Hagan expresses the view that in most instances, the failure of a movant to satisfy a Bankruptcy Code requirement will not deprive the court of subject matter jurisdiction to rule on the matter. The article further concludes that parties seeking to challenge a Bankruptcy Court's subject matter jurisdiction are more likely to succeed if they can establish that the court's decision not only ran afoul of specific Bankruptcy Code requirements but that it also exceeded the grant of federal bankruptcy jurisdiction contained in 28 U.S.C. § 1334.