Bankruptcy Law—First Circuit Rejects Automatic Appealability of Denial of Relief from Stay

Case Comment

Pinpoint IT Services, LLC v. Rivera (In re Atlas IT Export Corp.), 761 F.3d 177 (1st Cir. 2014)

After the filing of a bankruptcy petition, all pending civil actions involving the debtor are stayed pursuant to the automatic stay provision of 11 U.S.C. § 362.  Creditors may seek relief by moving for the court to lift the automatic stay.  An order granting stay-relief is considered a “final” order from the bankruptcy court and therefore appealable as of right pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 158(a); similarly, a majority of the federal courts of appeals recognize denials of stay-relief as final, appealable orders.  In In re Atlas IT Export Corp., the First Circuit created a circuit split when it held it lacked jurisdiction to hear the appeal from a bankruptcy court’s denial of stay-relief because the bankruptcy court’s decision did not amount to a “final order.”