Merit Management Group, LP v. FTI Consulting, Inc.

Merit Management Group, LP v. FTI Consulting, Inc.

Argument preview: Justices to hear oral argument on additional time for sex offenders who violate terms of supervised release – Amy Howe

Argument analysis: Meandering argument suggests justices likely to narrow bankrupts’ power to rescind licenses in bankruptcy – Ronald Mann

Opinion analysis: A win for one taxpayer, but not many more – Daniel Hemel

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Orders

RETURN MAIL INC. V. U.S. POSTAL SERVICE (17-1594)

MISSION PRODUCT HOLDINGS INC. V. TEMPNOLOGY INC. (17-1657)

Opinions

Conference

Orders

MANHATTAN COMMUNITY ACCESS CORP. V. HALLECK (17-1702)

UNITED STATES V. HAYMOND (17-1672)

MONT V. UNITED STATES (17-8995)

THE AMERICAN LEGION V. AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION (17-1717)

Docket No.	Op. Below	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
16-784	7th Cir.	Nov 6, 2017 Tr.Aud.	Feb 27, 2018	9-0	Sotomayor	OT 2017

Holding: The Bankruptcy Code allows trustees to set aside and recover certain transfers for the benefit of the bankruptcy estate, including certain fraudulent transfers “of an interest of the debtor in property”; the Bankruptcy Code also sets out a number of limits on the exercise of these avoiding powers, including the Section 546(e) safe harbor – which, inter alia, provides that a “trustee may not avoid a transfer that is a … settlement payment … made by or to (or for the benefit of) a … financial institution .. or that is a transfer made by or to (or for the benefit of) a … financial institution … in connection with a securities contract.” In the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filed by Valley View Downs and its parent company, the only relevant transfer for purposes of the Section 546(e) safe harbor is the transfer that the trustee, FTI Consulting Inc., seeks to avoid, i.e., the transfer from Valley View to Merit Management Group for the sale of Bedford Downs Management’s stock.

Judgment: Affirmed and remanded, 9-0, in an opinion by Justice Sotomayor on February 27, 2018.

Opinion analysis: Justices reject limits on bankruptcy recovery of fraudulently transferred assets (Ronald Mann)
OT2017 #6: "Year of Munsingwear" (First Mondays)
Argument analysis: Justices dubious about limiting bankruptcy court’s right to recover fraudulently transferred assets (Ronald Mann)
OT2017 #5: “Oglethorpe’s Second Cousin” (First Mondays)
Argument preview: Justices to parse Bankruptcy Code’s fine print in high-stakes dispute over recovering assets for creditors of bankrupts (Ronald Mann)
Today's orders (Amy Howe)
Petition of the day (Kate Howard)

Date	Proceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
Nov 14 2016	Application (16A492) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from November 28, 2016 to December 19, 2016, submitted to Justice Kagan.
Nov 17 2016	Application (16A492) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until December 19, 2016.
Dec 16 2016	Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 19, 2017)
Jan 19 2017	Brief of respondent FTI Consulting, Inc. in opposition filed.
Feb 03 2017	Reply of petitioner Merit Management Group, LP filed.
Feb 08 2017	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of February 24, 2017.
Feb 22 2017	Rescheduled.
Feb 27 2017	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of March 3, 2017.
Feb 27 2017	Rescheduled.
Mar 13 2017	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of March 17, 2017.
Mar 13 2017	Rescheduled.
Mar 20 2017	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of March 24, 2017.
Mar 20 2017	Rescheduled.
Mar 27 2017	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of March 31, 2017.
Mar 28 2017	Rescheduled.
Apr 10 2017	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of April 13, 2017.
Apr 17 2017	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of April 21, 2017.
Apr 24 2017	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of April 28, 2017.
May 01 2017	Petition GRANTED.
Jun 05 2017	The time to file the joint appendix and petitioner's brief on the merits is extended to and including July 13, 2017.
Jun 05 2017	The time to file respondent's brief on the merits is extended to and including September 11, 2017.
Jun 22 2017	Consent to the filing of amicus curiae briefs in support of either party or of neither party from counsel for the petitioner.
Jun 28 2017	Consent to the filing of amicus curiae briefs in support of either party or of neither party received from counsel for the respondent.
Jul 13 2017	Joint appendix filed. (Statement of costs filed)
Jul 13 2017	Brief of petitioner Merit Management Group, LP filed.
Jul 18 2017	Brief amicus curiae of Opportunity Partners, L.P. filed.
Jul 20 2017	Brief amici curiae of Various Former Tribune and Lyondell Shareholders filed.
Aug 31 2017	SET FOR ARGUMENT on Monday, November 6, 2017
Sep 07 2017	CIRCULATED
Sep 11 2017	Brief of respondent FTI Consulting, Inc. filed. (Distributed)
Sep 18 2017	Brief amici curiae of Tribune Company Retirees and Noteholders filed. (Distributed)
Sep 18 2017	Brief amicus curiae of National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees filed. (Distributed)
Sep 18 2017	Brief amici curiae of Bankruptcy Law Professors Ralph Brubaker, et al. filed. (Distributed)
Oct 06 2017	Reply of petitioner Merit Management Group, LP filed. (Distributed)
Nov 06 2017	Argued. For petitioner: Brian C. Walsh, St. Louis, Mo. For respondent: Paul D. Clement, Washington, D. C.
Feb 27 2018	Judgment is affirmed and case remanded. Sotomayor, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
Apr 02 2018	JUDGMENT ISSUED.

Featured Posts

Argument preview: Justices to hear oral argument on additional time for sex offenders who violate terms of supervised release – Amy Howe

Argument analysis: Meandering argument suggests justices likely to narrow bankrupts’ power to rescind licenses in bankruptcy – Ronald Mann

Opinion analysis: A win for one taxpayer, but not many more – Daniel Hemel
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This Week at the Court
The Supreme Court released orders from the February 15 conference on Tuesday; the justices added County of Maui, Hawaii v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund to next term's merits docket and summarily reversed in Moore v. Texas.
On Wednesday the justices released their opinions in Dawson v. Steager and Timbs v. Indiana.
On Tuesday, the justices heard oral argument in Return Mail Inc. v. United States Postal Service.
On Wednesday, the justices heard oral argument in Mission Product Holdings Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC.
On Friday, the justices will meet for their February 22 conference.
Major Cases
- Lamone v. Benisek
  In case in which the plaintiffs allege that a Maryland congressional district was gerrymandered to retaliate against them for their political views: (1) whether the various legal claims articulated by the three-judge district court are unmanageable; (2) whether the three-judge district court erred when, in granting plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, it resolved disputes of material fact as to multiple elements of plaintiffs’ claims, failed to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and treated as “undisputed” evidence that is the subject of still-unresolved hearsay and other evidentiary objections; and (3) whether the three-judge district court abused its discretion in entering an injunction despite the plaintiffs’ years-long delay in seeking injunctive relief, rendering the remedy applicable to at most one election before the next decennial census necessitates another redistricting.
- Kisor v. Wilkie
  Whether the Supreme Court should overrule Auer v. Robbins and Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co., which direct courts to defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of its own ambiguous regulation.
- Rucho v. Common Cause
  (1) Whether plaintiffs have standing to press their partisan gerrymandering claims; (2) whether plaintiffs’ partisan gerrymandering claims are justiciable; and (3) whether North Carolina’s 2016 congressional map is, in fact, an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.
- New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. City of New York, New York
  Whether New York City’s ban on transporting a licensed, locked and unloaded handgun to a home or shooting range outside city limits is consistent with the Second Amendment, the commerce clause and the constitutional right to travel.
- The American Legion v. American Humanist Association
  (1) Whether a 93-year-old memorial to the fallen of World War I is unconstitutional merely because it is shaped like a cross; (2) whether the constitutionality of a passive display incorporating religious symbolism should be assessed under the tests articulated in Lemon v. Kurtzman, Van Orden v. Perry, Town of Greece v. Galloway or some other test; and (3) whether, if the test from Lemon v. Kurtzman applies, the expenditure of funds for the routine upkeep and maintenance of a cross-shaped war memorial, without more, amounts to an excessive entanglement with religion in violation of the First Amendment.
- Gamble v. United States
  Whether the Supreme Court should overrule the “separate sovereigns” exception to the double jeopardy clause.
see all this term’s cases »
Recent Decisions
- Dawson v. Steager By taxing the federal pension benefits of U.S. Marshals Service retiree James Dawson, while exempting from taxation the pension benefits of certain state and local law enforcement officers, West Virginia unlawfully discriminates against Dawson as 4 U.S.C. §111 forbids.
- Timbs v. Indiana The Eighth Amendment’s excessive fines clause is an incorporated protection applicable to the states under the 14th Amendment’s due process clause.
- Moore v. Texas The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ redetermination that Bobby James Moore does not have an intellectual disability and is thus eligible for the death penalty is inconsistent with the Supreme Court's 2017 decision in Moore v. Texas.
see all this term’s cases »
Current Relists
- Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda Whether the prohibition in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1), against employment discrimination “because of . . . sex” encompasses discrimination based on an individual’s sexual orientation.
- Baxter v. United States (1) Whether a conviction for robbery under Florida law qualifies as a “violent felony” within the Armed Career Criminal Act’s elements clause simply because it requires overcoming victim resistance, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has held, or whether such a conviction fails to qualify as an ACCA “violent felony” because Florida caselaw confirms that overcoming victim resistance does not invariably requires the use of “violent force” as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has held; and (2) whether a conviction for any state robbery offense that includes “as an element” the common law requirement of overcoming “victim resistance” is categorically a “violent felony” within the ACCA’s elements clause if the offense has been specifically interpreted by state appellate courts to require only slight force to overcome resistance.
- Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia Whether discrimination against an employee because of sexual orientation constitutes prohibited employment discrimination “because of . . . sex” within the meaning of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2.
More Petitions »
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Cases argued 45

Cases decided 13

Summary reversals 3

Merits cases granted to date 74

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Justice Sotomayor at the Library of Congress

On February 14, Justice Sonia Sotomayor appeared at the Library of Congress with Chief Judge Robert Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit and Professor Eloise Pasachoff of the Georgetown University Law Center for the Supreme Court Fellows Annual Lecture.

Peabody Award
Awarded the Peabody Award for excellence in electronic media.
Sigma Delta Chi
Awarded the Sigma Delta Chi deadline reporting award for online coverage of the Affordable Care Act decision.
National Press Club Award
Awarded the National Press Club's Breaking News Award for coverage of the Affordable Care Act decision.
Silver Gavel Award
Awarded the Silver Gavel Award by the American Bar Association for fostering the American public’s understanding of the law and the legal system.
American Gavel Award
Awarded the American Gavel Award for Distinguished Reporting About the Judiciary to recognize the highest standards of reporting about courts and the justice system.
Webby Award
Awarded the Webby Award for excellence on the internet.

15
Conference

19
Orders
RETURN MAIL INC. V. U.S. POSTAL SERVICE (17-1594)

20
MISSION PRODUCT HOLDINGS INC. V. TEMPNOLOGY INC. (17-1657)
Opinions

22
Conference

25
Orders
MANHATTAN COMMUNITY ACCESS CORP. V. HALLECK (17-1702)

26
UNITED STATES V. HAYMOND (17-1672)
MONT V. UNITED STATES (17-8995)

27
THE AMERICAN LEGION V. AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION (17-1717)

Cases argued	45
Cases decided	13
Summary reversals	3
Merits cases granted to date	74